Fifteen years ago, the late chef Anthony Bourdain fell in love with the food at a nameless lunch stall in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam. Years later, those timeless recipes have made their way to Vancouver, Canada at the aptly named Lunch Lady.
Before you dive into a story of family recipes, a move across the world, and what Bourdain said to the Lunch Lady herself, check out what our Inspectors had to say here.
Decades ago, Chef Nguyen Thi Thanh opened her lunch stall in Saigon to act as a bridge between neighbors and strangers. A lofty goal, but with many generations of family recipes under her belt, Thanh cooked different soups based on the day of the week—an instant hit.
On a trip to Vietnam, chef Bourdain was amazed by her food, describing it as, “discovering new neighborhoods every few mouthfuls.” This simple visit brought global attention to Thanh's restaurant, but also established a friendship between her and Bourdain. Eager to see his friend succeed, Bourdain helped her pick a name—“the Lunch Lady"—a moniker she's proudly worn since 2008.
Bourdain's visit (and the buzz) reached Michael Tran, a Vancouver native with Vietnamese roots. After falling in love with Thanh's food during his travels, he worked with her to bring Lunch Lady to Canada, in the space of his mom’s former restaurant.
Although Thanh lives in Vietnam, her recipes and soul are deeply felt in Vancouver. With Thanh's blessing, Tran invited chef Benedict Lim to lead the kitchen. “It was so important for us to get it right, making sure it comes from the roots of Vietnam,” he says.
Every day for lunch, Vietnamese “aunties” cook pho, which, in total, is a 20-hour process. Chef Lim smiles, “Aunties can do it with their eyes closed, and it's perfect. They're very loving people, always asking if I've eaten yet.”
The Lunch Lady herself praises the cuisine: “The team in Vancouver has elevated the experience of Vietnamese cuisine yet staying true to its origins. The staff is attentive and cheerful, and the chefs put their heart and soul into the dishes. The flavors are generally the same, but in Vancouver, it’s a full dining experience [where] people can have a drink and celebrate with each other.”
Those celebratory drinks include classic cocktails with a Viet flair, including one, special ode to chef Bourdain. “Negroni was [his] favorite drink," Lim explains, "[so] we [take] a classic negroni, and we pass it through a Vietnamese coffee phin with coffee lined in it, so it gets that hint of Vietnamese coffee as it drifts through.”
Drinks and the dinner menu (think roasted bone marrow and crispy tiger prawns eaten with the shell) bring Saigon nights to Vancouver, a welcome change of pace from the original lunch-only stall. “We embraced that nighttime culture that is huge in Vietnam,” says Tran.
However, the most popular dish is steak luc lac, also a favorite of the Lunch Lady herself. Instead of chopping and stir-frying the beef, the chefs use French sous vide techniques with inspiration from Canadian steaks. Chef Lim explains, “The steak is a ribeye of beef, from a farm in Alberta. AAA+ grade and well marbled. It's marinated 24 hours, sous vide for an hour and a half exactly. Patted dry, and then we sear it in beef tallow (rendered fat). We dress it with a luc lac butter sauce. We [take] the luc lac marinade, [thin] it out with our pho broth, [mount] it with butter, [whisk] it and [emulsify] the whole sucker. We blowtorch all of our steaks. This [creates] another crust and another layer of that wok charred flavor.”
Hungry yet? Us too. Being in Vancouver, the natural landscape provides readily available rich ingredients for the team's use. “There's a lot of pride with using locally sourced ingredients. You can drive 10 minutes out to the dock and pick up some fresh seafood from the fishermen on Granville Island,” Tran says. “Some of the best seafood in the world," adds Lim. "We [also] use a lot of Canadian poultry and beef. North America has very high-grade beef.”
However, some ingredients adding that extra dash of flavor can only be sourced from Vietnam. “There’s spice blends that you can only get in Vietnam, so it was very imperative that we got those exact spice blends and ratios," says Lim. "And the herbs are all from Vietnam.” To that end, the Lunch Lady took the Vancouver team on an ingredient tour through the Vietnamese wet markets to find them.
Through the aromas, the dining experience benefits from opening up diners' olfactory senses; the spices hit on electrifying tastebuds. But it's the decor and vibe that bring it together. “It's a giant street cart, hence all the stainless steel," says Lim. "The little openings, so you can see the staff working [and] the flames in the kitchen. It really sets the tone.” Tran adds, “We want to feel like we're in an alleyway, on the street in the corner when there [are] scooters going by.”
It's that quality, focused mindset and ethos that has proven to be the team's winning hand in Vancouver. So what's Thanh's take on the west coast outpost? “Canada is a beautiful country with friendly people and a great cultural background.”
Chef Bourdain would be happy that the woman whose moniker he coined found a home in Vancouver. Having once told Chef Nguyen that he hoped one day she could share her delicious food with more of the world, the success of Lunch Lady proves his dream is coming true.
Hero image: Niko Myyra/Lunch Lady
Thumbnail: Niko Myyra/Lunch Lady
