Little Hoi An

A chat with Julie, owner with her husband Raimond of Little Hoi An, a Vietnamese Restaurant in Glasgow's Southside.

One of the first things I learned when I moved to Glasgow was the meaning of "wee". When you call something wee it is like a sweet way to say small. But with something more, like a hug.

Wee cosy restaurant is how customers define Little Hoi An, Julie tells me, and I can explain myself way.

This definition is due not only to the size of the restaurant, 6 tables and some more seats in the window, but to the cool atmosphere you breathe since the first moment you put your feet in.

Julie and her staff always welcome you with the best of smiles and if they notice you have some doubts about the menu they jump to help you even in the busiest of times.

If you are seated facing the door you would notice people constantly staring out the window to see if they are lucky to find a free table. The door opens and shuts and even if Glaswegian weather does not often helps, this does not disturb the rest of the customers. All goes quickly but seems that the time is in slow motion.

It should be for the interiors as well. Julie told me that during the renovation they were surprised and happy to find the original white and blue tiles still in great condition.

Close to the till a black wood sign Govanhill is placed just down a giant poster of In the Mood for Love and among pictures of Vietnam, old clocks and scales some little golden lights give a bit of brightness to what is a perfect and intimate atmosphere.

But in my opinion, what gives the feeling of being at home is that you see that someone is preparing your food.

The sound of the kitchen, the noise of the spoons on the pan, the plating, the interaction between the chefs and the waiters, the bodies moving. I feel curious and probably a bit nosey but it should be the fact I miss a bit having a space like this and the vibes around it.

"Making our customers feel like they were eating in our home is what drove us to open Little Hoi An.

Opening the shop was not planned, all were born for a series of coincidences."

I love when the conversation starts this way.

"Our friends were those that initially motivated us to open our place. We were hosting dinners at home cooking the food we like, what we use to it in our everyday life. We were happy they enjoyed it but we were always declining their usual sentence at the end of the dinner < you should open a restaurant>.

But after a while this thought was like whispering in our ears.

Raimond had several years of experience as a chef, his parents always had restaurants so he is kind of born in this environment but, me I did not belong to this. I was a bit scared but chances come when you less feel ready, isn't it?

We started doing pop-up events in the evening for some time here in the southside and it went really well. We were able to show people our way of cooking Vietnamese food. We could not believe our eyes. The feedback we were having from people was so good that when we saw this unit in the market we said why not?

And then you opened in November 2019 and everything was going great until this famous March 2020.

Absolutely. We were just starting to understand how having our own restaurant worked when Covid arrived. We needed to start again. But you need to find a positive angle when things go bad.

People were fantastic and supported all the businesses in the area one takeaway after the other. Maybe this forced break also helped us in organizing ourselves better for when we reopened. We took it as a lesson.

This area was still flourishing when you opened up.

Yes, it is up and running. We are really happy to be part of this neighborhood. There is a real sense of community. Even before opening people were coming to see us and ask if they could be of any help.

It is a really vibrant area, we found our place.

People talk loudly about Little Hoi An, your Instagram is active with a lot of people sharing your famous pork belly or your beef noodle. What do people love the most in your opinion?

I think people like our concept of food. Simple, genuine and fresh. Our motto is to give customers only the best, the same food we would eat ourselves, nothing less.

We have a small menu with some classic Vietnamese dishes with plenty of vegan and vegetarian options and we often have specials on the board. Specials are a big success, people like to experiment and they trust us.