27-year-old Lenny Nguyen received a bachelor’s degree in graphic design this summer, but shortly afterward he started on a culinary project, which opened last week in the Danish town of Løvbjerg in Varde. The inspiration behind the concept comes from the family’s own dinner table, and in fact, the Nguyen family has already opened three places in Helsingborg in southern Sweden, while the restaurant in Varde will be the first one in Denmark.
Lenny Nguyen opened the Vietnamese restaurant Bánh Mì King with his sister-in-law, Dung Nguyen, and together the duo is responsible for everything practical from cooking to marketing, JydskeVestkysten writes.
They are both delighted that they have finally been able to welcome people inside their restaurant, which offers fresh spring rolls, the national dish Pho, salads with all kinds of herbs, and much more.
“We have a huge passion for Vietnamese cuisine and know the food intimately because it has always been what we have eaten in our family. I would describe our selection as authentic, fresh, and with simple flavors, which we hope people will come to love as much as we do,” Lenny Nguyen says.
Although Lenny is young and has educational experience far away from Southeast Asian cuisine, he still has a good team of partners close by.
“It is Dung who is responsible for the actual cooking. She is our head chef, and the rest of us help, of course. And then the whole concept is from our family-owned company in Sweden, which my big brother has started up,” Lenny explains.
When asked about the dream for Bánh Mì King, Lenny says that their first dream has already come true, which was that they managed to create the place and that they are very proud of that. “But otherwise, the hope is that the local area will welcome us and that we can create good relationships with our customers,” Lenny says and adds:
“We have many ideas, and in my education, I have learned to think creatively, so it will also be exciting to be able to bring these thoughts to life.”
Besides creating a website and a menu, there has also been a lot of work that needed to be done to convert the now-former bank into a Vietnamese restaurant.
“Of course, it has been a big project to create an entire restaurant. You should have seen the place when we took over. A lot has really happened and we have spent so many hours renovating it all,” Lenny says.
The location of Bánh Mì King was no coincidence as the town of Varde has been the Nguyen family’s home since 2000. In addition, Lenny also believes that Vietnamese food should be available everywhere.
“Vietnamese food should not only be something you can get in big cities if you ask us. That was one of the reasons why we chose Varde because we wanted to start up here and allow the city to try something completely new and different than what is otherwise available.”
Bánh Mì King is open every weekday including Saturday. For further information can be found on Bánh Mì King’s Facebook page.
