A restaurant inspired by Ho Chi Minh’s city’s food icon “The Lunch Lady” opens this summer

Since her first appearance on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations programme in 2009, Nguyen Thi Thanh, also known as ‘The Lunch Lady’, has been a food sensation locally and abroad. Six years later, the Lunch Lady’s recipes can finally be tasted outside of Vietnam, as Cô Thành is set to open in Central come May this year.

The original Lunch Lady food stall opens daily featuring one single dish, which is often sold out before lunch service finishes. The daily featured dish is made fresh and from scratch every day. In 2014, Three Monkeys’ co-founder Brian Woo joined Nguyen Thi Thanh as an apprentice and throughout the course of three years, he learned and mastered the recipes for traditional Vietnamese dishes served at the street food stall and is now heading back to Hong Kong to open Cô Thành this May in Kau U Fong.

Cô Thành previously appeared as a Vietnamese pop-up at Naked Gurume Gyarari in January 2015 and as a regular stall at the Tong Chong Street Markets last year, and their bún mắm, bún riêu and bánh mì were well received through the duration of the events. Guests can anticipate a selection of signatures such as bun bo hue, a Hue-style spicy beef noodle soup, bún mắm, a seafood gumbo stew made with three types of preserved fish and shrimp paste, and bang canh cua, where tapioca noodles are served with a thick soup of crab, pork and mushrooms.

Cô Thành, G/F, 2-4 Kau U Fong, Central, Hong Kong