Two sisters have teamed up to open a new café, inspired by their family's love of cooking. Boulangerie de Saigon is a chic, laid-back café based on one of the avenues at Sneinton Market.
Aivi Nguyen, 25, and her younger sister Milly, 18, are showcasing their skills in the kitchen, with homemade Vietnamese sandwiches known as bánh mì, noodles, and delicious cakes. Aivi, who studied fashion at Nottingham Trent University, turned her back on a career in the industry, when cooking became her first love.
She said: "The inspiration for this was my grandma had a street food stall in Vietnam. It was a really popular, bustling stall in La Gi in south Vietnam, where she sold chicken rice and noodle soup. They were really famous in that town."
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Before her grandmother Ken Nguyen passed away at the age of 83, Aivi told her she was going to open a café. "She said go for it. She was my best and worst critic. Her cooking influence has been passed to my mum, she's fantastic. It's a very generational thing, we learnt recipes from her.
"I graduated in 2020 peak coronavirus so the whole course changed. Although I still love fashion, it just didn't feel right, the course became more technical and less creative in my opinion and it wasn't for me. Over Covid I was at home doing the course, the creativity side just went and we both turned to cooking and baking more and it was really good.
"The cooking overtook my degree until the point I was thinking do I really want to do fashion? No I'll bake instead. We were constantly doing it."
At first they sold their sandwiches and cakes at Sneinton's vegan market and did so well, they took a leap of faith to open the café, which can be found on Avenue D. Their parents Van and Anh Nguyen, who are both Vietnamese and met in Nottingham, are also in the food business.
They run Chinese takeaway Hot Wok in Meadow Road, Beeston Rylands, and Aivi gained skills working in the kitchen there However, her parents tried to warn her off running a cafe. "At first they were 'Are you sure? Having a business is a bit stressful especially a food one' but they are really supportive," she said.
Boulangerie de Saigon has a concise menu. Drinks include speciality coffees, all the usual such americano, latte and flat white, and Vietnamese drip coffee and egg coffee, made with egg yolks and condensed milks. Matcha latte and loose leaf tea with free refills for sit-in customers are served, along with soft drinks.
Aivi bakes the bread for the bánh mì, a kind of Vietnamese sub, which are served with homemade sauces and pickles. Top of the shop is the pork special, which is packed with barbecued pork, mortadella, jambon, pork pate, pickles, mayo, spring onions and crispy onions.
Other fillings are satay chicken, pork and vegan meatballs, and BBQ tofu. "Vietnamese food has a lot of umami and lot of vegetables but I think the biggest reason people like Vietnamese food is because its fresh. Chinese food and Thai food is fantastic but it's fried and has its own taste," said Nottingham-born Aivi, who lives in St Ann's.
The menu will vary from time to time to keep it interesting. Last week summer and spring rolls, and skewers, were served. Now its noodle salads with pork, chicken or vegan spring rolls.
Completing the offering are cakes, made by Milly, who displayed a love of baking at a very young age. She's a whizz at making super-sized macarons with flavours such as raspberry and black pepper, matcha sesame, and blueberry and Thai basil. Pumpkin pie is another speciality.
A former pupil at Trinity Sixth Form in Aspley, she said: "She said: "I was ecstatic when I found out about the café. The person who made me start baking was Aivi. I remember she brought a Victoria sponge home from food tech in Year 7 and she had the recipe and was showing me, and I swear I couldn't read.
"I said 'it's really cool, can we make it again?' even though we had one sitting on the counter. She went through it with me and I was so inspired, I was very very young, about four or five. I don't think education was for me except for the time I studied food. I have always felt cooking and baking was my way. The world is your oyster and you have all the flavours in the world.
"You can make the craziest, wackiest things and you're like that was from my mind. It's so beautiful to be able to have your thoughts on a plate and make something other people can enjoy. It really does bring people together - if anything is a people binder, it's sugar."
Boulangerie de Saigon was just a shell with an uneven floor, when the sisters took it on. A huge family effort turned it into the contemporary setting it is today with black furniture, magnolia walls and big leafy plants. There's space for 16 inside and a further 12 outside.
Aivi said: "Other cafes and restaurants all have this stereotypical vibe. There's the same photos, lanterns and Chinese letters, really trying hard to tell you 'we're Vietnamese'. I thought we'll go for a chilled vibe, very chic and calm, fresh and quite a contemporary look."
The café is open Tuesday to Sunday from 11am.
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