Anh and Chi

The Neon Sign Stayed

3.5 of 5

Hoàng and Lý Nguyễn arrived in Canada as refugees from Vietnam in 1980 and opened Pho Hoàng, which the family calls the first pho specialty house in Vancouver. Their children, Vincent and Amélie, grew up around it. In 2016 the next generation reimagined the family business as Anh and Chi. Lý, who learned in her own mother's café in Saigon, is the executive chef. Vincent runs the restaurant as chef and owner, and Amélie co-founded it.

The room at 3388 Main is clean and midcentury, and the blue neon sign over the bar is a relic of the old restaurant. Keeping that sign is the whole philosophy in one object. Order the softshell crab salad on banana blossom and the chạo tôm bánh hỏi, grilled prawn mousse with fresh herbs. Get a bowl of phở, because it would be rude not to, and finish with the coffee mousse, which changes daily. The cocktails use fresh, local ingredients, and they hold their own beside the food.

Michelin has given it a Bib Gourmand every year since the first Vancouver guide. Better still, the Reservation By Donation Program has raised more than half a million dollars for local nonprofits. That is a restaurant that understands what a neighborhood gave it and pays the debt back. Book ahead for dinner, bring people who share, and take a jar of Mẹ's sauce home for the fridge.

Order this: Softshell crab salad on banana blossom, Chạo tôm bánh hỏi, Phở, The daily coffee mousse
The damage: $$
Go: Dinner, booked ahead, with people who share
Find it: 3388 Main St, Vancouver, BC V5V 3M7