Tran made his first trip to Vietnam in 2012 and made a point of visiting Nguyen’s shop. He says he was “blown away” by her. “I fell in love with her – she’s cute, humble and cheerful.”

He thinks of his mother, Victoria Tran, much the same way – his family has been in the restaurant business in Canada since before he was born. Tran’s extended family immigrated to Canada in 1980 and established themselves in Regina, Alberta. Tran’s grandfather opened Lang’s Cafe there a year later, serving Vietnamese food.

The family moved to Vancouver in 1986 and Tran was born two years later. He grew up speaking mostly English and eating lots of Vietnamese food at home. Tran went into the food business himself, opening a Hawaiian-themed poke place called Pacific Poke in 2016.

Recalling his visit to Vietnam with some friends in 2012, Tran says: “I had a huge culture shock. Even crossing the road with all those people on mopeds was so scary. My friend had to hold my hand to get across.

“We tried all these foods on the streets I had never eaten before and it made me realise what my parents went through and how they lived. It was life-changing to understand where we came from and the hardships they endured.”

When he went to Nguyen’s food stall, he was spellbound by her cooking. “For me it’s the taste of her food. Everyone has their own recipe and way of cooking, it’s their own identity. I like the way she seasons things, the way she puts fresh ingredients, and every day there is something new.”

After that memorable trip, Tran returned to Vietnam every year, making a pilgrimage to Nguyen’s street stall. In late 2018 he finally contacted her on the phone, and in his rough Vietnamese tried to pitch the idea of opening a restaurant with her food in Vancouver, and to convince her he had the passion to make it happen.

“Her first reaction was no, she didn’t know me well enough,” he recalls with a laugh. “She also didn’t know if she could recreate her menu elsewhere. She told me that she wanted to retire [she is in her mid-60s], that her daughter had her own career.”

However, Tran’s mother got on the phone with Nguyen, and the seasoned restaurateur explained her son’s business pitch in Vietnamese. From there, Tran says there was a mutual understanding, and the next day the mother and son hopped on a plane from Vancouver to Ho Chi Minh City to seal the deal.

“We got to know each other and she liked us and what we stood for,” says Tran.

Lunch Lady will focus on a rotating line-up of lunches made famous at Bun Cha Huong Lien, with dishes of pho ga (free-range chicken with rice vermicelli in chicken broth), along with barbecued meat and seafood skewers, and Vietnamese breakfast and brunch items such as steak with eggs, pâté, cheese and fries, and pork meatballs with eggs and tomato sauce.

The restaurant is in the space where, eight years ago, Tran’s mother opened Five Elements Cafe, which served Thai and Vietnamese dishes. It is in Vancouver’s Commercial Drive area, a multi-ethnic neighbourhood.

Lunch Lady in Vancouver was originally supposed to open in December, but there were delays due to approval for permits from the city and the coronavirus pandemic.

The pandemic also impacted the ability of Tran to procure fresh produce from Vietnam, but he says the situation has eased significantly, making it possible to get shipments three to four times a week.

Lunch Lady, 1046 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada