The older generation of Vietnamese people like to bet on the safe side, and when they open a restaurant, customers are most likely to get the popular pho soup. However, Nugy and Meggie had already grown up in the Czech Republic, which is why they realized that sometimes it is better to be different. At the Mămăm bistro in Prague’s Vršovice, they therefore bet on creative variations of recipes they knew from childhood or came across while traveling in Asia.
An uninitiated passer-by could easily mistake the run-down business in Žitomírská Street between Vršovicky náměstí and the Bohemians club stadium for an ordinary convenience store. At its entrance, the typical red-blue open sign lights up. “We put him here as a joke,” laughs 27-year-old Pham Minh Anh, who her friends call Meggie. They opened Bistro Mămăm with their friend Nguyen Trong Duc aka Nugy, three years older, last summer. “The name translates to ham ham. These are the first words Vietnamese children learn,” explains Nugy.
If you give a place with a fat cat logo a chance, you will find yourself in an interior that radically shatters all stereotypes of Vietnamese bistros. Instead of the obligatory blackboard with photos of food and interchangeable Asian decorations, they will see minimalist stainless steel tables with salt-water lighting and a bar with luxfers, above which a chandelier resembling a noodle floats. “The parents were surprised that we didn’t have any pictures or the color red here. They also wanted to put a money tree here, which according to Vietnamese tradition is supposed to bring good luck,” points out Meggie. “But we couldn’t tell. We are shaped both by our Vietnamese origin and growing up in the Czech Republic, and therefore we see many things differently,” adds Nugy.
“Shrimps in a basket are very popular. The dough is made from rice flour and coconut milk. We serve them with fish sauce and they are tasty even for people who don’t need shrimp.” | Photo: Jakub Plíhal
They tested the recipes for covid in quarantine
The local menu is no less surprising. Customers have to go elsewhere for “phočko” or “bunbíčko”. On the other hand, they will enjoy, for example, caramelized pork ribs according to Meggie’s mother’s improved recipe or pea soup, in which the sweet taste is combined with spicy green curry, Asian shiitake mushrooms and crunchy cashew nuts. “Shrimps in a basket are very popular. The batter is made from rice flour and coconut milk. We serve them with fish sauce and they are delicious even to people who don’t need shrimp otherwise. But our biggest hit is definitely the shrimp burger. Many customers say that they have never had a better burger, ” highlights Nugy.
In a golden buttery bun, guests will find a pork and shrimp patty covered in crispy panko breadcrumbs, which Nugy and Meggie season with mayo and Japanese sweet and sour okonomiyaki sauce. And so that there is not too much fried food, they serve the burger with a salad with sesame dressing. “In Asian countries, you can easily have a shrimp burger in Mekáč. I came across it while traveling in Korea and Japan. But I didn’t come across it anywhere in the Czech Republic, so I tried to prepare it at home once. We put together the menu from meals that we missed here,” Meggie explains.
“In the same way, I once baked ribs for Nugy, which I knew from my childhood from my mother. They are cooked in probably all Vietnamese families, but each one makes them a little differently. Ours are not so hot, precisely because it is children’s food. When He tasted the nuggets and said that we could easily sell them,” explains Meggie. They got together during the covid pandemic, and when they started experimenting with traditional family recipes at home in quarantine, they had no idea that they would soon open their own bistro.
One of the dishes that Nugy and Meggie perfected during the covid quarantine is mixed noodles with five-spice chicken, egg and vegetables. | Photo: Jakub Plíhal
They sent them to the gym, ended up in the kitchen
Nugy has been involved in gastronomy since childhood. He grew up in Brno, where his parents ran a bistro on the famous market in Olomoucká Street. “We cooked classics such as phočko, grilled pork belly bún chả or duck and fish soup. Since I was a teenager, I had to help my parents in the bistro for free, which I hated. When I was fifteen, I wanted to go out for a beer with my classmates, but unfortunately they didn’t allow me at home. Also “Of course, I had to go to the gymnasium, which the older generation of Vietnamese took as a guaranteed path to success. But then I graduated, I didn’t get into college, and I had no choice but to start working full-time for my parents,” recalls Nugy.
He lasted a year in the family business. On the threshold of adult life, however, he longed to be independent, and that is why he moved to Prague. “After studying at the gymnasium, I didn’t really know anything, so I started working as a waiter. I changed several businesses and gradually worked my way up to the kitchen,” says Nugy. “Then my friends decided to open a Japanese restaurant Taiko in Žižkov, and I had to come up with a ramen recipe for them. I went to Japan on vacation to find out how local taste palettes work, and then I completed the whole process at home. From the production of noodles to eggs pickled in soy sauce. I ended up working as a chef in the company for five years.”
Meggie’s parents also sent her to grammar school, but unlike her partner, she graduated in Prague. However, even she did not aspire to study law or medicine, where the older Vietnamese would most like to see their children. “Unlike Nugy, my parents did business in a different field. I therefore got into gastronomy more through part-time jobs. At the gymnasium, I started to earn extra money in cafes, which is an environment that I still love to this day. Then I also worked for a while in a Vietnamese restaurant at “Bumblebees. As soon as I smelled the money, I didn’t want to go back to student life. That’s why I didn’t fulfill my parents’ wish to go to university,” smiles Meggie.
“Although we really enjoy our work, unlike our parents, we also think about having enough free time. We don’t want to get bored,” emphasize Nugy and Meggie. | Photo: Jakub Plíhal
They attracted guests by dancing on Instagram
Then she met Nugy and six months after their first date they started planning their dream bistro Mămăm. When they came across a vacant space in Vršovice among the advertisements of real estate agencies and went to see it, it didn’t even take a month and they were already signing a contract. “Before us, there was a Mexican bistro here, but it looked quite low-budget, as if the owners just wanted to try their hand at business. At the time, the interior had neither head nor foot. We, on the other hand, had everything custom-made – from the luxfer bar to the chairs and tables,” he describes Nougat.
Meggie is convinced that it is worth taking a risk and investing a little in equipment. “When you don’t impress customers at first glance, it’s much more difficult to develop. First, we chose elements that we would like from photos on Pinterest. But we weren’t sure if they would look good together. That’s why we approached a designer who supported our ideas gave it meaningful form,” explains Meggie.
At the same time, with the upcoming opener, they set up an Instagram account where they documented the entire preparation process, which turned out to be a smart move. “I think people were attracted by the style in which we promoted the bistro from the beginning. We chose more personal communication, we appeared ourselves in each post, our followers could see how we build everything or how we dance here. Nugy used his many years of experience from YouTube,” Meggie winks at her friend. “Ten years ago, my friends and I filmed funny sketches. Our channel had about a hundred thousand subscribers,” Nugy modestly admits.
Photo author: Jakub Plíhal
On Tomáš Maca’s fork
The burger has become somewhat of a new fryer on the domestic gastronomic scene. Who doesn’t have it on the menu, it’s as if it doesn’t exist. Back in the 1990s, Czechs mainly went to Mekáč for it, but lately, on the contrary, the popularity of specialized establishments has been growing, which elevate “America in a bun” to an unforgettable culinary experience, which, of course, corresponds to a higher price.
Nuga and Meggie also faced the objection that “it is expensive and there is not enough of it” from their parents. The shrimp burger, which he offers in his bistro Mămăm in Vršovice, is definitely worth the money. Customers unaccustomed to Asian cuisine may find the combination of pork and seafood a little wild, but when they give it a chance, they will discover that the popular fast food can easily do without beef. As well as without fries, which fully compensates for the fresh side salad.
They enjoy work, but everything in moderation
So the Mămăm bistro had no shortage of customers from day one. At the same time, when they told their parents that they would like to offer their guests dishes that they cannot taste elsewhere, they shook their heads at their business model. “As soon as the Vietnamese see that their competitors are successful with something, they automatically start copying them. But then everyone offers the same thing,” observes Meggie. “For example, my mother advised us to make kebabs. In Brno, she has a salon opposite a kebab bistro, and she noticed that it was always full. It’s hard to explain to her that it doesn’t work that easily in gastronomy,” mentions Nugy.
Nevertheless, the older generation of Vietnamese people hear about the success, so today both Nugy and Meggie’s parents are proud of their children and brag to their relatives about how well they are doing in the business. In addition to original dishes, the Mămăm bistro has also won over its clientele with creative drinks. Soft drinks on the menu are represented by homemade lychee or mango lemonades combined with catnip. Under the sign “for great stress” there are mixed drinks on the menu – for example kumsquad with gin, mandarin juice and juice from the Asian citrus fruits kumquat and kalamansi.
Readers who were attracted by the previous paragraphs should just pay attention to the opening hours. Nugy and Meggie also want to avoid a lot of stress, and that’s why they go out on Sundays and Mondays. “Although we really enjoy our work, unlike our parents, we also think about having enough free time and time to rest. We don’t want to get bored,” they conclude.
