Four Bowls
Minh Chu
I grew up on a council estate in south-east London.
I fell into a career in finance – but then the financial crisis hit in 2008. It was a difficult time, and I was never in love with what I was doing. I needed to do something I was passionate about.
My mum is from North Vietnam and my father has Chinese parents but was born in Vietnam. Growing up, we helped with cooking at home, but I didn’t have any restaurant experience. I started off small, with a stall in Portobello Market. We attracted a lot of interest but I didn’t enjoy running a market stall – the weather in particular – so I decided to move into pop-up restaurants.
For the past five years, I’ve been running a pop-up in a café in Hither Green. We cook like we would at home, but on a larger scale. Our menu is a mixture of Vietnamese and Chinese food, drawn from both my parents’ heritage.
The experience of being my own boss has been surprisingly good. There are lots of ups and downs, but I’m in control of the stress and can deal with it better. My decisions are implemented quicker and I can see improvements from the work I put in. That doesn’t happen when you’re working for a large company.
Images: Elzbieta Piekacz
