Today we’d like to introduce you to Vinh Thai.
Vinh, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I got into making ramen at home back in 2016. It was just for fun at first. I always like to cook different things but I had never made ramen before so I wanted to try. I didn’t know what I was doing at that time. I basically searched for ramen recipes online and just used those as guidance. Making ramen at home slowly became an obsession. I was working full time as a Reporting Analyst at that time and would spend the whole weekends just to make ramen and invited my co-workers over to try. After three years of doing that, I decided to make a career change by committing to learn how to make ramen professionally. So I quit my job in January 2019 and started training under ramen chef Keizo Shimamoto at Ramen Shack NYC. After the training, I came back to Austin and started doing ramen popups about once a month or so. The popups were very successful and that gave me the confidence to open my own ramen shop. But then Covid-19 happened and everything was shut down. The foodservice industry was going through a difficult time which made me reconsider if opening a restaurant would still be what I wanted to do. Luckily, things started to get better and my passion for ramen was still there so here we are.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of the biggest struggles was finding a space for the restaurant. I got rejected many times due to reasons such as landlords only wanted to accept big brands or I just couldn’t afford what they asked for rent. It was very frustrating. Then Covid-19 happened and it shut everything down. Everyone in the foodservice industry was struggling just to survive. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to open a restaurant anymore. At one point, I started updating my resume just in case I needed to go back to the previous profession. Fortunately, the vaccines came out and things started to open up again.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m not sure what I’m most proud of at this point. I think it’s still early to say. There are many ramen-related things that I still want to accomplish. But I feel very fortunate to make ramen for my customers. It’s not an easy job but it’s rewarding. When I see a customer drinking the broth off the bowl it makes long working hours so worth it. Food in general can bring happiness to people but there’s something more magical about ramen.
How do you think about luck?
I am extremely lucky to have the amazing support from my family, especially my girlfriend Thuy, who works full time as a RN and also helps out at the ramen shop on her days off. She always encouraged me and helped keep my ramen dream alive during the Covid lockdown. Then if it wasn’t for my mentor Keizo Shimamoto I wouldn’t have the confidence and knowledge to do what I do now. Having been able to learn from him was a blessing. And of course, the love and support from the community for my ramen over the years have been really amazing. I’m very grateful.
Contact Info:
- Email: ramen512atx@gmail.com
- Website: ramen512.com
- Instagram: @ramen512
- Facebook: @ramen512
Image Credits
Photographer: Robert Rabago
