Authentic Hanoi flavors find a new home in US restaurant named among 50 best

By 9:30 p.m. Quynh Nguyen, a Hanoi native and owner of The Paper Bridge, finally has a moment to rest.

Situated at 828 Southeast Ash Street, the restaurant opens at 10 a.m. and stays busy all day.

Since being named one of the 50 best restaurants in America, bookings are being made months in advance.

Quynh met her husband, Italian chef Carlo Reina, while he was living in Vietnam.

United by their love of food, they spent years exploring regional dishes, especially from the northwestern mountains.

After five years he suggested moving to the U.S. to open a Vietnamese restaurant together.

When Quynh arrived in America in 2018 the adjustment was not easy. Northern Vietnamese cuisine was nearly invisible. Most local places served southern-style pho or fusion dishes.

Reina also saw how narrow the world’s idea of Vietnamese food remained. It was reduced to pho and banh mi, often seen as inexpensive street fare.

The Paper Bridge finally opened in November 2023, a few months later than planned due to U.S. licensing procedures. The 30-item menu is northern-heavy with dishes such as bun cha, grilled pork with vermicelli noodles and savory fried rice cakes.

Quynh developed the recipes while Reina oversaw kitchen operations. They even invested in noodle machines imported from Vietnam rather than use dried or packaged noodles like many other restaurants.

At the restaurant, a slice of Hanoi’s street life appears with plastic stools and construction signs. Photo courtesy of The Paper Bridge

Media attention brought in curious crowds at first. Then the hype faded. Some diners complained that the noodles were too soft, prompting Quynh to explain the difference between fresh and packaged.

"It was slow at first, but we just had to stay patient", she says.

Without connections or marketing support, the couple relied on word of mouth. After a year or so business stabilized, though most customers were Vietnamese.

Quynh noticed people stopped returning after trying the same dishes several times.

To keep things fresh, they began adding three new monthly specials. The idea worked, and soon non-Vietnamese began to outnumber Vietnamese customers.

Their signature dish remains bun cha. The restaurant cannot use charcoal grills due to the strict local regulations: Installing a proper ventilation system alone would cost some $100,000.

So, to recreate the smoky flavor, Quynh came up with an idea: she roasts pork rind and uses the drippings to season the meat.

The menu strictly follows northern recipes without any fusion or adaptation.

Quynh acknowledges that her approach might appear somewhat uncompromising, but says it reflects the northern preference for authenticity in flavors.

"If someone doesn’t like it, that’s fine. I want to represent Vietnamese cuisine as it truly is."

But over time she found that even non-Vietnamese had fallen in love with dishes such as bun dau mam tom (vermicelli with fried tofu and fermented shrimp paste) and cha ca La Vong (turmeric fish with dill and noodles).

Sourcing ingredients remains a challenge. While all the herbs and vegetables are available in the U.S., their flavors are different. Perilla and Vietnamese balm taste milder, and American scallions are tougher and more pungent.

A portion of bun cha with grilled pork and fresh noodles and herbs at The Paper Bridge. Photo courtesy of The Paper Bridge

Some key spices, like the black cardamom used in pho, are still imported from Vietnam. Their imported noodle-making machines had to be sent back to Vietnam for repairs if they broke down until Reina learned to fix them himself.

The perseverance paid off this year when The New York Times included The Paper Bridge in its list of America’s 50 Best Restaurants. Overnight, demand surged, with lines forming outside and reservations filling up for months.

Quynh says: "I actually had to stop taking bookings. Otherwise, people living around here wouldn’t be able to get a bowl of bun cha or bun dau mam tom anymore."

For her, The Paper Bridge isn’t just a business, but also a cultural hub. Beyond serving food, it also showcases Vietnamese life through decorative items like Dong Ho folk paintings and ceramics from Bat Trang Village, which she also sells.

"It’s another way for Vietnamese culture to find its place here", she says.

A bowl of snail noodles is loaded with pork ribs, beef slices, herbs, and pork sausage at The Paper Bridge. Photo courtesy of The Paper Bridge

These days the restaurant has also become a meeting point for travelers preparing to visit Vietnam. Guests often ask Quynh where to go, what to buy or what to eat, and she is happy to give them tips.

She loves the thought that, during their next visit to her restaurant, they will return with stories of experiences from her homeland.

This month, snail noodles, buffalo-skin salad, and pa pinh top, a grilled fish dish made by the Thai ethnic group, have been added as monthly specials.

Western diners are more familiar with French-style escargot, but Quynh believes Vietnamese snail dishes will intrigue them even more.

With their success still growing, Quynh is considering a second location, while Reina dreams of writing a book on Vietnamese cuisine.