Tue Nguyen, a as soon as little-known prep cook dinner who gained fame on TikTok together with her mouthwatering cooking movies, has achieved culinary stardom with the opening of her first restaurant, Di Di, in Los Angeles.
The 25-year-old chef’s viral success on social media platforms has catapulted her from digital fame to real-life restaurant possession, the place she goals to have a good time her Vietnamese heritage and join folks via her delectable dishes.
Nguyen’s journey to success started throughout the pandemic, when she posted movies of herself cooking Vietnamese delicacies on TikTok and Instagram, rapidly amassing over 1,000,000 followers. Regardless of preliminary insecurities about publicising her cooking on-line, the optimistic response from viewers inspired her to proceed and discover her ardour for meals.
“I genuinely did not learn to cook dinner till… I actually regarded again at what I grew up with. And that is the style of my mother’s cooking,” Nguyen shared, attributing her culinary inspiration to her Vietnamese upbringing.
Together with her on-line fame hovering, Nguyen took a daring step to convey her digital creations to the true world via pop-up restaurant venues. After impressing friends and trade insiders throughout a two-night pop-up at Petite Taqueria, she caught the eye of John Terzian, co-founder of H.Wooden Group, who was “blown away by the pop-up.” The encounter led to the delivery of Di Di, a restaurant that blends Nguyen’s culinary faculty coaching with the flavors of her mom’s cooking.
“It is a end result of all my experiences,” Nguyen mentioned of her new restaurant enterprise, expressing confidence in her private model and elegance of cooking.
The menu at Di Di options Nguyen’s signature dishes, together with her famend honey-glazed shrimp that first gained reputation as a culinary faculty venture. Her dishes are a mirrored image of her heritage and fervour, aiming to create a novel and unforgettable eating expertise for her prospects.
Terzian, recognising Nguyen’s potential as a rising star within the culinary world, hopes that her success will encourage different younger cooks and entrepreneurs, saying, “I actually view Tue and this idea as a star rising.”
Di Di, pronounced “dee dee,” interprets to “let’s go” in Vietnamese, and the restaurant’s vibrant and alluring ambiance is a celebration of the tradition that formed Nguyen’s culinary journey.
With Di Di now open to the general public, Tue Nguyen has come full circle, turning her TikTok fame right into a actuality that’s certain to depart an enduring mark on the Los Angeles gastronomic scene.