The new restaurant come from the owners of Tiger Rock
The new restaurant come from the owners of Tiger Rock
The owners of Tiger Rock have revealed the emotional background behind the concept of their latest restaurant, Bistro Lao. Opening later this month, the new eatery comes from Vikki and Kean Teh who opened their first restaurant in the city back in 1994.
Vikki spent her earliest years growing up in the country of Laos, which is sandwiched between Thailand and Vietnam, with her mum Joon Vongsanga, dad and brothers. However their lives were turned upside down after the outbreak of the Vietnam war forced the family to flee.
Vikki told the ECHO: “Following the end of the Vietnam war in 1975, we were forced to leave our home in Laos, seek refuge in Thailand, and eventually arrived in England in 1979 through the Save the Children Fund.
“Arriving in England at just six-years-old was overwhelming—everything felt unfamiliar, from the language and climate to the culture itself. It was a time of great uncertainty, but also one of resilience, as our family learned to adapt while holding tightly to our traditions, food, and sense of togetherness.”
She added: “My mum feels incredibly proud that she was able to help us open the first Thai restaurant in Liverpool which was Siam Garden restaurant. Now, we are honoured to continue that journey by opening the first Laos restaurant in the north west, sharing our heritage and flavours with a new community.”
Among the 750,000 people displaced amid the outbreak of the Vietnam war, those living in Laos felt the impact more than most with it becoming the most bombed country in history per capita.
Upon the outbreak of the Vietnam was Laos became the most bombed country in history per capita, displacing 750,000 people.
Despite a difficult start to life, Vikki managed to make Liverpool her home with her husband, Kean and their two sons, Daniel and Dylan and she has been eager ever since to make sure that her Laos heritage is passed on.
Vikki, 52, said: “I can’t remember too much from when we were living in Laos, but when we came to England, my mum always cooked Laos food. But now, my husband, Kean, who’s a chef, he’s kindly taken over and is able to cook all of her dishes, which is really nice, because my mum is quite old now so her memory isn’t great.”
She added: “We go back to the north of Thailand a lot, where mum came from in Isaan. The kids, they love Laos food because they have been brought up with it, so when we go back to Thailand, they want the dishes that my mum used to cook. It’s really nice for me to be able to share this with the city, because it is so different and unique.”
After originally passing her mum’s cooking down to her children, she will soon share some of the decades old recipes with Liverpool as she opens her latest restaurant next month.
She said: “The restaurant is inspired by my mum’s home cooking. She is originally from Isaan in the north east of Thailand, and she travelled to Laos and married my dad and she settled there before we came to England.”
She added: “Bistro Lao is not just Laos food it is also Isaan, so although it is Thai food, it is not the typical Thai food. It’s more northern, so is sweet, cocconutty. We felt that although Thai food has become very popular in Liverpool at the moment, we thought that the city is missing something different and more unique. We thought that it would be good to bring Laos cuisine to the city.”
She also said that her latest venture has seen a positive reception from Liverpool’s Laos community. She said: “It’s quite a small community, but the Laos and Thai community are quite close together. There’s a big Thai community in the north west and they all attend the Runcorn Buddhist temple and there’s a small Laos community that joins them as well.”
She added: “They’re all really excited [for the new restaurant] because normally they cook at home and they can’t get Laos food anywhere else, so it’ll be nice for them to come out and have their own type of food without having to cook it themselves.”
More information on Bistro Lao can be found on its website.
