![\"(Christine](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260825_MonVietCafe-10-1024x683.jpg\")
M\u00f3n Vi\u1ec7t Cafe serves Vietnamese food Aug. 25, 2026, in Arlington. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\nInside M\u00f3n Vi\u1ec7t Cafe\u2019s modern, wood-accented dining room, diners slurp their way through the Phan family\u2019s past. Rich, aromatic ph\u1edf broth arrives steaming-hot in stone bowls, with noodles and meat served on the side.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Arlington has no shortage of Vietnamese restaurants, but the family behind M\u00f3n Vi\u1ec7t \u2014 which translates to \u201cVietnamese dishes\u201d \u2014 takes pride in its recipes\u2019 origin. A portrait of Kimem \u201cMama\u201d Duong hangs beside the story of more than 200 recipes she memorized and passed down to her five daughters.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2016, the sisters opened one of B\u1ebfn Th\u00e0nh Plaza\u2019s first few businesses on East Pioneer Parkway to share their mother\u2019s recipes. The shopping center has since grown into a thriving Vietnamese market.\u00a0<\/p>\n
M\u00f3n Vi\u1ec7t Cafe serves Vietnamese food Aug. 25, 2026, in Arlington. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
Manager B\u1ea3o Anh Phan, one of the sister\u2019s daughters, arrived in the U.S. that year at 15. She spent weekends wiping utensils, cutting vegetables and toasting bread in the kitchen\u2019s heat. Phan didn\u2019t know how to cook, but watching customers enjoy the food made her want to learn, she said.<\/p>\n
Phan learned at home, then studied culinary arts at Dallas College. After she graduated, Phan\u2019s mother and aunts, too tired from running M\u00f3n Vi\u1ec7t, gave her one year to try.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did not want to ruin what my grandmother, aunts and mother had built. The first year was very stressful. So stressful that I got a lot of gray hair,\u201d Phan said, laughing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"(Christine](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260825_MonVietCafe-1-1-1024x683.jpg\")
Team leader Anh B\u00f9i, left, manager B\u1ea3o Anh Phan, center, server T\u01b0\u1eddng Gi\u00e1ng work at M\u00f3n Vi\u1ec7t Cafe on Aug. 25, 2026, in Arlington. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n
Last year, the restaurant reached record-breaking sales, Phan said. She has made changes, including increasing the portion size and balancing the traditional sweeter flavors of dishes from southern Vietnam, from where the family came.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Those dishes now lean more balanced between sweet and salty. She also created a salty-sweet house sauce for one of their signature dishes b\u00f2 n\u00e9<\/a> \u2014 sizzling steak and eggs with b\u00e1nh m\u00ec, housemade pat\u00e9 and butter \u2014 to replace the salty soy sauce and enhance the beef.<\/p>\n But the base of the family recipes remains.<\/p>\n As does the idea that this is a family business. During the interview, Phan\u2019s husband watched their 6-month-old baby, while her mother held down the kitchen.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m most proud of being able to preserve what my grandmother and the whole family wanted.\u201d Phan said. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve been working very hard to make the restaurant better and better.\u201d<\/p>\n This interview was conducted in Vietnamese and translated into English by the reporter. It has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n Dang Le: Why did you decide to open the restaurant?<\/strong><\/p>\n B\u1ea3o Anh Phan:<\/strong> The story started a very long time ago. My grandmother was a homemaker who really liked to cook and was a very good cook.\u00a0<\/p>\n When the whole family moved to the United States, my mother and aunts did not want my grandmother\u2019s recipes to be lost. So the whole family decided to fulfill a small dream of hers by opening a restaurant.<\/p>\n Cooking for a family is different from cooking in large quantities and selling food, but we figured it out. There were no Vietnamese restaurants around here yet, and B\u1ebfn Th\u00e0nh had only been built a few years before we opened. It was fairly difficult at first, but everyone was determined to fulfill that dream.<\/p>\n Le: Which dishes at the restaurant came from your grandmother, and which did the family add?<\/strong><\/p>\n Phan:<\/strong> My grandmother had about 200 recipes, maybe more than that. They were family-style dishes, such as sweet-and-sour soup, fish braised in a clay pot, pork ribs in caramel sauce or b\u00fan m\u1eafm.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Vietnam, food from the Mekong Delta, from Long Xuy\u00ean, where my grandmother was from, is a little sweet. When we came here, that sweet flavor did not suit most people here. So my mother\u2019s older sister began adjusting the recipe a little to suit customers\u2019 tastes.<\/p>\n Le: When you first opened, there weren\u2019t that many places around. With B\u1ebfn Th\u00e0nh\u2019s growth, how do you maintain your restaurant\u2019s brand amid so much competition?<\/strong><\/p>\n Phan:<\/strong> We have to do it with our heart. We cannot change everything just because we want to compete with other people.<\/p>\n Customers can choose us, but they can also choose another restaurant. We cannot change our recipes just to draw those customers in. If we bring those customers in but lose our loyal customers, that does not work either. We always have to hold firmly to what we have done. We can change how we provide service, talk to customers and increase our portion sizes.\u00a0<\/p>\n But we never change our recipes.<\/p>\n Le: What does a workday look like for you?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Phan:<\/strong> My day starts at 6 a.m. because that\u2019s usually when my baby boy wakes up. I feed the baby milk and change diapers, then leave him with my husband. I leave home around 7 or 7:15 and arrive at the restaurant around 7:40.<\/p>\n No one else has arrived yet, so I go into the kitchen and prep, starting with cutting cucumbers, scallions and cilantro. Then I prepare the food we will sell that day, such as ph\u1edf or different kinds of soup. We open at 8:30 a.m.<\/p>\n Kitchen staff come in at 10 a.m, and I work at the b\u00f2 n\u00e9 station until about 1 or 1:30. Then I mix stir-fry sauce or fish sauce for rice dishes and prepare items for the next day.<\/p>\n We close at 8 p.m. I clean and make sure everything is ready for the next day. I leave around 8:30 or 8:45, and by the time I get home, it is after 9.<\/p>\n Then I spend time with my baby. I have worked all day, and the baby has not seen me. I play with the baby, give the baby milk, change the diaper and get the baby ready for bed.\u00a0<\/p>\n Le: The restaurant began operating through the family, it is a family restaurant, and the hope is that the people around it are family. How important is that word \u201cfamily\u201d to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n Phan:<\/strong> It is truly very, very important. I grew up in a very large family, and now I have my own small family. For me, family is everything. My dream is for the entire family to sit down and eat together every day.<\/p>\n Family is just as important to everyone \u2014 because everyone needs a family. Many people here attend school far from home. If you are a student and cannot be near your parents, you will really miss the feeling of sitting down to eat with them. You really want the feeling of someone asking how you are.<\/p>\n After a tiring day, when you come home, you always want to hear, \u201cHave you eaten yet?\u201d or, \u201cHow was your day today?\u201d That is what I want for myself, my family and everyone.<\/p>\n That is why, when people come here, the employees and I always ask, \u201cHow are you today? Did you work today? What would you like to eat today?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Those may be very simple questions, but sometimes, you could say, they offer a little motivation or encouragement after a day at work.<\/p>\n Dang Le is the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at dang.le@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Fort Worth Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.<\/p>\n The Report\u2019s higher education coverage is supported in part by major higher education institutions in Tarrant County, including Tarleton State University, Tarrant County College, Texas A&M-Fort Worth Christian University, Texas Wesleyan University, the University of Texas at Arlington and UNT Health Fort Worth.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"(Christine](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260825_MonVietCafe-5-1024x683.jpg\")
Kitchen assistant Ly Nguy\u1ec5n plates c\u01a1m t\u1ea5m Long Xuy\u00ean at M\u00f3n Vi\u1ec7t Cafe on Aug. 25, 2026, in Arlington. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n![\"(Christine](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260825_MonVietCafe-7-1024x683.jpg\")
Kitchen assistant Ly Nguy\u1ec5n plates b\u00fan \u0111\u1eadu m\u1eafm t\u00f4m at M\u00f3n Vi\u1ec7t Cafe on Aug. 25, 2026, in Arlington. The dish is made of rice vermicelli noodles, crispy fried tofu and a fermented shrimp paste dipping sauce. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n![\"(Christine](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260825_MonVietCafe-9-1024x683.jpg\")
Manager B\u1ea3o Anh Phan laughs with co-workers during lunch rush at M\u00f3n Vi\u1ec7t Cafe on Aug. 25, 2026, in Arlington. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n