Kim’s Asian Restaurant notches three decades

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This article was published 10/11/2018 (2763 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The past 30 years have flown by for the owners of local staple Kim’s Asian Restaurant.

Owner Angie Nguyen remembers when her mom Kim Van and dad Binh Nguyen opened their first location in 1988 in what is now known as The Town Centre in downtown Brandon.

“I was looking at photos with my mom, and I was thinking, ‘Mom when we first started we were a little shop, a little kiosk kind of thing,” Nguyen exclaimed. “It’s crazy, 30 years went by so fast.”

With hard work and dedication to their craft, the Nguyens found success later expanding their shop when they moved locations to 42 McTavish Ave E in 2000.

The family was able to open a second location at 2330 Victoria Ave in late April of this year.

Coming from modest beginnings, Nguyen is amazed and humbled by the prosperity her family has fostered in town.

Nguyen’s parents were refugees of the Vietnam war. The family had a home and restaurant in the country before the war broke out, but then everything was taken from them.

Escaping their country in the dead of night, they left everything behind in the hopes of finding a safer and better life.

They spent about a year waiting in Malaysia until they were able to move to Brandon.

“You just run,” Nguyen exclaimed, “to see my parents go through that and to see them thrive… I just want my parents to have peace and happiness.”

Eventually landing in Brandon, the family would never have found their new home and launched their restaurant without help from St. George’s Anglican Church.

The church sponsored Nguyen’s family to come to Brandon in 1978 in the middle of the winter.

“My mom said it was a shock,” Nguyen laughed.

Coming into the Brandon community with nothing, her parents set to work creating a business from scratch.

Having a love of cooking, Nguyen’s mother decided a restaurant seemed like the best fit for a family business. From there the family has found their home and happiness in the town, Nguyen said.

“We’re very grateful for everybody and very thankful,” Nguyen said, “This is home.”

At the restaurant one can order off the menu or explore the restaurants buffet. There is a selection of Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese food on hand.

“Pho is very popular,” Nguyen laughed.

The secret to the restaurants success has been the passion that fuels their dedication to quality food and service.

Nguyen and her brother Billy grew up in the kitchen, with her parents instilling a deep work ethic in them and a love of the industry.

Kim’s has regulars that remember Nguyen when she was little, watched her grow up and are now watching her kids grow up, she joked.

“I enjoyed it, I grew up in it I think it’s just in me,” Nguyen said.

And Nguyen’s kids are following in her footsteps, just as she and her brother did with their parents.

“I look at my kids and think oh my god history is repeating itself,” Nguyen said.

With their second location just over seven months old now, Nguyen said, the focus of the family is providing the same quality food to the community, like they have been for the last 30 years.

They’re busier with the two restaurants, with her brother running the one on McTavish. Working 12 or 13 hour days the family has become time management masters, she chuckled.

Nguyen hopes to the restaurant continue to flourish and grow over the next 30 years, and hopefully a little longer.

“We love what we do, to see everybody and talk to everybody.”

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