OUR STORY

The Story Of Tai Nguyen, Chef/Owner

Born in a small town in North Vietnam, at the young age of 15 - Tai cultivated the passion for cooking when he was given the responsibility of buying groceries at the market and cooking dinner for his family.

In 2001, Tai made a life changing decision move to Vancouver, where he developed a love for French cuisine. His experience was enriched at the award-winning French restaurant L'Emotion (West Vancouver), where he worked under the tutelage of Executive Chef Jean-Yves Benoit. He further apprenticed at the renowned French restaurant La Régalade (West Vancouver) before moving onto Mistral French Bistro(Kitsilano), reuniting him with Chef Benoit. In 2011, Tai rejoined Café Régalade with Steeve Rayé in Kitsilano. After one year, Tai joined the team of Chef Thierry Busset at Thierry Chocolaterie Patisserie Cafe (Downtown Vancouver) to further experience pastry skill till 2014.

In creating Linh Café, Tai merged the two loves of his life together – French foods and his family. That's why he used his wife's name, Linh for the restaurant.

Tai's dream is to create an unpretentious, casual, family style restaurant – serving authentic country style French cuisine with a twist of Vietnamese cuisine. He believes that good things are made up of simple pleasures. For Tai, there is great value in doing simple jobs with love and precision.

"Every ingredient, every process – I take it seriously. No cutting corners."

His philosophy is to balance work and family, he believes that is the way to be consistent in the long term.