Anh and Chi is a beloved Vietnamese restaurant located in a hip and trendy Mt. Pleasant neighbourhood of Vancouver, BC. Translated as brother and sister in Vietnamese, Vincent (Ahn) and Amelie (Chi) Nguyên have refurbished once-known as Pho Hoàng into an award-winning, vibrant and cultured hub in 2016 which became an instant classic to many Vancouverites. 

Vincent and Amelie's parents, Lý & Hoàng Nguyên, arrived in Canada as post-war refugees, known as “boat people” from Vietnam. With holding great responsibility to provide for their young three children and carrying deep nostalgia for what they left behind back in mother country, they started making Pho out of their newfound home in Vancouver. Soon after, friends and neighbours started to come by. So they began a small pop up shop, which ended up evolving into an iconic noodle shop on Main Street in 1983. 

For 33 years, they operated Pho Hoàng Vietnamese Restaurant, the first and longest standing Pho speciality house in the city. In 2016, Vincent and Amelie took the family business over and turned it into a sophisticated, hip yet unpretentious local hotspot, Anh and Chi. While still staying true to the same core values to be family-oriented, inclusive and community-driven just as their parents’ Pho shop, it has, slowly but surely, changed Vancouver’s stereotypical Vietnamese food dining scene with their authentic yet modern flair.

Co-founder of Anh and Chi, Amelie Nguyên, has reached out to me when the Canadian government announced its border closure due to Covid-19. Emergency aid bill had passed, 14-day quarantine for arrivals to Canada was made mandatory... During this unprecedented time being, Amelie and I swiftly adapted to make one of her dreams come true: design and bottle the restaurant's signature fish, soy and peanut sauces. Based on my analysis of the current Anh and Chi brand aesthetics and research, I’ve developed and introduced a secondary colour scheme as well as new typefaces, and intricately weaved their inspiring and heart-warming family story into the packaging design.

Launching this dream-coming-true project successfully opened up other opportunities. Thus, Anh and Chi hired me as an in-house Marketing & Creative Lead. My services varied depending on the client’s needs from project management, designing recipe cards for their meal kits, providing art direction at photo shoots, doing photography & cinematography for social media content creation, menu design to fully functioning e-commerce website design.

Here, with my utmost pleasure, I am showcasing some of the project highlights working with Anh and Chi, including the Me (Mom)'s Chilli Fish Sauce, Sweet Soy Sauce, Artisan Peanut Sauce (which are available via Legends Haul and The August Market), a few recipe cards as well as menu design.

Update: This project has been selected as one of the winners of Advertising Photography by Applied Arts Magazine in 2021.

Services offered:

• Art Direction

• Project Management 

• Research

• Naming 

• Sourcing

• Branding 

• Packaging Design 

• E-commerce Website Design

• Brand Style Guide Design 

• Media Kit Design

• Menu Design  

• Food Styling 

• Merchandising  

• Photography

• Cinematography 

• Marketing Planning

• Social Media Marketing

• Wholesale & Customer Database Building