Get ready to slurp noodle soup with chopsticks! A Vietnamese restaurant is coming to Rock Hill. Mi Linh, located at 9737 Manchester Road, in the old China Inn space, will open doors on Sunday, May 12.
As Riverfront Times’ restaurant sleuth Ian Froeb reported a few weeks ago, the restaurant is owned by Dee Dee Tran. Tran is a native of Vietnam and a local businesswoman.
The house specialty, said Tran will be her family’s recipe for mi, a soup of wheat noodles in a rich, clear pork broth. Mi is a dish typical of southern Vietnam, she noted, and is also what lends the restaurant its name. (Linh, the latter half of the restaurant’s name, is a family name.) While Mi Linh will offer numerous dishes reflecting the Indochina region (Look for oodles of noodle-happy pho, hot pot comfort fare and vegetarian delights.), it will also spotlight southern Vietnamese cuisine that is influenced by China and France.
Helming the kitchen will be Tran’s brother, Nelson Tran. His 20-year tenure in the restaurant business has led him to kitchens in New York, Washington D.C., Philadelphia and Seattle. He recently returned to St. Louis.
Dee Dee Tran’s husband, an area contractor, has helped to transform the former China Inn space into one that reflects the culture of Vietnam as much as the food coming from the kitchen. Fixtures have even been imported from the Tran’s homeland.
When Mi Linh opens on Mother’s Day, its regular hours will be 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays and 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends.
This article appears in May 2013.