Vietnamese coffee tradition brought to Ormeau Road
A Vietnamese restaurateur is bringing the Southeast Asian country’s coffee tradition to a new store in south Belfast.
William Chan has opened the first branch of Phin on Ormeau Road after selling Madame Pho, the Vietnamese restaurant he founded in 2020.
Phin, named after a tool used in coffee brewing in Vietnam, has opened at a unit previously occupied by coffee shop chain District.
Mr Chan said he had a “passion” for hospitality after growing up in the trade, with his family owning Furama, a Chinese restaurant in Antrim for over 30 years.
He added: “I previously had a Vietnamese restaurant in Belfast, Madame Pho, as well, and it was always our plan to open a standalone coffee business.
“Coffee culture is actually really big in Vietnam so we wanted to bring quite an authentic experience to Belfast and really just educate people on Vietnamese coffee.
“It’s actually the second-largest grower of coffee in the world and I don’t think a lot of people are educated on that.
“It uses a Robusta bean which in a lot of places is used as a filler bean to mix in with premium Arabica, but we’re trying to use it as a premium blend, which is what they do in Vietnam.”
On the possibility of more venues, he said: “We’re just trying to get this set up first but we do have plans to open a few more. We would love to be able to bring this to different areas of Belfast. That’s definitely in our plans.
“We’ll be doing the Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches, sort of like Vietnamese baguettes, just to really complement the authenticity of what we’re trying to do.”
Phin isn’t the first Vietnamese coffee shop here. Brothers Gary and Martin Small opened the first Vietnamese coffee shop on the island of Ireland in Belfast’s Great Victoria Street in 2017, though the unit closed down during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Gary said it had since become a major supplier in the UK, supplying many Vietnamese coffee shops and restaurants.
