As of next week, Le Red Tiger will be celebrating being five years in business with two things that are perfect for the summer: Beer and ice cream. The beer is a collaboration with Brasserie Harricana, while the all-new menu items of ice cream and sorbet will be available starting Wednesday, June 10.
Five years is definitely an achievement, so the restaurant will be offering the Harricana brew that's hoppy with an aded sweetness from pomello. Because Le Red Tiger is registered as a bar, it won’t be possible to pick up cans of the Harricana-Le Red Tiger beer from the restaurant, but they’re making it available at the restaurant family’s ice cream joint Kamehameha. A single can goes for $4, a six-pack for $22, two six-packs for $42 and four six-packs for $78.
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As for the ice cream, the new item on the menu will begin with Vietnamese coffee ice cream coupled with soursop sorbet, a fruit that's grown in Southeast Asia and tastes of strawberries and apple with some notes of sour citrus. Later on, the restaurant has plans to roll out lychee and pandan as flavours as well. If you love what they have, another scoop will only put you back $3 while two scoops goes for $5.
When Dan Pham softly opened his Vietnamese restaurant Le Red Tiger in the Village on May 4, 2015, he never would have imagined that in five years he would have served over 500,000 people. “We’re really happy, and it’s a statement for a restaurant to be open that long," Pahm told Time Out in an interview. "People say that if you last up to 2 years, you’re good, you’re a staple. Now I’m looking to the future.”
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With five years of a successful restaurant under his belt, what kind of advice does Pham have for people looking to get into the restaurant industry? “It’s best to adapt fast,” Pham explains. “After five years, I’ve been opening other restaurants and I’ve made errors, and one of my biggest mistakes is taking too much time to do something. When you see a menu isn’t working well, change it right away, don’t wait a few months.”
“The other thing is partnership," Pham says. "When you’re in a partnership, you’re in a marriage, and getting partners that contribute and work with you should go in the same direction. For me, successful partnerships are ones where everyone has certain roles. At Red Tiger, (chef Phong Thach) takes care of the food, I take care of the operations, and so on.”
The restaurant's not letting something like COVID-19 slow it down. Having shut down along with the rest of the city since March 15, the resumed takeout and delivery with a condensed menu classics that are available for both pickup (for a 10% discount!) and delivery via Uber Eats. Since their reopening, happy fans have been coming in a steady stream to express how much they missed the food, according to Pham.
If you want the full experience, listen in on Le Red Tiger's restaurant playlist on Spotify while you're kicking back with a meal, a couple beers and some scoops of ice cream.
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