Team of creatives opens Uncle’s Snack Shop, focuses on fun Asian-inspired eats
With a blast of colour, the Richmond joint offers a fresh take on fast food—and a nod to family
This isn’t your typical fast food. Uncle’s Snack Shop is all about fresh, creative, casual Asian-inspired eats. Photo by @stephwants
GREEN LEMONGRASS, A Vietnamese restaurant, has been in Patrick Do’s family for nearly two decades. Now, the chef behind Do Chay Saigon Vegetarian is reinventing the Richmond spot with two pals—restaurateur Kevin Lin and screenwriter Osric Chau—to give Metro Vancouverites a taste of fun, chef-driven, Asian-inspired fast food.
Uncle’s Snack Shop (8180 Westminster Highway) opens March 20, the name in honour of Do’s uncle John, who’s still part of the story, helping out in the kitchen. (As it turns out, Do is also about to be an uncle himself.)
It’s something completely different for the keen team.
Do operates Do Chay, a plant-based Vietnamese restaurant with locations in Yaletown (formerly known as House Special) and on Kingsway, with his sister and mom; he grew up in his parents’ dining establishments. Lin went to culinary school in Vancouver and studied hospitality in Switzerland; he has been involved in the local restaurant and hospitably industry for close to two decades. Chau is a close friend who works in the film industry and appeared in Supernatural. As soon as he heard about the snack shop’s concept, he wanted to be involved, lending his creative energy wherever it’s needed.
When they were kids, Do and his sister never called Green Lemongrass by its actual name; it was just “uncle’s”, “When they were younger, they would go to their uncle’s after school; it was their hangout spot for after-school snacks,” Lin says in an interview along with his business partners. “They would do some homework and eat. We wanted to keep that idea going with our generation and serve some of our favourite snack foods we grew up with: corn dogs, macaroni salad, fried chicken—we all went to Disneyland on childhood trips with our family. We’re also doing salads and a few rice dishes.”
They’ve modernized the space, giving it a bright blue patio, a bubble-gum pink merch room (expect to see it all over Instagram, with its lemon-yellow chair and succulents as decor), and, currently open for take-out only, lots of open space. On the walls are some of Do’s playful, colourful drawings (he’s an artist, too). Staff wear sunflower-yellow uniforms. Put it all together, and the place has a feel-good vibe.
The focus is on fun to be sure, but there’s an important distinction when it comes to the trio’s take on fast food. “Fast food is something I’ve always grown up with, and I love it,” Do says. “For me, I always wanted to do something where, you could eat it every day; it’s fresh and healthier, not traditional fast food.
“At a lot of fast-food places, their menus are static,” he says. “We’re all coming from a place where we want to do something to showcase our creativity.”
Uncle’s Snack Shop aims to make fast food you really can eat every day. Photo by @stephwants
Take the vegan Pom Pomelo Salad, for instance; with pickled watermelon rind, jicama, mint, and onion and a tamarind-based dressing, it’s the kind of inventive made-from-scratch plate you won’t find at any quick-stop chain. Corn dogs are made with Taiwanese sausages and have a brown-sugar-chili-garlic sauce; order one with a side of Uncle Scott’s Shake Shake Tots.
”Sandies” are a highlight. There’s Uncle Hing’s Hot Chick with purple cabbage, daikon slaw, Thai basil, and aioli; Uncle Pat’s Eggtofu Katsu Sandy, the egg tofu made in house, served with tartar and katsu sauce on milk bread; Uncle Kev’s OG Chicken Sandy, featuring ginger-scallion sauce and cucumber salad; and more.
Staff Meal is a daily rotating feature depending on what happens to inspire the team in the moment and what ingredients they can pick up at Richmond markets. They get their bread from a bakery across the street. “We want to support local suppliers whenever we can and use Richmond vendors as much as we can,” Do says.
Uncle’s is keeping the trio busy while they put the finishing touches on Saola, a modern Asian restaurant coming to 2415 Main Street. It takes its name and inspiration from a buffalo relative with long, straight horns that’s only found in Laos and Vietnam.
Why do the three do it? “My mom and dad used to say to me all the time, ‘don’t go into the food and beverage industry!’” Lin says with a laugh. “We all love it: we love meeting people, and when they truly enjoy something we’ve made with our bare hands from scratch, and they’re happy, there’s nothing better than that.”
You pretty much can’t miss it Photo by @stephwants
Related Articles
