Vietnamese bread shop in New York makes customers wait for an hour

“A few months ago I visited the restaurant and had to give up because the line was more than an hour long,” Danielle, a tourist in New York, left a review about Banh Anh Em restaurant on Google. In mid-December, Danielle returned, arriving 20 minutes before opening time but still had to wait more than an hour to get a table.

Anh Em Bakery is located in the center of New York, opened by Ms. Ton Thi Hong Nhu, born in 1990, from Buon Ma Thuot (Dak Lak) and her colleagues in early April. In less than a year, the Vietnamese bakery was included in the Bib Gourmand list by Michelin Guide 2025 (Restaurants with delicious food at affordable prices).

Banh Anh Em is not the only handmade Vietnamese bread shop in New York, but it is one of the few that made a splash right after opening. Famous American newspapers reported long lines of people waiting for hours to buy and the recognition from Michelin partly proved it. Michelin evaluates that the queue is always filled with customers, showing “the appeal of this Vietnamese restaurant that does not accept reservations”. The dishes are carefully prepared and seasoned harmoniously. The bread is a highlight with a light crispy crust, spongy inside and hot filling. The menu also has many other Vietnamese dishes such as pho, pork rolls and banh xeo.

Behind this success, it is necessary to mention the journey of more than a decade of “struggling” in the F&B industry of the Vietnamese female restaurant owner. Ms. Nhu arrived in the US 13 years ago with only 100 USD in her pocket, after graduating in restaurant and hotel management in Vietnam. During the first 5 years alone in New York, Nhu worked in all positions in the restaurant from washing dishes, cleaning, helping in the kitchen to being a bartender. She used to find it difficult to integrate, feeling ignored. isolation, even depression many times.

She started teaching herself to cook Vietnamese dishes at the end of 2012. The small kitchen in her rented house became a place to help her “heal”. Two years later, she contributed capital to buy the Com Tam Ninh Kieu restaurant in the Bronx. During the peak of the pandemic in 2022, she opened Vietnamese Shop House on the Upper West Side. While other restaurants are closed, she sells pop-ups (seasonal). Curious customers lined up on the street, keeping their distance to buy Vietnamese food through the glass window, turning the restaurant into a phenomenon on social networks and newspapers in New York.

After more than 10 years in business and continuously traveling across America, Nhu realized that diners are willing to pay high prices for Japanese and Italian food, evaluating the dishes of these countries as culinary art. Vietnamese foods that are popular in America like pho or banh mi are considered “popular, cheap street food”.

“Making a standard bowl of pho or loaf of bread is more complicated and labor-intensive than Japanese or Italian dishes. The process of proofing the dough and making the crust alone takes a day,” Ms. Nhu said. Anh Em Bakery was born to change this concept through the handmade process from crust to filling, sauce and side dishes.

She spent more than two years researching bread-making techniques, learning from bakers in Vietnam, France, Denmark and Japan, before returning to New York to test and perfect her own recipe. According to her, New York’s hard water source plays a key role in producing standard Vietnamese-style cake crust. Food chemistry studies have shown that this city’s water source has ideal hardness with stable mineral and calcium content, which is trusted by famous pizza and bagel bakers here.

This mineral source provides nutrients for yeast, helping the gluten structure develop more sustainably. When baked, the strong elasticity of gluten allows the bread to puff up to the maximum, creating a thin, crispy exterior and a soft, spongy interior of Vietnamese bread.

Unlike the industrial baking process, Nhu’s shop ferments the dough overnight and bakes the cakes on the spot 15-20 minutes before opening. Cakes are continuously baked in small batches throughout selling hours to ensure hotness. All ingredients from Hai Phong pate, pickled foods, chili sauce to fillings such as charcoal-grilled beef, roasted pork, and betel leaf beef are all processed in the kitchen, not imported industrial goods.

Every day, the shop serves about 200 loaves of bread for an average price of 15 USD. Ms. Nhu explained that this price reflects the labor costs in New York and the preparation time of more than a day for each batch of handmade cakes. Compared to the general level, the price is nearly twice as high but “is the maximum effort to make it accessible to everyone”.

“If using machines it only takes a few hours, doing it by hand is a creative and meticulous process for the chef,” she said. She wants to spread sophisticated craftsmanship, honoring cooking and the beauty of Vietnamese cuisine.

Human resource issues are always difficult in the F&B industry, especially with craft shops. Ms. Nhu tries to build the shop into a “second home” for employees, most of whom are immigrants or Vietnamese expatriates in New York.

“To build a healthy community, it takes a lot of work and effort.” Ms. Nhu said she often spends 12-15 hours a day in the kitchen, kneading dough, grilling meat and preparing ingredients with the staff. There are no mass production machines, but the “human strength and meticulousness” of expatriate Vietnamese chefs in the kitchen like Ms. Hang and Ms. Tuyet, are called “artisans” by Ms. Nhu.

The shop serves about 2,000-2,700 loaves of bread per week depending on the time. The menu changes regularly based on ingredients, but always keeps 2-4 fixed dishes. The shop is often overloaded, out of stock after the first wave of customers and does not accept reservations.

Ms. Nhu said that when it first opened, customers only needed to queue for 30-60 minutes. Since October, customers have to wait 2-3 hours on weekends. The shop can accommodate 50-60 guests. After 6 months, the store tested delivery but quickly stopped because the number of customers on site was too crowded. Ms. Nhu still considers expanding delivery or take-away services if the kitchen has enough capacity to serve.

The 35-year-old owner said that most of the customers are Asians, Vietnamese Americans or expatriate students. After the restaurant was introduced in American newspapers, more local customers also came.

Mr. Loi Truong, a Vietnamese living in the US, said he traveled more than two hours from Central Jersey to New York just to visit the restaurant to try the bread. He had to find a parking space two blocks away from the restaurant and wait about 90 minutes for a table.

He commented that the restaurant’s space is rustic and cozy, the staff is friendly and professional, and the food is delicious.

“The portion is a bit small but worth it. It’s definitely one of the Vietnamese restaurants I want to come back to,” Mr. Loi said.