E X P AT LI F E
Fish a la Cart Taking fish and chips to the streets Text by NPD Khanh Images by Loc Nguyen
Meet JJ’s Fish and Chips (38B Tran Hung Dao, D1), the self-proclaimed first-ever authentic fish and chips streetside food cart in HCMC. JJ is short for Jamie, the Englishman who missed his home country’s national dish way too much to let a lack of business experience stop him from making it the star of his business, and Jackie, Jamie’s Chinese-Vietnamese partner in life, business, and cooking. “I had the idea nearly a year ago,” explains Jamie. “A couple of months after my move from England to Vietnam, I went looking for fish and chips. I was missing it badly. I went into English restaurants and places where they serve fish and chips, but every time I was served french fries. French fries are okay 28
but when you really want chunky chips… The fish was quite nice, but we got french fries. So I thought, well, nobody's doing it here so maybe I should do it. I thought about opening up a street food place where I'd sell for maybe three or four hours a day. That’s how the idea came alive.” Sounds simple? Bigger things have started out with ideas far simpler than that. Besides, its star entree is hardly the only thing that Jamie claims is unique about his stall. Open from 6pm every night on the corner of Tran Hung Dao and De Tham in the backpacker area, JJ’s is a humble yellow-painted food stand with a couple of collapsible chairs and tables in front for a quickly removable dining area in case the