Ashleigh Nguyen and Lily Tran have taken the reins at Albion’s Arlette’s Kitchen, a bespoke French-Vietnamese fusion restaurant, that offers a high quality and authentic menu in a provincial style Queenslander setting.
Ashleigh stumbled across the opportunity to own her dream venue after returning to Brisbane from a UK and Europe holiday with her fiance. “[I] was intending to get back to uni to study psychology when this opportunity came up… We’ve come to discover that Albion is a pretty special suburb; leafy, peaceful and unique and we couldn’t ask for a more supportive community,” said Ashleigh.
With experience in the hospitality industry herself, Ashleigh knew that this would be a project requiring extra support. She approached her best friend Lily, who was living in Sydney at the time, to join her. “Lily has always been working in the kitchen and has an extensive knowledge of all things food. She has worked in a variety of venues, from Manly Grill to The mint to Nour in Surry Hills, where she was filmed in The Chef Line 2017 series on SBS… Luckily, she wanted a change so she packed her bags and left Sydney for a new opportunity.”
Both young women, who first arrived in Australia in 2008, have a passion for creating a unique French-Vietnamese culinary experience. “The cafe/restaurant is all about making people feel at home and content … they are experiencing the kind of authentic cuisine that Lily and I have grown up on.” The restaurateurs’ love for high quality, sustainable food has grown over time and is a great focus of Arlette’s. “We take pride in knowing what goes into all of our products… We love to shop locally and know who we are supporting. Our producers are 100 per cent Australian owned and operated.”
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