About Us
Celebrated Chef Kimmy Tang is widely considered a pioneer in Asian fusion cuisine with over three decades of culinary experience. Tang was born and raised in Saigon and was first introduced to the culinary arts at an early age. She learned how to prepare traditional Vietnamese dishes because her mother would insisted that she prepare her own meals stating, “…You never know when it will come in handy”.
By the age of nine, Tang was already a celebrated chef who after school would set up a little kitchen to create and sell her wonderful culinary creations to children in the neighborhood. This would become Chef Tang’s first successful venture despite the fact that she allowed her customers to pay with toy money!
After the fall of Saigon in 1975, the Tangs lost everything and tried to flee Vietnam. Finally in 1986, after a seven-month detour in a Filipino refugee camp, the Tang family arrived to Bakersfield, California.
Now safely in the US, Tang went to work in a Chinese restaurant while attending night classes to learn English. After relocating to Los Angeles, Chef Tang perfected her culinary training in a popular Japanese restaurant and simultaneously pursued a fashion designing degree. Upon graduating, Chef Tang decided to combine her culinary and cooking passions by designing and opening the celebrated Michelia Asian Bistro.
Eager to unleash her culinary and creative talents, Chef Kimmy used Michelia to feature foods inspired by old Chinese and Vietnamese recipes while incorporating French cooking techniques to soothe Southern California tastes. This wonderful culinary blend “wowed” critics from the L.A. Times, Los Angeles Magazine and many others earning Chef Tang a 25 food rating in the Zagat Survey!
Longing to explore the world and perfect her culinary skills, Chef Tang sold Michelia in 2008 and started a journey to discover and study traditional recipes from Greece, Hungary, Spain, Romania, France, Italy, Germany, and also from her home country of Vietnam. This served to expand her cooking repertoire even further.
In summer of 2009, inspired by her time abroad, Chef Tang opened her first pho restaurant, 9021Pho in Beverly Hills. 9021Pho catered to the health conscious food-lover, featuring Asian recipes with French influences and a California inspired flair. Following the success of Beverly Hills, Chef Tang opened a second location in Westlake Village, California in 2010. Followed by Glendale and Sherman Oaks locations in 2011 and Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood in 2013.