Bobby Chinn has announced that he will launch his first UK restaurant – The House of Ho – in London in late autumn 2013. The 90-seat site will be located at 55-59 Old Compton Street, Soho, and will be fun, informal, sexy and moderately priced. The food will be resolutely Vietnamese, the cuisine he has grown to learn and love, and the menus will mix traditional with a ‘Bobby twist’, incorporating some of the influences he has picked up in his myriad global travels.
Born in New Zealand to a Chinese father and Egyptian mother, Bobby was educated in England, lived for several years in the USA, where he developed an interest in cooking, then travelled the world, and has lived in Vietnam since 1996. He has two successful restaurants there, in Hanoi and Saigon, and will bring his signature Vietnamese cooking style to the new London venture. In addition to his two restaurant businesses in Vietnam, Bobby has hosted Discovery TLC’s award-winning World Café series for the past six years, and is currently filming upcoming episodes in Ireland, Mumbai, South Africa and the southern USA.
Bobby’s friend and fellow food adventurer Anthony Bourdain described Bobby as follows: “Interesting man – if there’s a true international man of mystery, it’s probably Bobby Chinn. He’s kind of like Rick in Casablanca – the man knows his stuff.”
