Thuyen Vo doesn't think Vung Tau is a B*TCH city!

Niall sits down with Thuyen Vo, a former host on the Best Ever Food Review Show and the founder of Easy English and Easy Vietnamese language centers. Thuyen opens up about her experiences navigating the post-pandemic world, content creation, and her newfound passion for the fine dining industry.

Thuyen reflects on her time with the Best Ever Food Review Show, sharing behind-the-scenes anecdotes and the challenges of unscripted on-camera moments. She also delves into the magic of editing and how it transforms the viewing experience.

As she explores her journey into content creation, Thuyen discusses the impatience of the millennial mindset, the allure of instant gratification, and the art of labeling one's identity. She reveals her newfound love for the fine dining segment, fueled by her exposure to Michelin-starred restaurants and the realization that food can be an art form.

Thuyen also touches on the impact of the Michelin Guide's arrival in Vietnam and the transformation of Saigon's culinary scene. She shares her desire to further her education in hospitality and discover the fine dining cultures of other countries.

Key Takeaways:

- The power of unscripted moments in creating authentic content and audience connections.
- The millennial need for labels and the generational differences in self-expression.
- The evolution of Saigon's culinary landscape, from street food dominance to the emergence of fine dining experiences.
- The transformative impact of exposure to Michelin-starred restaurants and the appreciation of food as an art form.
- The drive to continuously learn and explore new avenues within the hospitality and culinary industries.

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Transcript

Thuyen: 0:31

since the lockdown lifts, everybody gets back to normal. And that is why I, I didn't have a chance to, work with Best Ever Food Review Show ever again I still run Easy English and Easy Vietnamese. I also spent the last year focusing on content creating on my old channel. on Instagram. I started making a lot of reels on Instagram and it picked up. I think is quite tricky because. You have to put yourself out there all the time, I feel I choose a niche. that I want to go into the fine dining segment we are so famous for street food. And if you look at, content creating for street food is like way too many and I cannot compete with that.

Niall: 1:23

Vietnam is famous street food and it's so competitive The food has changed dramatically we just had the Michelin Guide

Thuyen: 1:29

come to Vietnam for the first time what difference did that make to the scene?

Niall: 1:48

Welcome to another episode of a Vietnam podcast This is season 10 where I am interviewing past guests who have joined me throughout previous seasons My name is Niall Mackay and I first came to Vietnam in 2015 for a holiday I went back to New Zealand where I lived at the time and my wife and I just couldn't stop eating Vietnamese food Vietnamese coffee even Ba Ba uh which is one of the worst beers you can get fell in love with the place decided to come back came back for about six weeks and eight years later we're still here So there's something about Vietnam that keeps us here My guest today was on season six back in 2021 She's been a host on the Best Ever Food Review Show which is one of the biggest channels on YouTube She has her own English and Vietnamese language centers And she was on season six way back in 2021 when we were smack dab in the middle of a lockdown pandemic We met online on Zoom and we've never met before until today So my guest today is Toin Vo

Thuyen: 2:56

Wow. Great introduction. Thank you for having me. So, Best Ever Food Review Show is a food review channel. So me and Sonny, the channel owner, we have a mutual friends. And then one day the friend just kind of texts me and. My friend is looking for somebody who can eat and then react, like, do you want to get involved? I'm like, okay, so it sounds fun. And I have no, like, prior experience, you know, so I was just like him come in and then I'm like, okay, hard can it be? And the coolest thing is Sonny actually gave me my own segment called the 10 Dollar Dining, and he gave me 10 and I had to figure out three meals for the day. Yeah, and I hosted that alone. Yeah. So it's a really, really cool, cool thing to do. That would be so easy. Breakfast,

Niall: 3:49

com tam, lunch, com tam, dinner, com tam, done. Thank you for coming back and a big part of the last episode which we won't get into was how terrible my Vietnamese is I think I'll listen to it again We spent about the first five minutes discussing how to say your name but I think I'm I'm a bit better now No

Thuyen: 4:07

that sounds really good

Niall: 4:09

more of that then No more of that Nailed it I'll take that I'll accept that It's finally so good to meet you in person I've seen so much about the Best Ever Food Review Show It's just gone from strength to strength Um we talked in the last episode how you got into that but what's happening in general with you now since we last spoke in 2021 which is only three years ago but it's It seems like a lifetime ago because of the pandemic

Thuyen: 4:31

It is like, I barely remember what happened since. Um, yeah, but, uh, since the lockdown lifts, everybody gets back to normal. And that is why I, I didn't have a chance to work with best ever Food review Show ever again

Niall: 4:48

Oh no because

Thuyen: 4:49

he'd been traveling the world and yeah, I hope that he comes back and then I get to be on it again. Um, yeah, but I still run the center. I still run Easy English and Easy Vietnamese. And, I also spent the last year focusing on content creating on my old channel. Uh, on Instagram.

Niall: 5:10

did miss something out from my introduction actually that I meant to say Something really really important that I don't think you would know this So I'm not big on YouTube I'm a podcaster I do audio podcasting But when we were in lockdown we could obviously record over Zoom which as I said I listen back and the audio quality was absolutely terrible because Zoom is a terrible platform for that But we recorded ourselves and I put it on YouTube And I'll be honest I leveraged on your experience in the Best Ever Food Review Show So I put in the title Oh let me go back a step Actually you can see what people search for and I've never told you this one either or maybe I did tell you by message I'm not sure but the number one search term for my website how people found my website was Sonny's Wife Twinvaugh

Thuyen: 5:55

Oh my god.

Niall: 5:57

So many people Sonny's wife question mark is Twinvaugh Sonny's wife the internet thought that you were Sonny's wife or they wanted to know

Thuyen: 6:05

you did the

Niall: 6:06

or they put Best of a Food Review Show Twinvaugh So I leveraged that and put in the title of YouTube video Twinvaugh from Best of a Food Review Show which I didn't in the beginning but Thank you everyone Well because I did that I don't know how the YouTube algorithm works but I think what happened was when somebody watched you on the Best Ever Food Review show they would maybe come up at the end like do you want to watch this And I think for a short time It came up my video So it went through the roof It's the most watched video I've ever had on YouTube And I looked at it last week and it said something like This video has been watched 1073 times This is 1000 times more than normal

Thuyen: 6:53

We should celebrate.

Niall: 6:55

So thank you very much It's it's quite funny Um I think I only have like 120 subscribers and if you look at the data half of them came from that video because they were watching Probably to find out if you were Sonny's wife

Thuyen: 7:07

that video because

Niall: 7:09

Let's make it clear right now We'll clear that up right now You are not Sonny's wife

Thuyen: 7:13

find out if you were Sonny's wife. You need to clear that up right now. anyone that on the show, you know what I mean? Like, because, um, they call it the editing magic. And every time when somebody is on the show, it's like great chemistry. So yeah, I maybe that's

Niall: 7:37

us now that you don't have good chemistry with

Thuyen: 7:40

chemistry with science. No

Niall: 7:42

just revealed it

Thuyen: 7:44

revealed it. No, of course, yes. I mean, um, but still it's work, you know. Yeah, and then, and then, yeah, it's hard to film. So, but then they make it very nice and you know, but it's actually a lot of work. I mean, for the team. I just show up, but you know what I mean

Niall: 8:05

I do it

Thuyen: 8:06

they make everything like look gray and smooth and easy, but, but it's not

Niall: 8:11

what's some of the funny things that's happened to you when you've been filming with the Best Ever Food Review Show

Thuyen: 8:16

think the number one thing is, um, Like, I am not an expert on food at that time, and then people solely watch me because how I react. Like, somehow it's funny, and, um, he likes to do this thing where he didn't tell me what we were going to shoot that day. So I just show up and I'm like,

Niall: 8:37

great

Thuyen: 8:38

And, um, you know, I hate things when it's really squirmy, you know, slimy kind of thing. And then we have this sea, I don't know how you say that, it's like a sea worm. it looks crazy. And then he was like, uh, do you want to come over here and touch it? And I'm like, maybe not. So he put it on my, my hands and I hold it and oh my God, it was a craziest thing. Like I didn't want to do that ever again. But yeah, like, like something like that. It happened quite often just because. they want to get

Niall: 9:14

a me He's just setting you up to get

Thuyen: 9:16

Yeah, yeah, which I like, you know, because I'm not, uh, I don't do well with like too scripted, like stage kind of thing. And for this show, definitely like nothing like that. Like don't even, they don't even tell you what you're going to shoot. So, you know, no, no stage.

Niall: 9:35

I do remember I think it was you I think I messaged you about this You were I think it was in Vung Tau and you talked about going to the beach But English obviously isn't your first language

Thuyen: 9:47

Oh, the bitch!

Niall: 9:48

beach Yes you you remember it

Thuyen: 9:51

god, that was embarrassing.

Niall: 9:53

Do

Thuyen: 9:55

to people listening what I'm referencing, if they guess already?

Niall: 10:09

And now you're banned from Vung

Thuyen: 10:11

know your family's name? Like you said, right? English is not my first language. And, um, I saw a few bad laughing at you like I don't mean to no, no, but okay. I mean, yeah, people did comment a lot about that and yeah, he, he like emphasized that in the editing,

Niall: 10:34

I want to hear more about your doing content creation said you're now doing you're excited to be on the podcast because you're looking at maybe doing your own podcast getting into your own content creation for food Tell us more about that

Thuyen: 10:45

I think it takes a lot more because I'm so used to doing just vertical, like a story kind of thing.

Niall: 10:53

And

Thuyen: 10:54

And that's why I thought to myself that TikTok and Instagram is easier because you're not as shorter and it's faster. Like you don't have to make like the whole production, like 15 minutes. So I started making a lot of reels on Instagram and it picked up. Like. I got a lot of views, a lot of comments, a lot of followers, and I think I started to get into it because, you know, I'm the type of person I need to see results. Like, I cannot go years and years and years. And Sonny told me this story about how he started and it takes years.

Niall: 11:30

I've seen his first video and it is an inspiration some of my I mean this what we're doing right now is

Thuyen: 11:35

Right

Niall: 11:36

than what I've done before and his first ever video it was like grainy oh black and white oh no it wasn't black and white but it was like you know it was poor quality and see it now and he's got one of the best channels Exactly. But you want to go straight to the top

Thuyen: 11:50

No, like yeah, I am a millennial. Yeah, like I'm impatient, you know, so yeah, but then I make reels and I, I figure I really like doing that. And then last year I have some opportunities, you know, to get into a lot of, uh, You know, um, how do you say that? Like unique kind of dining experiences. And that is why I was so excited to, you know, edit the videos because usually I was not, it takes a lot of time. And, um, and yeah, that, that's what happened. So things started picking up and then I got to work with different brands. Um, I step up, I spend more time on content creating and, you know, they call it like the food business. F& B Influencer, kind of thing, which I don't know,

Niall: 12:41

I, still cannot

Thuyen: 12:42

still cannot accept it. Well, yes, I hope so, you know, because, um, people watch you that's real, and they do follow, um, in the sense of like, they want recommendations, and, like, I'm the same. If I go to a restaurant now, I would not just go. That's crazy. In 2024, like you, you have to read reviews and you have to go online, you know, see how it looks like. Right. See the food, see the

Niall: 13:10

Just saying to me like right no I do not need to do that But my wife does And I friends that I remember we were out we were in Bali somewhere and she was like hold on let me find out what's the best dish to order And I was like what do you mean She's like I'll just look up all the reviews And I I would never do that in a million years I don't wanna know the menu I wanna show up get given a menu look at it It's gonna be the same five things as every other menu It's gonna be a burger a pasta a pizza something I deserve it, I Like you would figure out something

Thuyen: 13:42

like you will figure out some hidden terms like that, right? Like, like, yeah, I agree. But. Like, I'm so anxious, so I have to do my search, right? And, and yeah, I slowly accept the title, you know, because I feel like if I get the title and I owe it, and then I started working, Like as an influencer, then I'd be okay with it. Like if I don't accept that, and then I would be like, so what am I, you know, like, like I'm not even proud of my own work, then, then that's not great. So yeah, so I accepted that. I put it on my LinkedIn, you know, and then, and then it's, it's became something.

Niall: 14:21

You mentioned you're a millennial You almost look too young to be a millennial I'm an elder millennial I've found out which is bizarre

Thuyen: 14:30

millennial. What do you mean an elder,

Niall: 14:31

I'm on like the cusp so like I'm born in 82 like I'm just a millennial look a lot younger than me But it's funny because I don't know there's a American right wing talk show woman person I don't even know what she is her name's Tammy Lahren This was years ago she was on the Trevor Noah show like the Daily Show with Trevor Noah and she went well you know I'm a millennial so I don't like labels And he's like you just labeled yourself there like yeah and I didn't realize that's a millennial trait that they love to label themselves

Thuyen: 15:06

Oh, maybe.

Niall: 15:07

you've just done it You're like I need a label I

Thuyen: 15:10

I mean, you, you kind of have, Oh, I know what you mean now. Yeah, I think so. I think Gen Z, they, they prefer a little more freedom. But as a millennial, we need labels to navigate our life. Because what am I if I'm not an influencer?

Niall: 15:25

When did this start though that we needed to name the generations Because I remember five ten years ago I barely even knew I was a millennial I didn't know what a Gen Z was until about six months ago Before we were all just people and now suddenly it's like Oh I'm like I hear Gen Zers They're proud to be like Oh you know I'm

Thuyen: 15:42

Boomers

Niall: 15:43

are not proud to be called boomers That's like an insult If you're like okay boomer And then as millennials are like In the middle somewhere

Thuyen: 15:50

no, I think, I think the word has been changing like drastically. Don't, don't you agree? Like, I feel like now people started to have some time, like downtime and then really sit down and think about thing. That's why the term healings, like really rising. And, and I think so. I think,

Niall: 16:10

I don't

Thuyen: 16:11

know, again, I want to label it so I can, I know who people, like, where they are, you know? Have you ever heard of a millennial pause?

Niall: 16:20

a millennial pause?

Thuyen: 16:23

Okay, so, oh my god, I don't know why I'm getting into this, but a millennial, usually when you film a video, you will press record, and then you pause, and then you talk. You don't, do you know that? Oh my god. And then the Zenzi, they would just start talking. They don't pause. Yeah, that's the thing like, oh my God, I spent way too much time on TikTok

Niall: 18:34

so I don't know Yeah yeah

Thuyen: 18:37

I'm not a Gen Z, so

Niall: 18:39

Gen Z

Thuyen: 18:40

pause Yeah. Yeah. Like my, my TikTok is like millennial content.

Niall: 18:45

is gonna change your life and so my wife who's also an elder millennial is all about the Gen Z selfie have your phone here right so you know how you take a selfie camera faces you so pick up your phone let's we'll do a selfie right take a selfie of yourself like a normal selfie

Thuyen: 19:01

I would just do it with my camera facing me, you

Niall: 19:04

yeah right so apparently the Gen Z selfie is Turn do turn it around so it's not on the selfie so it's coming out the front camera Now now put it on 0 5

Thuyen: 19:15

5.

Niall: 19:16

turn it around and take the picture with the side button Which one of the side buttons takes the picture No you closed it That That was the wrong button See no but I do the same as well This is the try it again the jet This is Gen Z It's one of the volume buttons I think takes the picture

Thuyen: 19:32

Oh yeah, I did. And that was awkward,

Niall: 19:35

But that's a Gen Z selfie And it's way better because you put on 0 up way more And the camera is a higher quality than the selfie camera right

Thuyen: 19:46

they figure it out. They'll figure

Niall: 19:47

that out so I've taught you something new the Gen Z selfie So now when you do your TikToks and your videos and your selfies I want to see it I want to see the Gen Z Selfie.

Thuyen: 19:56

let's confuse

Niall: 19:57

how they do it Yeah there You go So what's next then in terms of your content creation your food and beverage influence You mentioned that you're friends with Joval who's also been on the podcast during the pandemic well

Thuyen: 20:09

great. Yeah. Um, you know, I, uh, talking about content creating, I think is quite tricky because. You have to put yourself out there all the time, I feel And that is why at first I was quite hesitant to, to do it. Like still now I'm not doing it full time. Like I'm still doing Easy English. Um, but I feel like it's like now it's the time, you know, you kind of have to jump on that train because my background is marketing and I can see how, how effective that is. And, um, I start to have the perspective of both the business and then the consumer because I've been on both sides and that's why I wanted to try to do it first and then I want to learn more about that. That's why I want to kind of go to Europe next year and learn, I don't know, about hospitality or something like that. Um, I don't know, but do you have this feeling when you, I'm okay, I'm 29,

Niall: 21:13

Oh she's reviewed it She's taught her zone Now

Thuyen: 21:15

I'm fine with that. And I feel like I, um, I find like this new passion for learning because now I know exactly what I like. Um, like, you know, when I was like 18, I don't know why people ask me to choose English. like a major in college. I had no idea what I want to do. I didn't do anything. I didn't try anything. So, um, yeah, that's why now I know what I want and I kind of want to, you know, gone on that path again, kind of learn in a school, you know, where I learned things properly. And at the same time, uh, kind of want to discover, you know, another country, for example. Um, because I love traveling. Yeah. Then I still want to do that. Work with hotel, work with, you know, resort and also food and beverages. I, I choose a niche. that I want to go into the fine dining segment because I feel like that is where, um, I kind of have a little more, um, you know, of the room to play around because I feel like in Vietnam, we are so famous for street food. And if you look at, content creating for street food is like way too many and I cannot compete with that. Oh my god, I cannot even, you know, ride a motorcycle. You asked me today. I was like, yeah, I took a grab. Guilty. Um, yeah, so, so I kind of choose fire dining segment because I remember I filmed the episode with Sonny, uh, about fire dining and then At first, I told him like, I don't like this. Like, oh my god, we're going to this restaurant, fancy restaurant. And we're like, sit down. The portion is small. Um, but after we're filming that, yeah. But, but you, you, you'd be surprised how full you are after. Yeah, so like, so after those episodes, I changed my mind, you know. And one of the videos is about caviar, and it's like, the highest view I ever had on the show. And I figure it's actually very, it's, it's an art, you know, like, cause I never look at food like that. Like I love food, but it was never like that. And then when I look into fine dining, I was like, gosh, like that was a whole new world. And last year I had a chance to, um, you know, um, have dinner in like some Michelin star restaurants. My first time I had a three star in Singapore. Oh my God, that was so crazy. And then a two star, and then a one star, right? So like, all of that is Come down to experiences. And I really want to, to share that with everyone because before I got into that, I didn't know that it was a thing. You know, I would just eat food and then move on with my life. Um,

Niall: 24:12

As most of us do

Thuyen: 24:13

Right? But then, yeah, it was, it was an art itself and, and I want to show that to people I think. I love education and I love, you know, content creating. So I feel that whenever I talk about food, it's in a way it's, it's like education itself, because I'm talking about this knowledge of food and a lot of things that people misunderstand, especially in this day and age, like, you know, you have way too many information. Like I feel the same way. And you kind of navigate, you kind of have to choose an influencer that fits you. You know that, right? Like, you don't watch everyone.

Niall: 24:53

influencer

Thuyen: 24:54

God.

Niall: 24:54

I understand what you

Thuyen: 24:55

Yeah, like for example, fashion, right? I have to watch an influencer that has the same body type as me.

Niall: 25:02

sense Yeah

Thuyen: 25:03

So, it's the same way. And, um, the trend is like, the opportunity is a lot because yeah, it's competitive, but at the same time, um, the market is also great. And then you can just cut a star, which I'm, I'm trying to do. Yeah.

Niall: 25:24

But Vietnam is famous street food and it's so competitive because any you can find anywhere in on YouTube it's like I ate for 1 a day in Vietnam or blah blah blah People love to go on about it And it is one of the appealing things here Like I had boon cha today for lunch and it's just so delicious and it costs like 2 3 right You know what I mean So you do think about it but this is something we talked a lot about this on this podcast I talk a lot about I talk about it a lot Vietnam Saigon especially I do this all the time where I say Vietnam but I actually mean Saigon because Saigon is completely different to the rest of Vietnam And most of Vietnam is still very rural You go out to the countryside I mean you drive an hour out of Saigon you're in the countryside So Saigon especially I don't know about Hanoi because I don't go there I don't live there I've been a couple of times but I don't know about Hanoi but Saigon especially has developed so much in the past eight years that I've been here like incredibly so And food is part of that I when and I don't because I'm not part of the food and beverage team normally when I talk about the development of Saigon I talk about there's a new bridge there's a new tower there's a new road because these are things that you can see and things that I use So I don't think about the food so much but now you bring it up The food has changed dramatically When we first came here it was like I want to get a banh mi because it costs less than a dollar You know I want to get cum tam because it costs a dollar But now the fine dining scene and what I want to ask you about to talk about which is so exciting we just had the Michelin Guide

Thuyen: 26:49

come to Vietnam for the first time What a difference did that what difference did that make to the scene there's a lot of controversial, um, you know, about Michelin guy coming here. But