 A Vietnamese tiktok chef is clapping back at the online haters about her upcoming expensive Vietnamese restaurant David we got to talk about this online beef or should I say tit ball I try to say it I try hey man from silly to serious we're covering everything I'm gonna go ahead and put this in the silly lane but there is some interesting issues within the Asian-American or Vietnamese community that it brought up and her long story short this is all contained on neck shark Tway the Bay who is a famous tiktok chef she's partnering with some non-Asian people to open up a restaurant that's gonna be $75 a person in West Hollywood next shark had a lot of comments against her she made a video clap back and this just sparked a bunch of discussions of course a lot of people supporting a lot of people going against her and a lot of people in the middle so we got to break it down get into the comment section give our own takeaways because you know silly to serious sometimes it's fun to talk about the silly things all right first off though we do have to play her video clip so next shark had posted an article about me a couple weeks ago talking about the opening of DD and the partnership with Hwood group and in going through the comments I noticed that there was a lot of uproar about how the food at DD is priced to be on average $75 per person so let's get into it firstly I just want to lay out the question why can't Southeast Asian food be in that price range is it so outrageous for Vietnamese cuisine or any other type of Southeast Asian cuisine to be held to a higher standard because I mean I get it I love me a good hole-in-the-wall fuss spot as much as the next person but DD is not that the restaurant is located directly on restaurant row where the average price point for a meal at any of these other places on the same street can run for a hundred dollars per person if not more and Vietnamese cuisine is constantly regarded as the cheaper alternative to eating out but the vision I have for DD was to bring that same familiar homey feel of my culture's cuisine into an elevated market one that can really push the culture forward in a space where most haven't and simultaneously make it less intimidating for people who have never ventured off into trying it people tend to mistake Asian cuisine from being cheap and accessible and while that's true there's nothing wrong with that but Vietnam also holds some amazing Michelin star-level quality food that consistently ranks on Asia's 50 best restaurant list that version of Vietnamese cuisine has yet to reach America and I'm grateful to be someone that can lead that change to bring modern-day Vietnam to LA all I know is this if I'm going to have my restaurant on one of the most famous blocks in Los Angeles on Los Angeles Boulevard in the middle we hope I'm going to do it right DD is it meant to be just a restaurant the entire menu the decor the hospitality everything involved is meant to be an experience and I for one would confidently pay the price for the quality I know that I'm getting wouldn't you hey man listen I just view this as some tiktok stuff man because to be honest I think that high end via food has been bubbling for 10 you can argue all the way to crustacean you know and was that Beverly Hills or Hollywood that's 25 years ago but it's true that your average person which is tiktok represents your average person you know not everybody's a foodie on earth right yeah exactly I mean we there's a I mean if you've ever come to New York City they do have some Vietnamese food and some of it can get pretty pricey alright so but I do want to say about 20 the Bay because I did do some food videos were her back in the day like 2017 she is a good chef like even back then I thought she was a good chef and I'm sure she's only gotten better she went to culinary school she she was very professional to work with so I hope her success you know I hope she's building the Vietnamese no boo or the Vietnamese hakasan which is true that both those spots even though they're Japanese and Chinese based on the menu they do more cater to a non-Asian audience and that's okay because you need to have you know the stuffed in the enclave that's low end mid-end high-end but then you need stuff that's on the west side which is typically the west side of anything New York or LA is more like not Asian you need that low middle high to all the way up I think there's a market for everything but anyways guys I mean listen as far as we're just I'm just gonna rattle off some restaurant names of kind of higher end Vietnamese restaurants that we've known of for years now manamvo Montserrat vote even Saigon social is kind of up there Vanda Bolero they were really high-end but they did close out crustacean out in Beverly Hills there's like Galviet over in the Bay area summer rolls even in even summer rolls in 66 I'm sure you could drop $50 a person guys this is not cheap Vietnamese food but it is actually all pretty good shout out to on Choi I think on Choi was the first spot to do high-end for in Vietnamese food in Manhattan in 09 and since then they've transitioned to D on D so you got Zall in over in Toronto downtown Toronto colonial in Houston there's their stuff there's more stuff than people think I'm not saying that the TikTok audience because you got to be kind of like in the foodie world in these big metropolitan cities to know about it but this is the first time that this whole debate got taken a TikTok right right right so anyway let's get in the comment section somebody said whether you broke boys or girls can afford her food or not we need to celebrate her success because it's also the success of the Vietnamese in the Asian community I mean I think to an extent I'm gonna be honest I don't think you have to celebrate her success you don't have to support her and go do anything but and also the it would be nice to yeah it would be nice if the community got around each other and and even if they kind of saw the pros and the cons of anybody or they're the thing you guys still supported can I tell you this that West Hollywood is not exactly a little Saigon type neighborhood okay are you sure that's not really fact West Hollywood is closer to anything is closer to Tytown right it's not that close but it is closer to Tytown where you know Thai people have their little their community out there you know interestingly enough there's actually a lot of high Thai rush high-end Thai restaurants in America but not in Tytown yeah I think a lot of people forget that Southeast Asian cuisine is at that level because there is a lot of expensive Thai food it really is this is a comment against her or against the whole concept somebody saying I think she's missing the point it's very simple that food is simply too expensive for 99% of the people in the real world it costs an arm and the legs so I mean we just are questioning who'd you make it for yeah I mean I don't like again I don't think she made it for the Vietnamese enclave community I don't even necessarily Asian I mean but maybe not I mean but I'm not saying that Asian people won't go there but also again guys crustacean has existed that is a soup that's probably a hundred dollars per person plus 150 a person bro that's a lot of seafood heavy stuff yeah it's a lot of seafood it's a lot of beef so I'm saying like that has existed now you could say crustacean by Helen on and the on family like that's not for Vietnamese people that's fine it's probably not solely for them but I'm just saying you know it's been around right right right um somebody said people pay 75 dollars per person for French or Italian food and nobody bats an eye why can't be the case for Southeast Asian cuisine and then of course there was a lot of comments and that but then somebody said but yeah if you go to Italy or France food is not cheap at all but when you go to Southeast Asia you can get a bowl of food for like less than a dollar again man I mean Thai food Thai food is very cheap in Thailand but it can get pricey in America because people like it yeah somebody said if y'all are broke just say that and somebody said STF you you ain't eating there every day this is the hilarious eating there every day I mean seriously who's gonna eat there every day I think this is a loud chef he said listen if 75 dollars is too much for you go eat somewhere else simple as that stop crying about the price when most of y'all probably never even worked in the restaurant industry before what yo you guys expected her to open up a typical hole in the restaurant copy and paste Vietnamese restaurant yeah I mean listen I don't think this is dude opening up in West Hollywood is not gonna jeopardize any sort of the mom and pop you know Vietnamese restaurants that we know that are very cheap and affordable it does not threaten that also I do think a lot of the people leaving the comments do not work or really work in the in the food you know what the funny thing is they're people who open up restaurants whether they're in the enclave zone but especially outside of the enclave zone they always are like man I get so worried when my people come in because they are gonna break down and be so critical on my menu but my menu has to appeal to people outside of our world yep exactly I mean that is a difficult balance dude you're juggling fish bowls because at the end of the day America's hyper diverse you know I guess we all speak English but like our taste buds are like very different like people in this fish bowl still American don't like what this fish bowl likes you know who are the biggest critics of ethnic food is that ethnicity those people are the biggest critics it's true yeah somebody said 75 bucks bro my grandma makes tick call every day bye and somebody said underrated comment and somebody said okay then go eat your grandma's tick call then bye there was a lot of arguing you know they like to they like to banter yeah also I do feel like if next shark never posted this article I don't even think that there's this discussion yeah to be honest somebody said she clearly must not clear care about her own people that are middle-class coming to the restaurant if she's charging these prices and putting it in that area yeah I mean goes this goes back to the again the criticism of any expensive Asian food where you can find a cheaper version listen I mean I've been to expensive Chinese restaurants how come no one's getting mad at Chinese people right for charging like a hundred dollars for a peak but some people do go against like how noodle or like I didn't tie phone yeah of course people can say you can leave whatever comment you want you say it's overpriced but I do think you got to eat there first yeah you got to eat there and then you can roast I'll tell you my own personal opinion on it like I always try to judge places for what they're trying to do like if I'm in the West Side whether it's a West this city West the West Side is always bougie West Seattle's like that too West West LA West New York West Village I would say I have to look at it under the guise of like the demographic it's appealing to exact of course I have my own opinion because I eat ultra cheap or ultra authentic ethnic food and you know the food in the ethnic enclaves is starting to move higher end as well but I have to understand the lens of like the main primary customer demographic of that spot yeah like I have to be relative I mean I do think if I had to say what she's trying to do some what I think it's trying to do is bring Vietnamese food to that level where you kind of it's like you go out and eat it before you go out like you can get lit there and it's fun and the vibe is cool because the restaurant group behind it also doesn't a lot of nightlife so of course they're gonna make it super vibey probably with loud music like a noble or a hawk a song right if it is a bunch of rich Persians or Armenians they're whatever have an expensive via clams lemongrass clam yeah dude it doesn't threaten Orange County man this ain't for the Garden Grove crowd who wants full oxtail foe for like 13 bucks it's not it for me though I might be trying to see the abg's maybe throwing the bottle beer bottles David it's okay to say that you're not gonna be coming to this restaurant every day either it's okay to say that I'm gonna check it out of on the West Side somebody said tick-tock and chef there's there's are two things that do not fit together be better to eat at a restaurant somebody who's not a tick tocker all right that to me is the best criticism of this restaurant literally this comment all other criticism I'm not really with but if you want to discredit it but because she's a tick-tock chef first of all she has done a lot of pop-ups with other chefs and other restaurants in New York and LA so she has valid but she has that but you're right she didn't work me what dish do people have to work at a French restaurant she went to culinary school she graduated from it I mean I don't know I think a lot of it will just be up to the execution and then the sous chefs and the system or whatever the food is gonna speak for itself somebody said and then somebody said all of y'all complain about price it's simple don't dine there are there cheaper alternative sure go there and eat if Brazilian food French or Italian or even Japanese sushi can be price high and no one bounce an eye then y'all can shut the hell up I'm tired of Southeast Asian cuisines always being treated as second-hand food people feeling titled and expected to be cheap when reality it takes more time and effort than Italian or French cuisines and then somebody said seventy-five dollars that's clearly for influencers ABG's and white folks there's a market for these people like we said guys Andrew I wrote I could keep going on there was comments back and forth back and forth good point good point counterpoint also good counter counterpoint go I I love via food I think via food is maybe my second or third favorite Asian food or type of food period in my life honestly it's incredible yeah I love you I love via food a lot it's actually yeah so anyways guys but I mean overall I mean this is not the most serious issue this this is gonna happen what again when the restaurant opens and there's gonna be a super a lot of judgy people who are judging the little bowl of like braised short rib for that she's gonna have and you know I will say this and let me be real because I've had for a lot of restaurants I've paid thirty dollars for for and I've paid thirteen dollars for for for is one of those dishes that is kind of hard for me to pay a lot of money for I've had the expense of for and hasn't been that much better but other Vietnamese dishes been great at the higher end yeah I think at the more macro and because obviously like I said I hope Tway the Bay's restaurant is successful yeah I think you know it has a chance out there because there's not nobody's done like a hawker son but via concept yet um it's almost like a influencer versus consumer thing you know what I mean because you have a crowd that was probably never gonna go to West Hollywood to begin with sort of judging you but it is true that the influencer sometimes the influencer sometimes can have like a I don't want to say holier than thou or like put themselves on a pedestal type energy vibe I can see that too I'm gonna keep a real I see what I see yeah yeah I do think her response could have been I think her video response could have had more tact I think she could have shouted out to some more high-end Vietnamese chefs I think she could have acknowledged that Thai food has been at this price point for a decade or so and no one's has batted an eye at it just because you know white people love Thai food it's true they do um so I think that yeah her response could have been written better for sure I think that criticism is fair but honestly when it comes to the price point of food guys the food will speak for itself yeah the vibe the Asians we might judge it on the food right but other people they might be judging it only relative to other things on that West Hollywood Street that it's on you know what I mean because they party on that Street Dave four times a week David so it only's got to beat out like seven other spots but obviously the Asians has got to beat out like 7,000 other spots let me do a shameless plug we got our chili oil coming up Smala you can sign up at the link down below to get 5% off of your first order let me tell you this Smala it's a chili oil it's not the cheapest chili oil it's not as cheap as some of the Chinese brands but it's got certain ingredients that do make it taste a certain way and kind of levels it up so we sell it at you know not not $7 a bottle right so I'm excited about it but honestly some people might say it's a little too expensive for them yeah absolutely man I think it's always a struggle you know you got first generation second generation third generation thing and let them know what you think in the comment section below valid arguments to go all around until next time we to hop up boys we out peace