Meet the DJ that became Perth Australia’s Banh Mi King

DJ Lee and the famous banh mi of Le Vietnam.

During their decade-long journey, Le Vietnam have earned a fabulous reputation for serving delicious and daring versions of traditional Vietnamese banh mi. Each and everyday, long queues of hungry customers patiently waiting to get a taste of their marvelous cuisine. The name is truly an iconic institution amongst foodies in Perth, and is frequented by visitors from all over the world including celebrities, food writers, social media influencers and TV shows.

DJ Lee, owner of Le Vietnam, hangs photos of some of his most famous clientele which includes two original Power Rangers, America’s Got Talent 2017 Winner Sacred Rianna, Chicago Bulls Hall of Famer Luc Longley, world-famous bands like The Used, Everclear and Lany, foodie influencer Phil Rosenthal and even comedian Lau Ramoso.

We sat down and had a talk with Le Vietnam’s owner, DJ Lee, to learn more about his wonderful journey in the past, the present and the future with the brand.

HARPER’S BAZAAR: What is the key moment that transitioned you from a DJ to the restaurant business?

DJ LEE: After taking a break from 9-5 job, I decided to continue my hobby as a DJ before I found another job. I wanted to find a job that I would love to “jump” out of bed for and be happy to go to work – so I decided to take my time on finding the right job.

As I uploaded mixtapes online, I gathered many followers which resulted in me to being flown to different cities to do music shows. The more I played, the more my followers grew, and it eventually led to me flying out to perform at global events.

During each and every trip, I made sure that I would find Banh Mi to taste in every destination. For each trip I would find myself getting more and more excited about the possibilities to try the Banh Mi than the actual musical shows. I would always ask questions of those who prepared the Banh Mi for me and religiously documented all the tips and tricks and advice they gave me.

HARPER’S BAZAAR: Could you tell us more about the ideation of Le Vietnam?

DJ LEE: As I was away from home working as a DJ (based in Perth, Australia) for up to many months, I eventually grew homesick. I kind of missed having dinner with mother, father, brother at home, at the dinner table. I missed catching up with friends every weekend. Online chats always had a delay in response because of time differences. Often the conversations would start off “Hey Lee, are you back yet?” or “Hey Lee, when are you back?”

So being a little homesick, I remember sitting in the hotel before a show one night, and telling myself that after all this is done, I just want to fly back home and do something to keep me in one place. I thought and thought of what I could do, and remembered I loved the cafe life (during my University days) as when you are on “hands and feet” all day, and that it is busy, the day will fly by very, very quickly. It may seem like you just did 30 minutes of work but when you look back at the clock, you realize it’s been 3 hours.

So, I thought let’s open a café specializing in Banh Mi. A lot of people told me I was crazy as Banh Mi was not popular in Perth back then. There weren’t many places that dared to serve Banh Mi only as they required many other items on the menu to secure foot traffic, but I decided to give it a go anyway.

HARPER’S BAZAAR: How was the early days of operation in Le Vietnam?

DJ LEE: During the early days of Le Vietnam, we started off nice and steady. We purely relied on word of mouth and it eventually grew from there.

Our mission was to provide higher quality banh mi’s using local produce from local farmers and butchers. We would buy the best quality meats, vegetables and even baked our own breads using the recipes we’d collected over the year. We were delighted that we were to offer our high-quality Banh Mi to the community in Perth at a realistic and affordable price and we’ve maintained this for the past decade.

HARPER’S BAZAAR: What key factors are behind the success of Le Vietnam, according to your opinion?

DJ LEE: Sourcing some local produce from farmers and working very close with butchers and offering this to our customers at an affordable price is definitely one of the key factors. We’ve been known to create some extraordinary Banh Mi is that the world hasn’t seen before and with the support of people of Perth, it’s shown its success. We bake our own bread, so we’ve been able to maintain the same texture you’d fine on the streets of Vietnam – airy fluffy inside, crispy exterior. We also cut the bread to the side so more fillings can be placed inside so we give much better value for money to our customers compared to most of our competitors.

Finally, waking up early to make sure we are preparing well for opening and being able to source the freshest ingredients from the market is definitely a winning formula.

HARPER’S BAZAAR: Could you elaborate on the role your wife, Emily, plays within the operations of Le Vietnam?

DJ LEE: My wife Emily is the heart and soul of Le Vietnam. Without her, it would be impossible to run Le Vietnam at such a fast pace and large scale. She is my righthand person, our head chef, she manages the team, runs service, monitors the queues, orders all the stock, and I have no idea how she can stay so calm and gentle during the lunch rush with a queue of customers stretching down the street. Emily is also crucial in helping bring some many of my crazy ideas to life whilst also keeping me grounded and reminding daily me of my “why”, my purpose for driving our business forward.

HARPER’S BAZAAR: When do you plan to visit Vietnam next, and could you share any details about your agenda for the trip?

DJ LEE: We will be in Vietnam from December 21st until January 9th. Our goal in Vietnam is to strengthen our knowledge of everything related to Banh Mi by learning more, evolving and being inspired by meeting great people such as Michelin star chefs, Peter Cuong Franklin from Anan Saigon. We also aim to help the many less fortunate people from our homeland as well and give back to the people of Vietnam so watch this space as we prepare to make more announcements.

HARPER’S BAZAAR: Please share with us how important that sense of community is for Le Vietnam

DJ LEE: We’re always big on supporting charity and we especially enjoy supporting Telethon (Australia’s Biggest Children Charity) which this year took place this year on the 19th and 20th October 19. Last year the initiative received a record-breaking figure of $77million AUD worth of charitable donations and we hope that this year’s edition was even more successful.

For us, Emily and I have created our very own charity called “BanhMi4Everyone” where we would make banh mi at the end of the day/week and on occasions, we go hand out sleeping bags to the homeless – especially during the winter times in Perth when temperature drops down to about 1-2 degrees. On this year’s trip to Vietnam, we will be doing the same thing, but we will have a “BanhMiZERO-Dollar” which pretty much states banh mi at $0 for everyone in need.

HARPER’S BAZAAR: Could you share any future plans or upcoming developments for Le Vietnam?

DJ LEE: As we are growing, we’ve been received numerous enquiries from restaurants around the world with requests for collaborations, pop-ups and Kitchen Takeovers. We’ve already done a few of these and they always sold out instantly. We also have additional collaborations planned in locations around the world with Banh Mi enthusiasts who have been influenced by us including ranging as far afield as France, Japan and Dubai.

We are also very excited to share that we have already lined up 3 events for Vietnam for the end of this year. We aim to provide the Vietnamese population with an awesome never seen before Banh Mi experience so please stay tuned.

Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam