{"id":26152,"date":"2026-04-14T11:35:50","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T03:35:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/?p=26152"},"modified":"2026-04-14T18:16:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T10:16:03","slug":"cooking-pho-refugees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/cooking-pho-refugees\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooking Pho Refugees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Farah \u0110\u1eb7ng, once a child in Hong Kong\u2019s Kai Tak refugee camp, now runs a restaurant built on resilience and giving back.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Calliope Nguyen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born in a refugee camp and raised amid an immigrant influx, Farah Dang now runs a restaurant chain in Hong Kong and cooks for refugees in need every weekend at the Christian Action Centre for Refugees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I cook for the refugees, I see myself in them. It takes me back to the camp, to my roots, to the journey my family and I have been through,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dang was born in 1981 during the peak of the Vietnamese exodus to Hong Kong. After fleeing from a war-torn Vietnam, her family was settled at Kai Tak North Refugee camp.There, Dang spent 11 years growing up beside her mother\u2019s hawker stall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy mother would be up at 2 or 3 a.m. to make pork congee. I would help her cook the soup, wash dishes, and bring goods to the market. That was our life,” Dang recalls her earliest memories. It was the daily three-hour routine of stirring pots of ch\u00e1o s\u01b0\u1eddn<\/em> (pork rib congee) and steaming x\u00f4i v\u00f2<\/em> (mung bean sticky rice), before attending classes at the nearby New Horizons school. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just remember having the most amazing childhood regardless of the conditions inside the camp,\u201d she notes. Eight children shared two bunk beds. The tight space makes great space for small talks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dang (left) in Kai Tak camp. Photo courtesy of Farah Dang.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Even the ever-present rats and cockroaches became unlikely friends. \u201cWe used to feed them bits of food under my bed,\u201d she laughs, confessing that the sight would terrify her now. It is this deep sense of community and belonging that sweetened the life at Kai Tak camp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The camp, she insists, was not just about hardship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My most vivid memory was playing. There were a lot of children inside the camp. I was never lonely,\u201d she says. Her days were filled with the simple joys of badminton and rope-skipping; she and her friends even fashioned their own jump ropes from elastic bands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This playful environment had an extra boost from a unique source\u2014her family\u2019s three arcade machines. A gift from her father\u2019s friend, the machines brought in coins from neighbourhood kids, giving Dang and her brother pocket money and endless entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll the kids from the camp used to come play because we had it all\u2014Tetris, Munchies, Snake, you name it. That\u2019s probably why I\u2019m always so entrepreneurial, always finding a solution to something,\u201d she says, crediting this early experience with shaping her mindset. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dang at the former New Horizons Vietnamese Refugee Departure Centre, once operated by Christian Action to aid Vietnamese refugees. Photo courtesy of Christian Action<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At 11, Dang\u2019s family resettled in the United Kingdom. For the first time, she stood out.  \u201cBefore that, we were all the same. In the UK, though, I was the only Asian. People told me to go back to my own country,\u201d she remembers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While she learned to turn the fear and fluster into a thick skin, this defensiveness did not translate into pride about her identity. \u201cStill, I\u2019d be afraid to even say that I\u2019m a refugee, because I didn\u2019t want any disadvantage or discrimination against myself. But now, I could happily say I\u2019m a second generation Vietnamese refugee. These are my experiences, this has made me who I am.\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 11 years in the United Kingdom as a chartered accountant, however, Dang realised her true calling was the kitchen. \u201cI miss how I was able to connect with people through a simple bowl of ph\u1edf<\/em>. Feeding people is exactly what my parents and my grandparents would have done! It is their way of showing love, of saying \u201cHow are you?\u201d, and now it\u2019s my way too,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, when Dang\u2019s husband relocated to Hong Kong for work, she accompanied him. In 2018, alongside a fellow Vietnamese woman, she launched Soho Banh Mi. What started in a small Mid-levels alley has since grown into three locations across Hong Kong, but it remains a tribute to her past and a space for giving back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Dang, her restaurants can be the stepping stones for the community. \u201cAnyone who wants or is willing to learn is welcome here. It\u2019s a love I want to share for whomever I happen to meet across my path. I just hope the very best for them,\u201d she shares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dang making a bowl of b\u00fan ch\u1ea3, <\/em>one of the restaurant\u2019s best-sellers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Her commitment extends far beyond the restaurants. Having been nurtured by the caring teachers in the camp, Dang understands how one act of care can change a life. She now volunteers with Christian Action for Refugees, the very charity that managed the Kai Tak camp. On weekends, she prepares lunches and delivers food under the footbridges to refugees seeking shelter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEach time I hand out a meal, I feel a mix of gratitude and strength. I\u2019m reminded of how far I\u2019ve come, and I\u2019m inspired and proud knowing that I can now be the one who offers hope,\u201d she reflects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure it\u2019s not much, but I want to do as much as I can. Whatever you can do, you should do it\u2014out of conviction, not because of any fame or money attached to it. You should just do it because it\u2019s truly the right thing to do,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking ahead, she hopes to expand both her restaurant chain and her cycle of care. \u201cThat\u2019s why I keep on opening my shop. It\u2019s not just for me; it\u2019s also to inspire other people to give back,\u201d she envisions, ensuring the resilience born in Kai Tak would continue to nourish generations to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edited by Mike Chu<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sub-edited by Pauline Yau<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Farah \u0110\u1eb7ng, once a child in Hong Kong\u2019s Kai Tak refugee camp, now runs a restaurant built on resilience and giving back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":26168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2321,2322,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-issue-176","category-march-2026","category-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26152"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26257,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26152\/revisions\/26257"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}