Dao Hong Hai turned a personal longing for Hanoi’s street food into a successful restaurant chain in Belgium. Her story shows how an immigrant can turn a niche culinary idea into a thriving business.

In 2005 Hai left her job as a reporter and moved to Belgium to study hospitality management. To cover living costs she attended classes by day and worked evenings as a waitress and dishwasher at a Vietnamese restaurant.

While working, she observed that most Vietnamese eateries in Belgium served Southern‑style dishes, while Northern, Hanoi‑origin cuisine was almost absent. This gap inspired her to open a restaurant that would focus on authentic Hanoi flavors.

In 2016 Hai and her husband used their savings and borrowed money from friends to launch the first Hanoi Station restaurant in Brussels. Over the next ten years the brand expanded to five locations, and in 2026 two of the restaurants were praised by the Gault&Millau guide.

Running the chain in Belgium meant meeting strict food‑safety regulations and labor‑rights laws, while also coping with high labor costs, taxes and insurance. Because authentic Northern Vietnamese ingredients were hard to find locally, Hai partnered with a Vietnamese‑owned business in the Netherlands to create a reliable supply chain.

Her journey shows that spotting a market gap and solving regulatory and supply hurdles can turn a cultural passion into a lasting enterprise. The Hanoi Station chain now stands as a testament to perseverance and authentic cuisine.