Our fearless leader
Over thirty years after leaving Dalat for the U.S., award-winning journalist Nguyen Qui Duc returned to Vietnam and started a new chapter of his life in Hanoi. Although he spent most of his years living in the States, Duc’s work has led him time and again to a focus on Asian and Asian-American themes.
As a radio journalist, Duc reported on Vietnam for NPR in 1989, work for which he was awarded the Overseas Press Club’s Citation of Excellence. He also hosted Pacific Time, a program dedicated to Asian and Asian American affairs.
At the same time, Duc continued to publish poems, essays, and short stories generally revolving around the Vietnamese or Asian-American experience. He has been featured in publications including The New York Times and the San Francisco Examiner.
Today, Duc owns and operates sushi bar Tadioto and ramen joint Moto-San Uber Noodle. Both businesses are based in Hanoi, with the former recently opening a second venue in Hoi An.
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The Restaurants
Late in 2007, a bar opened in Hanoi. It was cold & we hid in our old coats; the odd ones of us even in wool djellabas from North Africa.
Someone had a CD of Aretha Franklin. She didn't know it, but Aretha comforted the lost souls that made up the bar's original clientele.
We were misfits, small-time adventurers, drifting about the world looking for ourselves. We were the bored, clichéd images of lonely & washed-up journalists, wanna-be
poets, & wearied members of the wearied linen set...
We wrote "dispatches" to send out to the world & told of others' stories. Our own were nothing special.
But we felt we belonged. Over the cement bar, with our endless beers, whiskies, & gins—our tales soaked into the old brick walls sheltering us from the cold, the damp, &
reality. We drank night after night & pretended that life was bearable. The gallery upstairs was gaining a reputation: we showed good stuff, heard poetry & music that passed for
"avant-garde & innovative." Just awful, but good.
Soon, we had our A.A. There were Frank the Tank, Helen the Hell-Girl, Gillian Our Lady of the Immaculate C*nt, Ross the Cannibal, Dutch the Strong Man, Boris the
Creature, Markus the Ayatollah & John T-TotalHead. Brother Number 1 (the Assassin with
a Bottle) dutifully presided over the evenings with A.A. — Alcoholic All-Stars.
That, my friend, was how it all started. We named it Tadioto. You think it sounds
Japanese? It just means "We Go By Cd' in Vietnamese. We think it's ridiculous that people
here want to drive a car.
It's been long & hard, but what a trip. We've become somewhat of an institution. Our passion is undiminished & we're grateful to have you. Our sushi & ramen attract locals
& visitors from far away, & we will keep searching for whiskies & gins whether from Kyoto or Berlin.
Whether savouring a good book & a cappuccino, engaging friends in late night exchanges over a peaty Yamazaki or a Malbec, come seduce and be seduced.
Sit for a drink, listen to Anouar Brahem, Gustavo Santaolalla, or Elgar.
Be Tadioto.
Be at a place for Thinkers. And Drinkers.