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Xinh Xinh Cafe to open in fall
Far East Meets Urbana
4:00 am Jul 31 - by Janice McDuffee – buzz Writer
With only one Vietnamese restaurant in the CU area, those who crave pho and boba have been given limited access to satisfy their palettes. These folks who frequent the Urbana Schnucks may have been delighted to see the coming of another Vietnamese restaurant, Xinh Xinh Cafe.
Originally from California, owner Shai Mauth came to CU to be with his family. His mother, Nina Samnol, crafts sushi at the Urbana Schnucks, where Shai, previously a sushi chef for five years, sometimes fills in to give her a day off.
Shai’s experience in the restaurant business goes beyond sushi. When he was younger, he worked at the mom-and-pop restaurants his parents used to run.
When he wasn’t in restaurants, Shai spent much of his time traveling and also worked in the mortgage business.
“Champaign is not where I thought I’d be,” he said. “But, the mortgage industry went down the drain and I missed my mom and little brother.”
Upon his mother’s suggestion, he decided to open up the cafe in the available space next to Schnucks.
He originally intended the restaurant to have more Euro-Asian flair, but it has slowly evolved into having a more concentrated Eastern Asian influence with authentic dishes and teas.
Although the cafe will mostly focus on Vietnamese cuisine, Shai says one-third of the menu will feature Cambodian and Thai dishes as well.
What you can expect from Xinh Xinh Cafe is a variety of appetizers, banh mi (a vietnamese sandwich served on a baguette) with pork and chicken, and of course, boba. Patrons can look forward to a spring roll that will be nothing you’ve experienced before, according to Shai. Also expect barbeque beef sticks, an authentic Cambodian food that Shai hopes to be his “number one seller.”
So why else is he opening a Vietnamese restaurant other than from his own experience with food?
“I’m opening a food place so my mom always has somewhere to eat,” he says.
He hopes to see Xinh Xinh Cafe open by the end of August, but you can definitely count on the doors opening this fall.
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