A beloved banh mi spot closes, leaving a suburban bowls club fighting for survival
Mr Bill’s Vietnamese Canteen brought crispy pork banh mi and wontons to a small suburban bowls club and transformed it. But now, he’s leaving.
“It’s devastating,” said Belmont Bowls Club manager Shaynae Clark.
She was serving drinks to customers at the bowls club on Monday as a steady stream of customers lined up for a crispy pork banh mi at the incredibly popular Mr Bill’s Vietnamese Canteen.
But they will be among the last because, after just nine months, Mr Bill – real name Loc Nguyen – is leaving the bowls club.
Mr Bill – real name Loc Nguyen – with one of his loyal customers, Brendan Field.Credit: Marissa Calligeros
Nguyen – who named his canteen Mr Bill’s after the English name, William, a lecturer gave him at university – wants to open his own, smaller restaurant again, in the hope of getting a better work-life balance for his young family.
Mr Bill’s has closed only on Tuesdays, and Nguyen spent that time running errands for the restaurant, trying to squeeze in household duties and spending time with his 11-year-old son and four-year-old daughter.
“Really, I’m working seven days a week,” he said, adding his wife would drop their children at school before spending the day picking up fresh produce for the canteen and then doing the afternoon school run.
“I’d like to have a better balance before my son starts high school. Yes, you can work longer and make more money. But for now, I need to find better balance.”
Bowls club manager Shaynae Clark desperately tried to convince him to stay.
“We did try to see if he wanted to lessen his hours because he didn’t really like the nights either, but unfortunately, he’s still leaving us.
“The business, the space, doing the dining room, and our big function room, and delivering meals to the outside tables – it just got too much for him.”
Like many suburban Australian bowls clubs, the low-set, anachronistic venue on Brisbane’s southside had been struggling for survival for years, with added competition from nearby Camp Hill Bowls Club, which has city views and in-house Pan Thai restaurant, and Carina Bowls Club, with its Panchos Pizza offering.
That was until 35-year-old Nguyen arrived, bringing with him a cult following of customers dedicated to his authentic Vietnamese food from his previous restaurant in Wakerley.
“He just gave the place life, really,” Clark said.
