A ground pork, tofu and shrimp lettuce wrap is prepared at Huynh’s new location at 2720 Richmond in Houston on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
Cindy Dang, owner of Huynh, holds a betel leaf in the kitchen of the restaurant’s new location at 2720 Richmond in Houston on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
The interior of the new Huynh restaurant location at 2720 Richmond is photographed during a first look in Houston, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
The interior of the new Huynh restaurant location at 2720 Richmond is photographed during a first look in Houston, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
The interior of the new Huynh restaurant location at 2720 Richmond is photographed during a first look in Houston, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
After 18 years in Houston’s original Chinatown, the family-run Vietnamese spot Huynh Restaurant just expanded to Upper Kirby.
But there won’t be two Huynhs for long. The first location, in EaDo, will close at the end of the year, pushed out by the $6 billion-plus Interstate 45 rebuild.
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Owner Cindy Dang said the new Huynh, which quietly opened last week at 2720 Richmond Ave., offers all the old favorites. Customers will still be able to order the famous duck salad, mixed with herbs and cabbage and served with a ginger dipping sauce. A wide array of Vietnamese dishes remains available: noodle bowls, specialty soups like mi quang, pho, rice plates.
“Everything’s the same,” Dang said. “We have exactly the same menu.”
Left: Duck salad. Right: Cindy Dang cooks betel leaf-wrapped beef.
Top: Duck salad. Bottom: Cindy Dang cooks betel leaf-wrapped beef.
But she did make a few additions. At the new location, she wraps beef in betel leaf and grills the bundles over flames before sliding them onto a plate with sheets of tangled vermicelli noodles. The restaurant also now serves a lettuce wrap stuffed with ground pork, tofu and shrimp, plus a carrot-y beef stew garnished with basil and cilantro.
The new Huynh seats about 80 people between two rooms, plus 20 or so more on the outdoor patio, making it smaller than the 125-seat original. Its look is a departure: Dang opted to decorate in white and green (her favorite color) rather than reusing the warm wood tones of the EaDo location.
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The interior of the new Huynh restaurant location at 2720 Richmond is photographed during a first look in Houston, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
The front of the new restaurant is all windows. Dang added plants to complement the sunlit room, and family photos hang on one wall. A moody room to the side highlights a wine display and dark floral wallpaper.
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The opening marks the latest chapter in a long story for Huynh. Dang’s mom, Van Bui, opened a small restaurant she called Pho Huynh in Midtown in the mid-’90s. She closed it about 10 years later, amid a difficult time in her personal life, Dang said.
Around 2008, Bui told Dang she was bored, so she launched Huynh Restaurant in EaDo at 912 St. Emanuel St., where it still operates today.
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Huynh didn’t get much buzz at first, Dang said. Then one night, she picked up the phone and learned that Alison Cook, the Houston Chronicle’s former restaurant critic, was planning to publish a positive review. After it ran, customers lined up outside before the restaurant opened, and Huynh sold out within a few hours, Dang recalled.
“It was an amazing feeling,” she said. “Especially with my mom, how she never had that.”
Clockwise from top left: Huynh’s new Richmond location, family photos on the wall, a wine display and the lettuce wrap.
From top: Huynh’s new Richmond location, family photos on the wall, the lettuce wrap and a wine display.
Her mom retired about a decade ago, Dang said, but Dang and her siblings are keeping the business going. Her brother runs a similar restaurant, called Ead Vietnamese Restaurant, in Shenandoah.
When she started hearing more about the I-45 transformation, Dang said, she wasn’t sure what would happen. But she decided it would be time to start looking elsewhere.
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Cindy Dang, owner of Huynh, prepares betel leaf-wrapped beef in the kitchen of the restaurant’s new location at 2720 Richmond in Houston on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
Two and a half years later, she found the location on Richmond and fell in love. The fact that the landlord liked the original Huynh helped her get the lease, she said.
“I just love the area, and a lot of our customers live around here as well,” Dang said. “And I think it’s a great area for Vietnamese food.”
Dining and Cooking