Bida Manda, the Laotian restaurant that helped put downtown Raleigh’s Moore Square on the national culinary map, has new owners for the first time in its 14-year history. Chuan and Anna Tsay, the husband-and-wife team behind nearby Heirloom, have taken over daily operations and say the deal came together after Chuan phoned co-founder Vanvisa Nolintha and the two struck an agreement in a five-minute call.
A Deal Years in the Making, Settled in Minutes
According to The News & Observer, Chuan Tsay said the sale totaled seven figures, combining a cash payment with previous debt the restaurant carried. Nolintha, who co-founded Bida Manda with her brother Vansana in 2012, now lives in Laos with her newborn daughter, the paper reports. The restaurant’s name draws from Sanskrit words for mother and father, and when it opened on South Blount Street it was one of very few Laotian restaurants in the entire country.
Chuan Tsay is of Thai descent and Anna Tsay is of Lao descent, and the couple previously opened Heirloom as a tea and coffee shop serving pan-Asian dishes in Raleigh’s Warehouse District. Per Triangle Business Journal, the Tsays stepped away from running Heirloom a few years ago to raise their children, handing daily operations to Anna’s sister, Thai Phommavong. Now the pair say they plan building improvements and a menu refresh early next year, along with expanded staffing and a push to bring back lunch and brunch service — and they’re even exploring a second location.
Reckoning With the Restaurant’s Past
Bida Manda’s rise was not without a serious stumble. In 2020, the restaurant and its sister venue Brewery Bhavana were at the center of sexual harassment allegations from multiple staff members, with co-founder Vansana Nolintha accused of improper conduct, per the same account from The News & Observer. Vansana divested from both restaurants that year, leaving Vanvisa Nolintha as sole owner of Bida Manda while local brewer Patrick Woodson became sole owner of Brewery Bhavana, which had opened next door in 2017 as a joint venture between Woodson and the Nolinthas.
That restructuring followed an independent workplace investigation led by attorney Denise Cline, after which Bida Manda and Brewery Bhavana appointed Frederique Leonard as CEO to take over operational management from the founding co-owners, according to Triangle Business Journal’s 2020 reporting. Chuan Tsay told the paper that he and Anna understand the new owners have a duty to understand the restaurant’s past and earn the public’s trust, and that he hopes to earn back community trust and restore Bida Manda’s former status.
Moore Square’s Safety Push Looms Large
The ownership change lands as the city grapples with public safety concerns just outside Bida Manda’s doors. Raleigh Police and the North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement Division arrested 35 people in a joint investigation into illegal alcohol and drug activity around Moore Square, seizing alcohol, fentanyl and crack cocaine, with Moore Square recording the highest concentration of drug violations in the city over the preceding five months, per the seed reporting. That same summer 2026 operation produced more than 130 felony charges and was documented in detail by the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, which reported undercover drug buys happening in public areas near families.
Investigators traced part of the supply network to a residence in Zebulon, where state agents executed a search warrant and seized crack cocaine manufacturing equipment, drugs and a firearm, according to the JoCo Report. In response, Raleigh officials closed the pedestrian tunnel connecting Wilmington Street to GoRaleigh Station to curb loitering and illicit sales near the square, a move WRAL tied to broader efforts to address safety concerns raised by local business owners.
Betting on a Family-Friendly Downtown
City leaders have also considered spending $1.8 million on a Moore Square playground, part of a playground plan that would replace community tables city staff say were frequently misused for property storage with a net-like structure called “Ground Discovery,” intended to draw families back downtown. Chuan Tsay said diners need to feel safe and comfortable walking through Moore Square, and that he and Anna want more families and children to visit Bida Manda.
Despite the challenges surrounding the square, Chuan Tsay said he continues to believe in downtown Raleigh and that he and Anna believe they can bring creativity and vibrancy back to the area. For now, he described the new ownership as being in a learn-and-listen mode as they take stock of a restaurant that became one of downtown Raleigh’s most popular dining destinations, known for its pork belly soup, a coconut curry served with rice noodles. Bida Manda was named the best restaurant in North Carolina by Business Insider in 2016 and one of the 100 best restaurants in the country by OpenTable in 2014, a legacy the Tsays now carry forward alongside sister restaurant Brewery Bhavana, which earned a James Beard Best New Restaurant semifinalist nod in 2018 and a Michelin Guide recommendation this past February, as Hoodline previously reported.
Dining and Cooking