One of Over-the-Rhine’s longest-tenured restaurants is moving just down the street to a space triple the size—with a new name and new menu to match.
Quan Hapa, the Asian-American eatery that opened in 2012 as part of the restaurant collective Lang Thang Group, has been a staple of the community for years now thanks to dishes like its okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake) and its wide array of ramen. Now, the restaurant will take over the former Taste of Belgium space just a few blocks away on the corner of 12th and Vine, with a new name and a new focus on Vietnamese dishes.
Bao Nguyen, co-founder and partner of the Lang Thang Group, said Quan Hapa’s space “worked great at the time” when it opened over a decade ago, but the space has become too small to do everything they wanted.
While he and his partners were looking to relocate, they eventually settled on the 3,252 sq. ft. building that once held Taste of Belgium’s flagship location. He mentioned the abundant parking near the building and the larger kitchen inside as two main factors in the decision.
“We’re like, ‘cool, now we have more kitchen space to cook everything we always wanted to cook.’ And I started updating our menu, and I realized most of the dishes on it I really like are Vietnamese,” he said. “I’m Vietnamese, so that’s where my strong suit is. Obviously, I cook other things, but when I’m making Vietnamese food, I have 43 years of experience to draw on. And even with some of our dishes, there are Vietnamese versions I like a lot better. So, we thought, why not rebrand and reinvent ourselves and just… go all the way?”
Quan Hapa will rebrand to “Yô Đi,” which is Vietnamese for “come in” but is more commonly used to mean “let’s go.” It is often used as an exclamatory remark following one of Vietnam’s most recognizable drinking chants: “Một, hai, ba, yô,” which roughly translates to “one, two, three, cheers.” The new name reflects both the restaurant’s renewed focus on Vietnamese food and the return to a late-night dining style; Nguyen hopes (but could not promise) that the restaurant will now stay open until midnight or later, as Quan Hapa once did prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several favorites from the old restaurant will reappear, even if it’s in new forms. Quan Hapa’s love of noodle-forward dishes remains, and its signature iced coffee will return—this time, from a dedicated coffee counter with an espresso machine.
But there are plenty of new items at Yô Đi, including Vietnamese staples like a bahn mi or sườn que nướng, a plate of lemongrass pork ribs with pickled vegetables and steamed rice. Nguyen was particularly excited about a surf-and-turf dish he’s developing that features a spicy garlic butter scallion lobster tail and a Vietnamese-marinated steak.
“We tested a lot of these dishes at events like Asian Food Fest, but never got to put them on the menu. Now that we’re starting from the ground up, I get to showcase them all. There’s a lot of herbs, a lot of brightness… nothing’s overly heavy, but it’s very flavorful, and all pairs well with drinking,” he said. “At Quan Hapa, we showcase all Asian-American style food, right? Which is cool, but my heart lives with Vietnamese food. I can’t wait to put out all of the things I know best out there to share with everyone.”
Quan Hapa will open its doors for the final time on Sunday, July 26. After that, Nguyen projects that Yô Đi will open in September. He stressed that if guests have any favorite items at Quan Hapa, they should “come try it before it’s gone,” although popular dishes from the restaurant could appear as a pop-up at Yô Đi in the future.
Staff members were already informed of the restaurant’s closure, and he is “trying to” retain each and every staff member; some have been temporarily reassigned to the Lang Thang Group’s other establishments. Plans for a proper send-off for Quan Hapa will be announced soon on the restaurant’s social media pages. In a statement, the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp (3CDC) announced that “conversations with a potential tenant are already underway to backfill Quan Hapa’s current space.”
“The 12th and Vine intersection is a defining corner for OTR, so we were intentional about selecting the right operator for this location,” said Christy Samad, 3CDC’s EVP of Civic & Commercial Space Activation, in a statement. “We couldn’t be more excited to welcome the Lang Thang Group as they’ve been a cornerstone of this neighborhood for years and it’s fitting to see them deepen their presence at such a prominent spot. The new space is nearly three times the size of their original location, opening the door for Yô Đi to grow its vision — serving more guests, hosting larger groups, and ultimately thinking bigger than ever before.”
For more information on Quan Hapa, visit the restaurant’s official website.
