by Samantha Husted 

Hello Uncle is a Southeast Asian concept that defies traditional restaurant conventions, operating sans a brick-and-mortar location and featuring a menu that changes as owner/chef Michael Le sees fit. 

“I’ve always followed someone else’s direction,” Le says of his long-time experience working in the restaurant industry. With Hello Uncle — a mobile kitchen serving Southeast Asian cuisine —  Le calls the shots.

“Being in control of the direction of the menu and the feel and the vibe of everything — from the music to the compostable dinnerware — it’s been one of the happiest moments of my life in the industry.”

Le, a restaurant industry veteran with a background in fine dining, developed the idea for Hello Uncle while living on the West Coast and working for the James Beard Award–winning bakery Berlu. 

“We conceptualized the idea in Portland, Oregon,” Le says. “But it just never took off. It was just an initial idea.”

Although Hello Uncle didn’t find success in the Northwest, the concept grew in the back of Le’s mind, and followed him down South.  Initially Le moved to Charlotte to open Kappo En, an omakase/tasting menu restaurant in Elizabeth, in the back of Menya Daruma noodle bar.

The first Hello Uncle pop-up in Charlotte was held at Super Abari Game Bar as a benefit for fellow industry member, chef Nobuaki “Nobu” Ishikawa, to help him cover unexpected medical expenses. Ishikawa has since passed. 

“One of my friends wasn’t able to pay for his hospital bills after heart difficulty and we were trying to figure out how we would be able to help him,” Le says. “I just thought, let me do this Hello Uncle idea.” 

100 percent of the proceeds from the first Hello Uncle pop-up went to Ishikawa. Not only was the event successful in raising funds, it raised interest in Le’s concept as well. 

“Nothing was supposed to happen after that,” Le says. “Hello Uncle was just supposed to be a one and done project.”

For the next several months, people around Charlotte began asking Le — in person and through Instagram direct messages — when the next Hello Uncle event would be. 

“I worked at Common Market, and people were asking about the previous Hello Uncle pop-up from six months ago,” Le says. “I checked my inbox, and it was full of people asking me, ‘Hey, when are you going to do the next one? We’d like you to come here, we liked your food, or this or that.’”

Le decided to set up a somewhat permanent residence (it is a pop-up, afterall) at Common Market in Plaza Midwood. Today, you can find Hello Uncle there on the third Wednesday of every month. Otherwise, the concept roams the city. You might find Le at Borderline Bar and Billiards or posted up at the wine bar Bar à Vins in NoDa. He posts the Hello Uncle schedule on Instagram.

As far as the cuisine goes, Le uses his cultural background (he’s Vietnamese and Chinese) and his fine dining experience from across the country to make flavor-focused yet unpretentious dishes. 

“I  just like love simple cooking,” Le says. “I don’t like to overcomplicate things.”

He also cooks what he likes, whether it’s khao man gai, a Thai rendition of Hainan, Chinese chicken, or his take on a Carolina hot dog (otherwise known as a “glizzy”).

The name Hello Uncle also harkens back to his cultural roots. It refers to the Vietnamese tradition of calling anyone that’s not your immediate family “auntie” or “uncle.” 

“ When we were kids at family gatherings — friends or family — or anybody who comes over that’s not your immediate family, you address them by ‘uncle’ and ‘auntie’ in Vietnamese,” Le says. 

The tradition is inclusive, welcoming, and for Le, nostalgic.

“I think Hello Uncle is a very warm and welcoming name for the concept,” Le says. 

As Hello Uncle continues to grow, a brick and mortar location may be on the horizon. But for now, Le is enjoying the slow progression and night-market feel of his current set-up. 

“ We’ve been trying to build community and connect people,” Le says. “It’s been a fun ride.”