“It’s easy to connect with anyone over food”
As she points out landmarks during a walk through Edmonton’s Chinatown, it’s clear the neighbourhood has been central to Linda Hoang’s life since childhood.
Growing up, she and her siblings spent much of their time helping at their parents’ Vietnamese restaurant, King Noodle House Pho Hoang. An Edmonton staple for 30 years, the restaurant has served pho lovers for the past two decades at its current location on 97 Street, a once robust thoroughfare in this historic district.
“I’m sad that it’s not the kind of vibrant, busy place that I grew up seeing. But I think it makes me more compelled to try to bring that back,” says Hoang (Radio and Television – TV ’11), a well-known social media strategist, content creator and food blogger, before popping in to greet her mother during the lunch hour.
“I decided to try to figure out ways to fill that gap, and bring people back, or introduce people to Chinatown,” she says.
She’s convinced dining is one way to do that. “I just think it’s easy to connect with anyone over food,” says Hoang.
“When you’re slurping the broth or trying this new dumpling you’ve never had before, I think that stays with you.”
Challenging perceptions
Hoang has used her platform to promote Chinatown since 2018, starting with mural and food tours. She’s also contributed to projects run by other groups, such as Chinatown Dining Week and the Chinatown Stories Map.
Throughout her career, she has used her profile to support social and cultural issues, including anti-racism education.
“It’s been very important for me to try to use my platform to uplift a community or support local businesses,” says Hoang, who was named Edmonton’s Best Tourism Influencer in 2024.
Her latest effort, the Chinatown Chow Down, funded by the City of Edmonton’s Chinatown Vibrancy Fund, introduced well over 300 visitors to new culinary experiences.
The four-month campaign, which ended in March, offered three Chinatown dining options: monthly lunches and dinners hosted by Hoang at local restaurants, food “crawls,” or curated food walking tours, and a culinary passport that encouraged diners to support local businesses. During hosted meals and food crawls, she’d introduce guests to owners and share the history of the businesses.
Hoang acknowledges some people may be hesitant to visit Chinatown, but, as someone who is in the neighbourhood regularly, she’s “never felt unsafe.” She says welcoming visitors to the community through food can challenge negative perceptions.
Last year, a dozen community projects – from festivals to art projects and dining events – were approved under the $480,000 city fund, with the goal of revitalizing the area, which is facing the same social pressures as other downtown neighbourhoods.
The city is offering the same amount this year and in 2026. It follows other recent municipal efforts to improve safety after two men were killed in unprovoked attacks at their workplaces in the neighbourhood in May 2022.
The efforts may be making a difference. Feedback about the Chinatown Chow Down has been enthusiastic.
“I’ve heard from people that they’re now more excited to come back without a tour,” says Hoang. The city has greenlit another Chinatown Chow Down, with details coming soon.
Champion of Chinatown
Transforming Chinatown into a year-round destination is an ambitious goal, Hoang admits, but one she hopes can be achieved with continued support from government and community groups.
Kathryn Luu, a director with the Chinatown Business Improvement Association and the Chinatown Transformation Collaborative, says having a high-profile champion for the community is invaluable.
“[Linda] is able to bring in a new audience, and these new audiences can spread the word to support Chinatown,” says Luu, whose family owns Kim Fat Market and butcher shop.
“A lot of people don’t know we have so many gems in Chinatown. … Where else can you get a bubble waffle at midnight?”
Over the past couple of years, Luu says festivals and markets have attracted thousands of visitors to the area, and each event is an opportunity to rehabilitate the neighbourhood’s reputation in the eyes of the wider community.
"Where else can you get a bubble waffle at midnight?”
For both Luu, who met her husband in Chinatown as a teenager, and Hoang, Chinatown is special on a personal level. But, they add, it also holds a broader significance as one of the pioneering neighbourhoods in the city, with a rich history of not only Chinese, but also Vietnamese, Korean and African cultures.
If Chinatown is allowed to decay, they’re worried a pivotal chapter of Edmonton’s history will be forgotten.
“Edmonton would not exist without the Chinese immigrants that came and helped build the city,” Hoang says. ”To forget that would be devastating.”