TACOMA, Wash. — At Toast Mi in Tacoma's Proctor District, Liam Nguyen and Nikki Nguyen often find themselves explaining their last names.
"We have the same last name," Nikki said.
"But we're not married," Liam added.
"And we're not related," Nikki said. "We are just really good friends and business partners."
About 40% of Vietnamese people have the surname Nguyen, pronounced "win". These friends not only share a last name, but a friendship dating back to their college days at the University of Washington, and a life changing adventure in Vietnam.
"One thing we noticed is that there were bánh mì carts everywhere in the street," Nikki said. "We were like wow! This is really cool. We don't have anything like that where we live."
"We always wanted to open a business together," Liam said.
That visit is the inspiration behind Toast Mi, a cafe they opened at the start of the pandemic.
They sell grab-and-go boba drinks, rice bowls, and bánh mì sandwiches in Tacoma and at a new location in Seattle's Green Lake neighborhood.
"A lot of people still don't know about Vietnamese sandwiches," Nikki said. "You get the bread fresh baked every morning. You get the protein and different vegetables in there."
The sandwiches are named for landmarks in Vietnam. The Mekong is made with barbecue pork. The Dragon Bridge is a Tsu Mai meatball sandwich.
"We recommend that one to people a lot," Nikki said. She wanted to give a shout out to her parents for help making Toast Mi a success.
"Pretty much all the food here is their recipes but I feel like they don't get enough credit for that," she said.
Speaking of credit, we discovered Toast Mi thanks to a TikTok by foodie Teena Thach.
The strawberry cheesecake boba is the most colorful while the matcha mango boba is the most popular.
"You can have a fruit tea or a blended drink like a smoothie and the boba is actually the toppings that we put in there, like the tapioca balls or the different types of jellies that we put in there," Nikki said.
They also serve highly caffeinated Vietnamese coffee.
But the most successful ingredient at Toast Mi is the friendship between Liam and Nikki.
"On a professional level we are both very driven and we both want the same thing," Nikki said.
Toast Mi is open every day of the week from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. They are located at 2602 N. Proctor St. Ste. D, Tacoma, WA 98407 and at Greenlake Village, 7130 Woodlawn Ave. N.E., Seattle, WA 98115, where they are open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
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