DStrolling through the city of Nîmes offers the pleasure of admiring a myriad of familiar beings, a griffin on an ancient wall painting, a massive bull facing the arenas, a crocodile lying on the market square. It is a few steps from the latter that you will meet a golden dragon, after having pushed open the door of Hèita: “It was my uncles who made it, explains Nha Nguyen, head of the restaurant. It is made of iron rods and agglomerated shells. What you see are all the clams that they gobbled up as an aperitif.
Hèita is a family affair. For twenty-eight years, Nha Nguyen’s parents ran the restaurant, which offered traditional Vietnamese cuisine. She and her sister Nhat spent their school holidays helping out in the kitchen, then they left the family home to travel the world. And here they are again in 2022, like two migratory birds, determined to take over the business, they who had promised each other as children to open their own restaurant together.
Fayçal Benhabiles, a chef born in Algiers and Nha’s traveling companion, joins them in the adventure, for an explosive change of atmosphere on the menu. Exit the classic phos, spring rolls and lacquered pork, make way for eggplant fritto on a smoked feta cream, braised sucrine under a snowy mountain of parmesan, duck breast served with spätzle. The cuisine does not forbid itself any influence, shamelessly crossing countries and regions but always with a rule of three well-balanced flavors.
Tribute to a family that is never far away
In these high-speed journeys, one dish stands out: beef laap served on a bowl of crispy rice, as a nostalgic counterpoint to the parents’ time. The freshly seared piece of meat is covered in a homemade nuoc-mâm sauce, lime leaf and galangal, mint and spring onions, to be cut into strips and placed on rice that is golden on the edges but soft on the inside, the result of the cereal being rolled into a ball after cooking, then fried and crumbled in the bowl at the minute.
The recipe, a two-in-one souvenir of a beef salad and a crispy rice dish served at home parties, pays homage to a family that is never far away, literally, as an older lady can be seen concentrating behind the copper heat lamps, plating with the chef. : “Everyone calls her ‘Mrs. Kim’. Our mother comes to help us from time to time, she’s afraid she’ll get bored otherwise,” Nha Nguyen whispers in our ear.
Laap regularly appears on the menu, sometimes made with fermented pork, sometimes with red tuna. It took the two sisters nine months to move from tradition to the modernity of their mixed cuisine. “I originally wanted to get rid of the dragon, which I found quite kitsch, but my godfather reminded me how long it took to make. We kept it, even though we are constantly asked if we are an Asian restaurant because of it,” she smiles. Transmission is at the heart of the restaurant, and it all makes sense when you know that they renamed it Hèita, which means “history” or “origin” in Occitan.
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Add to your selections
Beef laap and crispy rice: €12.50. Hèita, 27, rue de l’Etoile, Nîmes (Gard). Tel.: 06-61-23-37-51.
