The Inverness restaurant Hou Hou Mei now has a “little sister” in the form of a new food truck Mei Mei.
Karen and Jon-Paul (JP) Saint opened Hou Hou Mei back in July 2022, and since then the restaurant has been packed with customers.
Why? It’s thanks to their unique offering, says Karen.
“The cuisine in Inverness is a lot of Scottish food,” she says, “or burgers and things like that.
“There was no modern Chinese food, like bao buns.
“I think people enjoy the fusion that we offer.”
But Karen and JP didn’t expect the restaurant to be as popular as it is.
“It’s unreal sometimes when you think about it,” she laughs.
“We didn’t expect the restaurant to be this busy all the time. We’re always full!”
‘Little sister’ Mei Mei has arrived
The next challenge for the Inverness foodie power couple was to start their own food truck.
“It’s Hou Hou Mei’s little sister,” says Karen, 34. Mei Mei translates to “little sister” in Cantonese.
The idea came about as a way to start a lunch offering, as they are too busy in Hou Hou Mei to serve lunch in the restaurant.
“We get a lot of people asking when we will open for lunch,” says Karen.
“But with two young children, we wouldn’t want to open somewhere else as well.
“The food truck isn’t something we have to do every day, it’s a pop-up whenever we’re free.”
“We had a soft opening in September,” she adds.
“We didn’t release it to the public, we just invited our neighbours.
“It didn’t turn out to be a soft opening though,” she laughs, “it was absolutely mental.”
The menu at Mei Mei food truck in Inverness has a variety of small plates.
“It’s all little small bites that you can snack on for lunchtime,” says Karen.
This includes plenty of bao buns – even more than the restaurant offers.
There are also the very popular cauliflower “wings”, chicken poppers and handmade dumplings.
The cauliflower wings come in different sauces, including salt and chilli or sticky sesame.
‘It’s nice to be able to have our own thing’
Karen was inspired to start off a career in hospitality thanks to her mum’s involvement in the industry.
“For myself, it was my mum that started off my passion,” she says.
“She’s ran takeaways since she moved to the UK from Hong Kong in the 70s.
“From her background, I naturally went into that trade as well.”
The restaurant, and now the food truck, are an opportunity for the couple to be their own bosses.
“In the first few months, it was stressful,” Karen says.
“But at the end of the day, we’re doing this for us and this is our dream.
“We’ve both been in hospitality all our lives, and we’ve always worked for other people.
“It’s nice to be able to have our own thing.”
Conversation