She and a partner opened the restaurant in 1996. People were misled to believe that just eating tofu for protein instead of meat was not enough to provide them with energy for a busy daily life. Opened in 1990 as the first venue in Orange County to offer an entirely Vietnamese vegetarian cuisine, the business has grown and another location was added last year in Huntington Beach. Pham's mother, Kim Oanh Huynh, is the master chef who invents dishes and makes sauces. The Vien Huong menu items have doubled from 100 to 200 gourmet dishes.
Most dishes are from the distinct northern, central or southern regions of Vietnam.
Soy, which is high in protein, and wheat gluten are common ingredients used to make the specialty dishes. The transition from meat to vegetarian dishes wasn't easy. Pham's family changed to a low-sodium diet 12 years ago because her father received a kidney stone diagnosis. The Little Saigon location in Westminster initially served a mostly Vietnamese clientele. As Buddhists, most Vietnamese customarily observe two to three days each month on the lunar calendar in which they must maintain a vegetarian diet called chay.