The restaurant scene outside the Hylton Performing Arts Center continues to grow.
Mum Mum, a new Thai eatery will open its doors this month across from the center. The idea is to create a relaxing atmosphere and an upscale environment where show patrons can grab a bite to eat and a drink before seeing a show.
Kris Yoo is part owner of the restaurant. Creating an authentic bistro, from everything from the interior to a menu of inspired mash-up recipes of Thai food with border influences, is what Mum Mum is all about.
Yoo spent $80,000 to import original teak wood to the restaurant. The wood hangs over the bar and makes up some of the bench seating in the restaurant. It is engraved with a poem of a man who is professing his love for a woman.
The menu has some of the “usual suspects,” as Yoo described them, such as pad Thai. But there’s also northern Thai curry – a spicy dish full of Indian influences. It’s just a sample of the regional influences built into Yoo’s menu. The restaurant will also attempt to feature locally sourced food from our area.
What’s behind the name? “Mum mum” is slang in Thailand for food. So, when someone tells a child to get something to eat they say “mum, mum,” not “num, num,” explained Yoo.
The venture is a partnership between Yoo and the owner of Zabb Tahi Restaurant in the Bull Run Plaza shopping center off Sudley Manor Drive. Mum Mum is the first restaurant Yoo has operated.
Mum Mum will have a soft opening in two weeks in an effort to establish a bar crowd. A ribbon cutting with the Prince William Chamber of Commerce is scheduled for May 29.
