Month: October 2022

Khanhly Nguyen has applied for a liquor license for the Old Port Noodle House at 245 Commercial Street.

Nguyen is in the process of buying the Veranda Noodle House from family members. He expects to continue to operate the business along the same lines but will rename it as the Old Port Noodle House.

The Veranda Noodle House originally opened in 2015.

A new African restaurant called Merveille is under construction in Woodfords Corner at 683 Forest Ave in the space formerly occupied by the Shawarma & Kebab House.

Owner Liliana Mungongo Da Silva is a recent immigrant who originally hails from Angola. Here’s a bit of her personal history shared in her liquor license application.

Indeed, I embraced commerce, trading and business at an early age in Africa. Coming out from a humble family, armed with a very strong will to succeed in life, my beginning was hard. I endured the hardship from selling water in the street to becoming one of the prominent businesswomen in Luanda, Angola. I became a role-model and led many other women into the field of business, traveled to more than 20 countries around the world; due to political unrest, I finally rested my luggages in the USA.

Da Silva’s goal is for Merveille to be “place where people from different cultures can meet and mingle.” Merveille is intended to be a place where Americans can experience a food culture that may be new to them, and where members of the African immigrant community “can easily find their home foods when going to or coming back from work”.

The draft menu includes some regional dishes like fufu, fumbua, bolino de chuva, kikwanga, plantains and casava leaves along with vegetables, salad, and dishes featuring goat, fish and chicken.

Merveille is a French word that appears to mean a ‘wonder’ or ‘marvel’.

A new Puerto Rican-inspired bar and restaurant called Papi (facebook, instagram) is under construction at 18 Exchange Street. Papi is being launched by Joshua Miranda along with bartender LyAnna Sanabria (instagram).

As you can see, the space is still very much under construction. However, if the remaining work goes according to plan Papi is expected to open in late November or early December. The space will seat 48—15 at the curved bar shown above, 31 in a banquet along the left wall of the space and the 2 remaining seats in a semi enclosed “lover’s booth” with louvered French doors towards the back of the bar.

The menu will feature food and drink inspired by the foodways of Puerto Rican.  Sanabria shared, “I remember hearing a Nuyorican say ‘we are our ancestors wildest dreams’ and that is honestly how I envision the cocktail program for Papi. Like most Puerto Ricans I was heavily impacted by watching my family cook and dance. Honoring the diaspora, expect flavors like guava, coconut and sofrito while melding with the fresh and seasonal seaside flavors available here in Maine.”

Here’s a look at the draft food and beverage menus:

The Papi team will be running a pop-up event on October 10th where you’ll be able to get an early taste of the food and cocktails. The pop-up will raise funds for VisitRico and ConPRmetidos to aid residents of the island as they recover from hurricane Fiona. Tickets are now available.