A cook with blue gloves holds a fry pan and tosses orange-colored noodles with tofu and green vegetables. The noodles are pictured in the air above the pan. Another cook is pictured in the background cooking in a different pot.
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Despite spending her childhood in her mother’s restaurant, cooking was never the plan for Haluthai Inhmathong. But as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, feelings of isolation left her craving creative freedom and connection separate from her work in advertising. For Inhmathong, dumplings were the remedy. Today, Inhmathong has turned her hobby of cooking into a family business, along with her mother, Ying, in the form of Basil Babe, a mint green and light pink-themed Thai restaurant based in Ypsilanti.

Two women, one older with a pink shirt and blue jeans and one younger with black tights and a tan cardigan, sit outside of a pink door at the corner of a building leaning against each other and smiling at the camera. There is an awning with lights underneath and a sign that says “Basil Babe.”
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A woman in a tan cardigan stands inside a building and is pictured through the window with her hand on a lit-up sign that says “open.” There are wooden flowers inside the building on the windowsill and yellow lights inside.
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Inhamathong graduated from Eastern Michigan University after studying communications and marketing. Her job in advertising didn’t allow her to be creative; however, she was able to find the outlet she needed through cooking.

At first, Inhamathong said she sold dumplings to friends and family after teaching herself how to make them. Inhamathong said she chose dumplings because they were a comfort food for her during a difficult time.

A cook with white gloves on uses tongs to drop green chopped cilantro pieces onto a container with orange dumplings which he holds in his other hand. In the foreground there is a bin with individual cups of orange sauces.
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A fryer is pictured from above with dumplings cooking in dark oil. The two frying baskets have red handles.
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Two people stand in a kitchen putting together a dish of crab rangoons. One has curly black hair and a blue hat, and the other has a tie-dye shirt with a black beanie. There are lots of bottles and dishes on the table in front of them.
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“People started tagging me on Instagram,” Inhamathong said. “I started getting random people on Instagram saying like, ‘Hey, how can I get my hands on these dumplings?’ So, pretty much me and my mom filled up my SUV full of coolers, just packed to the brim with frozen dumplings, and we drove 250 miles around Metro Detroit (every) Saturday and Sunday, dropping them off. It was an awesome way to see our friends and family from a safe distance and also provide them (with) a lovely meal.”

Throughout 2020 and 2021, Basil Babe was a pop-up restaurant that offered frozen dumplings and traditional Thai street foods, only recently opening their brick-and-mortar location on West Cross Street. Inhamathong said the pop-up business was chaotic for her, but taught her a lot about the industry. She said she collaborated with other local pop-ups like Dave Makes Pasta, which was rewarding, but she wanted to make a change when driving around her food and equipment became too much for her.

“Transitioning to a restaurant, where we can just leave things here and have everything in its place and not have to worry about (things like), ‘Oh no, I’m in Detroit and I forgot all my noodles in Ypsilanti and the pop-up starts in 30 minutes,’” Inhamathong said. “That — for real — happens. It’s nice to have a place to call home now.”

Inhamathong said her mother’s previous experience running a Thai restaurant after immigrating to the United States informed her as a chef and business owner, and her mother’s success has been inspiring as she follows a similar path.

“I pretty much grew up on my mom’s kitchen floor at Siam Square in Ann Arbor,” Inhamathong said. “My parents never pressured me into taking over their family business, which I’m very thankful for. But I guess the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree because I am at the same age where my mom pursued her restaurant and I’m following her footsteps.” 

A dish of food sits on a dark wood table. The dish has orange noodles, green vegetables, peanuts, lime, and tofu. There is a glass of orange thai tea with ice sitting behind the dish.
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Shelby Sieler and Brandon Page, EMU graduates, visit Ypsilanti to sample some of Basil Babe’s creations. Sieler said she was attracted to the brick-and-mortar restaurant because she had been to Basil Babe’s pop-ups in the past and loved the food.

“The food is amazing, as always,” Sieler said. “The pop-up food I’ve had before, and it was really good. My favorite thing is the lao sausage because it’s just really unique. (This place is a) hidden treasure.”

The interior of an empty restaurant is pictured. It has green walls, brown booths and tables, and white wicker lights. There are stone pillars framing the edges of the photo.
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The interior of the restaurant is pictured. It has green walls, brown booths and tables, and white wicker lights. People are sitting at each table and are talking or eating food.
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Page said the dishes at Basil Babe are special compared to other Thai restaurants in the area that he has tried.

“I think every dish that they have here (has) some sort of crazy spin on it that makes it their own, and I think that’s really special about Basil Babe as a whole and their whole brand,” Page said. “It tasted absolutely phenomenal.”

The exterior of the restaurant is pictured with a gray street in front during the afternoon. The building is gray with brown stones on the bottom and a pink door. There are lights on the exterior of the building around the windows.
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The West Cross Street location is just across the street from the EMU campus, but serves many Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti locals, like Ann Arbor resident Ann Hansen.

“There is really not a lot of good Thai in greater Ann Arbor and I’m always looking for good Thai,” Hansen said. “In fact, when I want good Thai, I go to Toledo. Nice to have something closer. Basil Babe has done an outstanding job of marketing (themselves) on Instagram … and I like supporting new businesses that are good.”

Joaquin Rios is a fry cook at Basil Babe and has been working with Inhamathong and her mother since July 2021. Rios said his best memory working at Basil Babe changes constantly because every day is great.

“Every day is a great memory, working with Basil Babe,” Rios said. “(Basil Babe is special because of) all the love, because (Inhamathong) and her mom started this doing just dumpling pickups outside their home or even just delivering them … It’s not just a restaurant, it’s a whole experience, a whole vibe … You can tell it’s a special place.”

A smiling woman with a tan cardigan and tan headband sands behind a dark wood bar and pours orange thai tea from a pitcher into a cup with ice.
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Senior Photo Editor Sarah Boeke and Daily News Editor Rachel Mintz can be reached at seboeke@umich.edu and mintzrac@umich.edu.