Drawing inspiration from owner Lam Pham's Vietnamese roots, Pure Modern Asian Kitchen + Bar in Calgary offers dishes reminiscent of street foods in Vietnam with bold, rich and pure flavours.

The name has two meanings to it: quality over quantity and the owner's journey in thriving to be better each day. The restaurant prides itself in creating dishes that utilize ingredients that are good quality and "pure", if you will. Chef Pham runs the kitchen, but he also does plenty of front-of-house work as well.

“The name reminds me every day that [being a restaurateur] is a very tough journey,” explains Pham. “It requires pure passion, pure dedication, and pure ambition. Therefore, it is normal to feel pain, just don’t give up and keep going forward. There will be light at the end of the tunnel.”

There were other names that he considered, such as Nudoba and Pot au Pho. However, the chef says that those names eventually sounded too "noodle-focused" to him.

Pure is open for dine-in service from Tuesdays to Sundays as well as for takeout and delivery.