United States

Los Angeles 

sailorr

Food is often more than taste. It's a feeling of home, belonging and community. And in Orange County's Little Saigon, it's where R&B singer Sailorr finds some refuge. 

-American in Florida hasn't always been easy for Sailorr, real name Kayla Le. "Florida is as lawless as hell. Where I come from there's a lot of absurdity and harm to marginalised communities." She highlights her Sunshine State peers like Doechii and Destin Conrad for going against the grain, "and find identity within ourselves in a place like Florida."

 to pursue her career, which jumpstarted after her breakout single, 'Pookie's Requiem'. Characterised by her smooth vocals driven by a rubbery synth, the track went viral—quickly pushing her into the limelight and swiftly relocating her to LA.

Although she's been to the LA before, she's here on new grounds, suddenly thrust into the spotlight to work on her new album,

 Little Saigon is in the nearby Orange County, offering a host of Vietnamese restaurants and businesses where she can feel grounded and at home. 

"I just moved to LA so I don’t have a lot of time to go explore, but when I have time to go I love it," she says. "I'm not gonna find that food anywhere else, unless I go to Vietnam. There's another sense of safety and community in going to support these restaurants."

Below she shares her favourite spots in OC & LA, and what she gets while she's at them. 

We ordered Escargot, oysters, chicken salad that had papaya in it. It’s all just street food that you’d find on the side of the street in Vietnam, a lot of people just eat stir-fried snails and season it with lemongrass, tamarind, garlic. It’s super tangy and spicy, it’s so good!  

There’s this spot for desert. They have these really good avocado smoothies and a lot of good coconut smoothies, but they also have my favourite desert. In English it’s called green honeycomb cake—it’s a green pandan that’s chewy, almost has a mochi-like texture, but it’s a cake. 

Their guoi cuon is really good—the summer rolls. I honestly haven’t tried much else on the menu, I literally just go there for that.

They have a pop up shop that sells clothing, books, just random things! I love it there. 


I haven’t had time to go enough, but I used to go a lot visiting my family. You can find clothes, incense, jewellery—you can get your grillz done there if you wanted to! I got mine done in Atlanta, but I’m manifesting that Johnny Dang makes my next set, only cause he’s Vietnamese. 

Brodard

Related Guides