How two Tang brothers became the supermarket emperors of Paris

French gastronomy may arguably be the best in the planet, but Asians in Paris must indulge their periodic craving for dumplings, nems or noodles.

With its kind of inventory, the Tang Frères supermarket would fit right in Hong Kong’s Mong Kok or Bangkok’s Sukhumvit district. Shelves filled with condiments, from japchae sauce to Thai curry paste, and obscure ingredients like bamboo leaves and dried black mushrooms, guarantee that grandma’s recipes can be executed thousands of miles away.

The enterprise began with a grocery store specialising in Thai soy sauce and rice cakes, opened in 1976 by Chinese-Laotian businessman Bounmy Rattanavan, also known as Mr Tang, with the help of his elder brother Bou (the name Tang Frères means Tang Brothers in French).

A Chiuchow family from Canton, now known as Guangdong, the Rattanavans made a comfortable living in Laos, with a rice farm, a shoe factory and a lumberyard.

In 1971, Bounmy left Vientiane to study engineering in Lyon. Four years later, other family members fled Laos as the Communist movement gained power, joining the wave of migrants from Indochina escaping war and seeking asylum in France.