Bobby Chinn

In 2014, Chinn moved to London and launched a modern Vietnamese concept at The House of Ho, which occupies the former site of The 2i's Coffee Bar, Soho. This has now been sold to a group of private investors.

Robert Chinn is an international chef, television presenter, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is a culinary celebrity across Asia and the Middle East, thanks to his role as host of Discovery TLC's World Cafe, and as a judge on MBC's Top Chef Middle East. He opened two award-winning restaurants in Vietnam – Restaurant Bobby Chinn in Hanoi (2001) and Bobby Chinn Saigon in Ho Chi Minh (2011), then relocated to London in 2014 and opened the House of Ho Vietnamese restaurant.

Chinn's television career was launched with his first solo TV show, World Café Asia, on TLC – also known as Planet Food on the Discovery Channel – presenting a taste of Asia through traditional street stalls, hawker centres, acclaimed restaurants and hot spots. He was awarded 'Best Entertainment Presenter' at the Asia TV Awards for the series in 2007. The second season, World Café Middle East, had equal success, and he was awarded 'Best Entertainment Programme' by the Asia TV Awards 2010. The show was re-cut and sold to Globe Trekker. He hosted Globe Trekker Food Hour: Ireland in 2014, and Globe Trekker Food Hour: Sicily in 2015. Following the success of his first show, Chinn hosted a second show with Discovery Network, called Bobby Chinn Cooks Asia, a travel cookery series which highlights Asian recipes laced with local history and culture.

In 1996, Chinn moved to Ho Chi Minh City and worked at La Camargue restaurant. Within six months, he had opened his own restaurant, Saigon Joe's, and moved to Hanoi to open another restaurant, Miro. In 1997, he opened the Red Onion, overlooking the infamous "Hanoi Hilton". The success of the restaurant gave him the opportunity to open his eponymous restaurant in 2001, Restaurant Bobby Chinn.

In 1990, he worked for Blue Shell, supplying Prince Edward Island mussels and oysters to the top restaurants in New York City. Chinn enrolled in the French Culinary Institute in New York, but dropped out in order to study improvisational comedy at The Groundlings, Los Angeles. He then returned to San Francisco to pursue stand-up comedy, performing at the Holy City Zoo.

Chinn was a graduate of the Urban School of San Francisco. He was also educated in Cairo, Egypt, and London, England, where he attended Millfield, Somerset UK from 1977 to 1980 on a sports scholarship. He attended the College of Marin, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Saint Mary's College in Moraga, California and Richmond College in London, where he graduated with a BA in Finance and Economics (1986). In 2020 he was awarded an honorary PhD in Liberal Arts from Richmond College.