Solange Thompson is on an ambitious track to expand her distinctive version of Southeast Asian cuisine within the greater Wilmington area.

The owner of enduringly popular Indochine Restaurant at the corner of Wayne and Market streets recently announced that a new location of her Indochine Express brand is coming to a shopping center in front of Independence Mall. She plans to unveil this newest member of her growing restaurant network in early August.
 
The midtown Indochine Express will be similar to that of Thompson’s other express eateries and will focus especially on introducing Vietnamese cuisine to new audiences, she said Tuesday.
 
She said, “My concept is totally different from Chinese or Thai restaurants in Wilmington. It’s avant-garde Asian food with a twist: all of my stores have the twist of food with art. I want to promote the culture of Asian art. Even if it’s fast food, I have art in there and [represent] the history of Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.”
 
Thompson, who’s known to many of her customers as Niki, is of French-Vietnamese heritage. Born in Vietnam – which until 1954 was part of French Indochina and still retains some French flavor – she grew up in nearby Thailand and absorbed the cultures of Southeast Asia. A resident of Wilmington since 1975, she opened Asian-fusion Indochine Restaurant in 2000.
 
Twenty years later, Thompson began to expand. In less than six months, she stepped out with two new establishments. The first was Indochine Express on South College Road in Monkey Junction, which opened on the cusp of 2021. Soon after, Thompson followed with Café Chinois in Fulton Station at the intersection of South 17th Street and South College Road.

Her aim with Indochine Express was to offer a satellite location with a smaller menu than the vast array of dishes at Indochine but still representative of its Asian fusion flair. The goal of Café Chinois was to highlight Asian cuisine, such as pho, not on the menus of Indochine or Indochine Express.
 
Finding success with both those ventures, Thompson opened an Indochine Express in Southport about two months ago and is in the process of obtaining permits for a similar location in Leland. But the midtown Indochine Express is firmly in her sights for now.
 
“We will have very good Vietnamese soup, bun bo hue, a traditional soup from my hometown in Vietnam, the imperial city of Hue. It’s delicious,” she said. “We’ll have an entrance in the [mall-facing] back of the restaurant for mall customers and personnel.”
 
Thompson said she is selective about her ingredients.
 
“Even in my Indochine Express locations, I try not to use any inexpensive products. I pay a little bit more but the quality of my food is really awesome,” she said. “I just want to bring another restaurant that offers healthy food for the people of Wilmington, since Wilmington is my favorite city in the whole world. I came here when I was 20, and Wilmington has been wonderful to me.”
 
The new Indochine Express will be located at 3608 Oleander Drive (shown above), in the same complex as Firehouse Subs.