A neighbourhood favourite, Mi Mi Restaurant, announced it would be moving from its Gerrard St. location after almost 30 years, leaving a cloud of panic and dread over the East Chinatown community earlier this month.

Thankfully, the panic proved to be a temporary one. 

While the restaurant was indeed planning to pack up shop and relocate, their new home was closer than many expected. In fact, it was right next door. 

Moving from their long-standing locale at 688 Gerrard, Mi Mi's new home can be found a few metres to the west, at 686A Gerrard. The motivation behind the move, however, was not for any strategic reason other than necessity. 

"The landlord was going to increase our rent," Ni Trieu told blogTO. Trieu is the daughter of the restaurant's owners and has been essentially running Mi Mi as a manager for years. 

According to Trieu, the rent increase/relocation saga began almost four years ago. 

Rather than accepting the higher rent, her family instead decided to move their restaurant next door to a smaller unit that had recently become available. 

The only problem? It would require extensive renovations before the space could become a functioning restaurant — renovations that weren't completed until just last week. 

Keeping up with the higher rent over the last four years "was a bit of a challenge," Trieu said. "But because we are family-run, that's how we could last."

While the family could have saved themselves the trouble by finding a better-equipped location in a different area, leaving their post in East Chinatown was out of the question. 

"We really wanted to stay within the neighbourhood," Trieu said. "It's like a family. We know our clients, they've known us for so long, we know their kids. It's what motivates us."

Since announcing the reopening of the restaurant on Instagram, the support from the community has echoed Trieu's sentiment. 

Their customers are thrilled to see that the family and their business has come out on top, and are beyond relieved that the most-loved vermicelli noodles in the city are staying put on Gerrard.