One sunny afternoon in Ho Chi Minh City, I stopped by Ms. Chinh's family's Vi Bon ice cream shop on Nguyen Huy Tu Street (Ben Nghe Ward), feeling the coolness of my childhood.
Feeding 4 generations in one family
Open from 9am to 7pm, this ice cream shop is not noisy, not crowded but customers regularly come to buy wholesale and retail. Early in the afternoon, I visited the shop, there were about 5 people inside, each doing their own thing. The men were busy, sweating from making ice cream, the women were packing, consulting and selling to customers.
After 10 o'clock in the morning, Ms. Chinh's family members were busy making ice cream.
[CLIP]: 65-year-old ice cream shop sells out every day.
With her hands deftly putting peanuts into small bags, Ms. Chinh (the current owner of the shop) said that these parts will be given to customers when buying ice cream by the kilo here. When the shop first opened, when there were not many customers, she told me the story of a rare ice cream shop in Ho Chi Minh City that has been around for nearly 7 decades.
Mrs. Chinh, Owner of Vi Bon Ice Cream ShopAccording to Ms. Chinh, the ice cream shop was founded in 1958 by Mr. Ly Than and his wife (her grandparents). Before that, they went to Cambodia to learn a trade and then returned to Saigon, choosing Da Kao market as their place to start a business. At that time, Da Kao market was just a squatter market, with only a few houses around and overgrown with grass.
Ms. Vo Thi Hai (in the photo) and her husband Mr. Ly Vinh Dao (Ms. Chinh's parents) are the second generation in the family to inherit the ice cream shop.
The ice cream was carefully packaged by Mrs. Chinh.
Having made a living from this profession, Mr. Ly Than and his wife taught their seven sons the secret. Later, their children opened two more shops on Tung Thien Vuong Street (District 8) and Pham Dinh Ho Street (District 6). One of their grandsons also opened a shop on Nhi Thien Duong Bridge. Not to mention, Mr. Ly Vinh Phat - a son of Mr. Ly Than and his wife also opened a shop in Chau Doc (An Giang) making tube ice cream, also named Vi Bon.
Through many ups and downs, those ice cream shops no longer exist because Mr. Ly Than's children and grandchildren changed jobs, changed places of residence, and some went to America. Only this ice cream shop in Da Kao area was preserved and passed down to her generation by Mr. Ly Vinh Dao and Mrs. Vo Thi Hai, Ms. Chinh's parents.
The ice cream shop has supported her family for four generations, and she is determined to preserve it.
Asked about the meaning of the name Vi Bon, the owner slowly explained: “Bon” means life, and “Vi” means because. Vi Bon means that this ice cream shop is the life of the family, so it must be preserved at all costs.
“Thanks to this ice cream shop, 4 generations of my family have grown up, matured and have the life we have today. This is a job and a career, the effort of my grandparents, parents, my husband and I and my children now. My mother passed away 6 years ago, so I am even more aware that I have to preserve the family's traditional profession until I no longer have the strength to do it," Ms. Chinh shared.
Taste of childhood in the city
Introducing her ice cream shop, Ms. Chinh said that the shop has remained the same over the years. Many people come here to buy ice cream to reminisce about their childhood because this shop used to distribute ice cream to countless ice cream vendors throughout Ho Chi Minh City.
“Since I was little, I saw my mother selling ice cream. Street vendors with jingling bells stood in long lines waiting to get it. Back then, my family had to divide into two shifts selling day and night because the demand was so high. After that, how many people still sell on the street?", she reminisced.
Ice cream sticks bring the taste of childhood.
But that doesn't mean that this ice cream shop has fewer customers. On the contrary, many people still come here to eat because they want to find the taste of their childhood, and many grocery store owners import ice cream by the kilo to sell. All thanks to one secret: her ice cream is made from fresh ingredients, without using any colorants, and when customers eat it, they will feel the difference.
Another special thing is that the ice cream shop sells out every day and does not leave any leftovers for the next day. That is probably why the ice cream is always fresh.
The ice cream recipe has remained unchanged for decades.
On a hot sunny afternoon, Ms. Bich Tram (Mrs. Chinh’s daughter) invited me to have a cool ice cream. Taking a bite of the ice cream that melted in my mouth, I remembered the image of people riding bicycles carrying ice cream crates along the country roads in the past. Every time they passed by ringing their bells, I would ask my parents to buy me some. That simple ice cream watered a childhood sky full of nostalgia and affection.
Ms. Le, CustomerHere, the owner introduced 6 types of ice cream bars and 8 different types of ice cream by the kilo. Ice cream bars cost only 4,000 VND - 6,000 VND, while ice cream by the kilo costs 55,000 VND/half kilo. The price is considered quite reasonable in the center of Ho Chi Minh City.
“I've been buying ice cream here for decades!”
Because the ice cream was made early in the morning, the owner said that it would take around 1-2 pm to have all the ice cream varieties as advertised. The owner would carefully write down each type of ice cream on a board posted in front of the shop so that customers could easily choose.
Customers regularly visit the shop.
Mrs. Le is the "regular customer" of this ice cream shop.
Mrs. Le (65 years old, owner of a grocery store) also visits this ice cream shop every afternoon to buy ice cream to sell as usual, and has been doing so for decades. She said that since then, she has been importing ice cream here to sell, partly because the price is reasonable, and partly because customers really like it.
“Customers eat ice cream and always praise it, whether they are new or old customers. I have always bought ice cream from this place to sell, and it has not changed in decades. The shop has only had one location here and has not moved anywhere,” the customer said with a laugh.
Ms. Thuy Hang (64 years old, living in District 1) has also been a loyal customer of the shop since she was a child. She said that in the past, her parents used to take her here to buy ice cream and the ice cream here became a childhood flavor that she missed when she didn't eat it for a long time. Later, she also took her children, now grandchildren, to visit here whenever she had free time because her house was not far from the shop.
Going to ask Ms. Bich Tram, I was surprised to know that she was 40 years old because she looked so young. Before that, I guessed that she was 25 or 26 years old at most. She graduated from university with a major in service and worked in a hotel in Ho Chi Minh City for a while. Then, she gave birth, and the Covid-19 pandemic hit, forcing her to stay at her parents' ice cream shop until now.
Ms. Tram is the 4th generation in her family to make and sell ice cream.
Many families buy ice cream by the kilo and store it in the refrigerator to eat gradually.
"I don't know if I will inherit it or not, but now I still sell ice cream with my mother and feel attached to this job. If my mother leaves it to me in the future, I will sell it," she smiled, looking at her mother.
As for Ms. Chinh, she said she has two children, her son is currently doing another job unrelated to the family's traditional trade. She will sell until she no longer has the strength and hopes that the next generation will inherit the family's traditional shop that holds so many memories.
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