There is a Bao Khanh bun thang restaurant, located right next to Phu Gia beef pho.

The bowl of bun thang at Ms. Van's restaurant is served with crispy fried breadsticks, delicious. If you pay attention, you will discover many flavors in the bowl of bun thang: the light, sweet taste of the broth, the fragrant taste of the vegetables, the chewy taste of the chicken and mushrooms - Photo: HO LAM

On the busy Ly Chinh Thang street (District 3, Ho Chi Minh City), next to the Phu Gia beef noodle restaurant that was once on the Michelin Selected list, there is the Bao Khanh chicken noodle - vermicelli soup restaurant.

This is a restaurant co-founded by Ms. Van with the owner of Pho Phu Gia, Mr. Trung, since 2024. The restaurant sells many dishes such as: chicken pho, bun thang, mixed pho, mixed vermicelli... Of which, bun thang is the most popular dish among diners.

The restaurant has a cozy space to sit down - Photo: HO LAM

During the last days of Tet, my whole family gathered to cook bun thang.

Ms. Van is from Hanoi and used to sell fake dog vermicelli with fermented bean curd near the gate of Vietnam Television.

When she expressed her intention to move to Ho Chi Minh City to live and open a restaurant, her family advised her to open a chicken pho - bun thang restaurant. Because these are dishes that are hard to find anywhere that sells authentic Northern flavors in the middle of Saigon.

Then Ms. Van started learning how to cook bun thang from her mother. When it opened, bun thang Bao Khanh was still "strange" to people in the South.

Ms. Van always remembers the customers who came to the restaurant, curiously asking "half-jokingly, half-seriously": "Is your vermicelli soup cooked from charcoal? Or is your vermicelli black?".

"And I also explained to everyone how Bun Thang is cooked and what ingredients it has. In fact, for Hanoians, this dish is light, to relieve the feeling of fullness after Tet with Chung cake and fatty meat" - Ms. Van told Tuoi Tre Online .

Bun thang bowl before adding broth - Photo: HO LAM

Every time I mention bun thang and ask Ms. Van what this dish means to her, I see her eyes like "fire".

It is the fire of love, reminding her of her mother and her family during the days before Tet, gathering together, meticulously preparing each ingredient, and cooking the broth for the bun thang dish.

"During the days before Tet, my whole family gathers to cook Bun thang. When I prepare the ingredients and cook this dish, I always think of my mother and family in Hanoi.

To make vermicelli soup with the right taste is complicated and requires a lot of effort, so this dish is also a good thing that we give to the person we truly love.

Many Northern guests keep telling me that there are days when they miss their hometown food so much but don't have much time to cook, so they come here to eat as a way to remember their days in Hanoi" - Ms. Van confided.

Add broth and enjoy Bao Khanh vermicelli soup - Video: HO LAM

Shrimp paste is as important as the broth.

Ms. Van said her mother taught her that the broth is always important and accounts for 70% of the factor that determines the deliciousness.

"The broth of Bao Khanh vermicelli soup is simmered from chicken bones, chicken necks, sea worms, chicken broth, mantis shrimp, dried squid... for a full 12 hours, from about 5pm to 5am the next morning. The broth must be clear for the vermicelli bowl to be truly delicious and attractive," said Ms. Van.

In addition to the broth, according to Ms. Van, to make delicious and standard bun thang, the cook needs to ensure careful preparation of the ingredients:

"First, the pork roll must be delicious, with a little bit of Vietnamese chives in it. If you have a "sharp sense of taste", you will notice that in the Bao Khanh vermicelli soup there is a type of vegetable that can only be found in Hanoi. That is Lang basil. This vegetable makes the vermicelli soup more fragrant and different.

Not to mention the noodle bowl also has many side ingredients such as: shiitake mushrooms, shrimp, very thin omelette, shredded chicken...".

Shrimp paste is a silent but indispensable spice of a bowl of bun thang - Photo: HO LAM

And finally, there is a quiet but very important condiment: shrimp paste. Shrimp paste is not used as a dipping sauce but is added directly to the noodle bowl. The shrimp paste must be of good quality, when added to the noodle bowl it will blend the ingredients and bring out the flavor.

All ingredients of Bao Khanh chicken pho - bun thang are made during the day, except for the broth which is simmered from bones overnight.

According to the restaurant owner, the sea worms are sourced from Van Don, Quang Ninh, which helps make the broth more flavorful. The restaurant gets its shrimp paste from Ba Lang, Thanh Hoa; uses Uoc Le ham and sausage; Ninh Binh chicken...

Having a passion for chicken dishes, Ms. Van hopes that in the future, she can develop and make many other dishes such as chicken sticky rice, chicken rice... to serve diners near and far. And no matter how much she changes, she will not forget bun thang, one of the dishes that represents her hometown cuisine.

Bao Khanh chicken noodle soup - vermicelli soup is located next to Pho Phu Gia on Ly Chinh Thang street - Photo: HO LAM

On Google Maps' food review page, Bao Khanh chicken noodle soup - vermicelli soup restaurant received 4.6 points on a scale of 5. Many diners rated the restaurant as clean and loved its light broth.

Tuyet Mai Dao wrote: "The restaurant is clean, the service is enthusiastic. The broth is authentic, sweet from the bones, and you don't feel greasy when eating it." My Vu commented: "The vermicelli soup is authentic, fragrant, and sweet. The chicken pho and chicken rice are also very delicious."

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