Sidewalk food is the most expensive in Hanoi, nearly 200,000 VND/serving but still packed

Vinh Thu Street Food Restaurant on Ly Thuong Kiet Street (Hoan Kiem, Hanoi) has been a familiar address for diners for nearly 30 years. Although many people call this "rich people's street food" and blame the owner for charging high prices, they still come back and even recommend friends from far away to come and enjoy the food.

Here, the average meal for each diner is from 120,000 to 200,000 VND, 3 to 5 times higher than the street food stalls in Hanoi. However, at noon, customers still come and go in droves. From 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m., many days the restaurant is packed, and customers have to stand and wait for a table.

The restaurant's kitchen is located deep inside. When customers come to eat, they go inside and order. Each dish is placed on a separate bowl and plate, then the staff brings the rice to the table. Depending on the dish, the price varies, such as dim pepper mackerel 150,000 VND/piece, braised carp with galangal 80,000-100,000 VND/piece, stir-fried veal with lemongrass and chili 120,000 VND/plate, crab soup 100,000 VND/bowl...

Every day, the restaurant serves nearly 50 different dishes. The main dishes include braised crucian carp, braised snakehead fish with banana, river bone sausage, squid sausage, crispy roast pork skin, sweet and sour pork ribs, braised shrimp and pork... accompanied by shrimp paste, eggplant, and pickled cabbage.

Currently, the restaurant manager is Ms. Quan Kim Yen (36 years old). Ms. Yen said that her mother is a Hanoi woman who loves cooking. In 1997, the restaurant was opened by her parents with the operating method of "selling to customers as the restaurant is".

After many years of doing business, Yen's mother still went to the market and cooked by herself. Because she was meticulous, only choosing fresh and delicious food and discarding all the unsold dishes of the day, at first, the restaurant "only saw losses, not profits". Later, with passion and perseverance, the restaurant gradually became popular with customers, who recommended it to others.

Ms. Yen affirmed that for many years, her family has gone to the wholesale market to choose ingredients themselves, saying no to wholesale goods. After purchasing, the ingredients are pre-processed and cleaned. "Vegetables may need to be washed 5-6 times with water. I believe cleanliness is the top priority," Ms. Yen said.

"My family's dishes are traditional dishes on the family dinner table. These dishes are familiar to everyone and can be cooked. But to make the dishes attractive and delicious, you have to spend time taking care of them. Choosing good ingredients and preparing them cleanly helps achieve 60-70% of the flavor. The rest is the way to season and cook them properly," Yen shared.

One of the restaurant’s famous dishes is braised crucian carp with soy sauce. Normally, Hanoi restaurants sell braised grass carp, common carp, goby or loach. Braised crucian carp is not popular because this type of fish takes time to prepare and if not prepared properly, it will have a fishy smell. In addition, crucian carp has many bones and the meat falls apart easily.

Ms. Yen shared that this fish dish was made by her mother with great care, stemming from her father's desire to enjoy the braised crucian carp with soy sauce that he ate during the war. The simple ingredients include crucian carp, pork belly, salt and soy sauce. However, the fish must be fish caught from a pond, and the soy sauce must be specially made. To make the pot of fish delicious, the cook must be proficient in arranging the fish, adding salt, pouring soy sauce, and monitoring the braising time... A pot of crucian carp is braised for 14-15 hours.

The crucian carp here has a glossy color - the brown color of the soy sauce, the sheen of the fat, just looking at it is attractive, the meat is firm, rich in spices, completely without fishy taste. The fish bones are soft enough to not get stuck but not crushed. Although the ingredients for this dish are not expensive, the price at the restaurant is still more than 300 thousand VND/kg.

Ms. Yen admitted that many diners often say "Vinh Thu rice is expensive" but after trying other places, they return to the restaurant. Ms. Yen's family's customers are those who want to find the authentic taste of "home-cooked rice", they have their own culinary tastes.

The restaurant has more than 10 employees including chefs and waiters. During peak hours, the staff works at full capacity, never taking a break.

"I often go to the restaurant for lunch with my colleagues. If there are 6-7 people, the average cost is 120,000 VND per person, and if there are 1-2 people, it is about 150,000 VND. At first glance, this restaurant looks like a normal restaurant, but in fact, the dishes are very delicious, with the taste of home-cooked meals, hot and fresh," said Mr. Hoang Cuong (Ba Dinh, Hanoi).

The restaurant's dining area is outdoors, so it's a bit cramped and hot. The restaurant is also very crowded during peak hours, so customers often have to wait. The restaurant is open during lunch and dinner.

Hanoi restaurant turns fish heads full of hard bones into a strange dish, attracting a steady stream of customers . The fish heads are fried until golden brown, with soft bones inside, soaked in a mild, sour broth, becoming a delicious dish attracting customers at Mrs. Luyen's restaurant in Ba Dinh, Hanoi for more than twenty years.

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