9x chef in Hanoi sells 400 mangosteen chicken salad portions, earning hundreds of millions each day

Making "hot trend" mangosteen chicken salad, Hanoi restaurant owner sells 400 servings, earning hundreds of millions each day

For about a month now, the restaurant of chef Pham Ngoc Duc (born in 1990, Hanoi) has been receiving a "storm" of orders thanks to the "hot trend" mangosteen chicken salad. Every day, he can sell 300-400 salads, earning 100-130 million VND. On weekends, the number of customers can increase even more.

"Many times my staff had to apologize to customers because they were out of stock. Nearly 40 employees were mobilized to process mangosteens but still could not keep up with customers' demand," said Mr. Duc.

Mangosteen chicken salad is not a new dish but a long-standing specialty in Thai Lieu district, Binh Duong . People in Thai Lieu use mangosteen available in their gardens to make sweet and sour chicken salad for family meals, relatives' parties or to serve guests. This dish is also popular in provinces such as Can Tho, Tien Giang...

Recently, mangosteen chicken salad has suddenly become a "fever" on social networks and quickly created a culinary trend, attracting customers to "catch the trend". This dish is "hunted" by Hanoi diners. At many times, green mangosteen is sold in the capital for 100,000-130,000 VND/kg, mangosteen pulp (peeled) is super expensive, up to 500,000-650,000 VND/kg.

Understanding the needs of diners, Mr. Duc quickly learned how to make mangosteen chicken salad from the Western people, and adapted it to the taste of the Northern people. As a shop with a "signature dish" of salted chicken, he immediately combined this type of chicken with mangosteen to make salad, along with purple cabbage, white cabbage, cucumber, onion, carrot, and Vietnamese coriander.

Anh Duc imports green mangosteens from a garden in Binh Phuoc. It takes about two days to transport them to the North. On average, the restaurant has to peel 300-500kg of green mangosteens every day.

According to Mr. Duc, the most complicated and laborious step in this dish is peeling the mangosteen. This fruit has a lot of latex, so the preparation is difficult. After peeling off the skin, the maker must immediately drop it into a bowl of lemon juice mixed with diluted salt to keep it white and reduce the astringency. The entire staff in the chain of stores, up to nearly 40 people, are mobilized to peel the mangosteen.

For the chicken, Mr. Duc uses salt-cured chicken. "This type of chicken is cured with 30 herbs, including saffron and pink salt. The chicken has crispy golden skin, juicy, rich meat, and when combined with the sour and sweet mangosteen, it is very suitable," said Mr. Duc.

Because the shop has long been famous for its salt-cured chicken, Mr. Duc has a stable number of customers following him on social media. Thanks to that, when he added the "hot trend" dish of mangosteen chicken salad, customers quickly ordered it and recommended it to their acquaintances. "The important part of this dish is the sauce. Although it is made from easy-to-find ingredients such as fish sauce, vinegar, sugar, and spices, it needs the right proportions, in harmony with the salt-cured chicken, mangosteen, and vegetables," said Mr. Duc.

The ingredients are carefully "measured" according to a certain ratio to create a portion of mangosteen chicken salad to serve diners. Each portion for 2-3 people costs 250,000 VND and a portion for 4-5 people costs 350,000 VND.

Peak hours are usually from 10:30-12:00 and 16:00-18:00 every day. Mr. Dinh Bao Ngoc (Dong Da, Hanoi) - a customer at the restaurant said: "Chicken mangosteen salad is a strange dish. At first, I thought green mangosteen would be astringent, but in fact it is sour, sweet, and tastes very delicious when combined with chicken, sauce and vegetables".

The green mangosteen season only lasts for about a month each year. Currently, many restaurants in Hanoi have added this dish to their menus to serve diners.

Picking fruit until your hands are tired, enjoy mangosteen chicken salad at an 'unbelievably' cheap price in a hundred-year- old garden. The garden of Mr. Bay Binh and his wife (Ba Lang, Cai Rang, Can Tho) is one of the rare gardens in the region that still has many hundred-year-old mangosteen trees. Coming here, visitors can pick ripe fruit themselves, make and enjoy mangosteen chicken salad with the owner.

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