How delicious is it that it is so crowded?

For over 40 years, the crab noodle soup of Mrs. Pham Thi Lan's family (62 years old) located in the nearly 100-year-old Binh Tay market has been a familiar address for many diners.

From mother to child

At noon, Ho Chi Minh City was drizzling. I had nothing to eat yet, so I passed by Binh Tay market. I parked my bike and went into the market to find a familiar restaurant. Of course, it was the crab noodle soup restaurant where all members of Mrs. Lan's family, from her husband to her two children, sell.

At noon, customers crowded together waiting to enjoy Mrs. Lan's crab noodle soup.

The restaurant is located at the end of the market, next to other food and drink stalls located close together forming a culinary area. Although it is not "rush hour", customers still sit tightly on the chairs placed in front of the food stalls, eating, drinking, talking and laughing happily.

The owner’s entire family, each with their own job, sweated continuously making both take-out and on-site meals. This surprised me a bit, because during the difficult times for many restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City, her noodle shop still did well.

However, everything has its reason. Because in Binh Tay market, it seems that everyone knows the owner's noodle shop which is over 40 years old.

Confiding in me, Mrs. Lan said that before 1975, her mother opened a noodle stall selling noodles in the Cai market area (now dissolved, also located in Cho Lon area) to raise 7 children (5 girls, 2 boys) with her husband.

The price of a bowl of noodle soup ranges from 40,000 - 60,000 VND.

Since I was 14 years old, I followed my mother to help sell crab noodle soup. People often called it Mrs. 9's crab noodle soup stall, but it didn't have any signboard. After selling for a few years, I inherited my mother's recipe and started my own stall, selling around Binh Tay market. At that time, I wasn't even 20 years old yet!

Ms. Lan, Owner

Hearing that, I laughed and asked: “Huh! So are you competing with your mother?” After hearing that, the owner smiled and said: “No way! Your mother sells in the morning, you sell in the afternoon! Later on, your grandmother will also go to the market for your mother and work for her to sell.”

Having been selling banh gai for decades, Mrs. Lan said that she just moved to her current location and has been selling here for nearly 28 years. Talking about her mother - Mrs. Dinh, Mrs. Lan said that this year her mother is 88 years old. After an accident in 2005, her mother stopped selling and left it to her children. Luckily, at present, Mrs. Dinh is still lucid and is well taken care of by her children and grandchildren.

[CLIP]: Customers keep coming to this 40-year-old crab noodle shop in Binh Tay market

“Back then, many of my siblings inherited their mother’s noodle shop to sell. Later, everyone got married and changed jobs. Now I am the only one who cooks and sells noodles. Now my husband and two children help me sell, and I am happy that it is the family’s bread bowl,” the owner said emotionally.

“Eat to the last drop!”

The owner said that currently, her noodle shop sells 40,000 - 60,000 VND/portion, depending on the type. If customers want a whole crab in the bowl, each portion can be 120,000 VND, or more depending on the quality of the crab and the current price.

The shop is located at stall 17, Binh Tay market.

At the age of 14, the owner followed her mother to help sell.

The noodle soup here, in my personal opinion, has a “strange” flavor compared to other places I’ve eaten, with the combination of rice flour noodles, crab, fish cakes, chicken gizzards, duck blood, pork leg… Add a little thick broth and sprinkle some onions, coriander, and pepper on top and it’s perfect.

Mr. Diep Duc (36 years old, living in District 5) said he has been a regular customer at this restaurant for more than 10 years, thanks to one time he went shopping with his relatives at Binh Tay market and accidentally ate at Ms. Lan's restaurant.

“The ingredients are fresh and delicious, especially the rich broth, which tastes different from other places. The bowl of noodles is big but I ate every last drop because it was so delicious,” he said, laughing.

Take-away portion for customers, including half a crab, costs 100,000 VND.

Mrs. Lan and her husband have been selling with their children for decades.

Similarly, Ms. Hanh (45 years old, living in District 6) said that every time she craves crab noodle soup, she stops by the market to eat it, often without having to buy anything. According to her, the rich flavor of the noodle soup, with many "strange" ingredients such as chicken gizzards, fish cakes... combined in the dish makes her feel satisfied.

For Ms. Lan, this noodle shop is the result of her mother’s and her grandmother’s life’s work. If she didn’t sell crab noodle soup, she doesn’t know what she would do with her life. The restaurant is also where she meets her beloved customers, and serves them heartily every day…

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Binh Tay Market is located in an area of ​​25,000 ^m2 between 4 routes: Thap Muoi - Le Tan Ke - Pham Van Khoe - Tran Binh (District 6), has 12 gates, octagonal architecture, built in 1928 by a Chinese merchant. In 2015, the market was recognized as an architectural and artistic relic in Ho Chi Minh City. The market has been renovated many times, wearing new clothes.

According to the documents of the Binh Tay Market Management Board: "Compared to the Vietnamese Tan Kieng market, the Saigon market (the area of ​​Cho Lon Post Office today) is larger, so it is called Cho Lon. However, due to the increasingly prosperous life, residents from everywhere came to make a living, so the market gradually became narrow. The Cho Lon provincial government at that time planned to build a market in a new place but could not find land.

Upon hearing this news, merchant Quach Dam spent money to buy a swampy land of over 25,000 ^square meters in Binh Tay village and leveled it, completed the new market with reinforced concrete and donated it to the state. It can be said that this was the most massive and modern market in the South at that time. To commemorate Quach Dam's contributions, after his death, his statue was erected in 1930 on a high pedestal, at the foot of the statue there was a unicorn and a dragon spraying water right in the central area of ​​Binh Tay market.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/banh-canh-cua-40-nam-tru-danh-cho-binh-tay-ngon-co-nao-ma-khach-dong-nghet-185230803155032358.htm