At 7am, Cham chicken pho on Yen Ninh street (Hanoi) begins to be crowded with customers. Ms. Nguyen Thuy Cham - the owner of the restaurant greets customers, quickly arranges chicken, and pours broth. Her daughter, who has just returned from Ho Chi Minh City to visit her mother, also helps to blanch the pho, adding spices and chopped lemongrass leaves to each bowl. The stainless steel table right at the door of the restaurant has trays full of meat, divided into white meat, thigh meat, chicken wings, young eggs, gizzards, liver... Right next to it is a pot of boiling broth, steaming, emitting a faint herbal scent.
If it is your first time coming to the restaurant, you may be shocked by the prices here. For each table of 3-4 guests preparing to leave, the restaurant owner may quote a price of 500,000 - 700,000 VND, equivalent to 115,000 - 180,000 VND/bowl of pho.
At the restaurant, a regular bowl of chicken pho costs 75,000 VND, including only pre-sliced white chicken. If customers order more thigh meat or wings, the price is 115,000 VND. And if customers order more meat, add eggs... then the price per bowl can be 160,000 - 200,000 VND. This is considered one of the most expensive traditional pho restaurants in Hanoi, mainly serving office workers and civil servants with high incomes.
Recently, this pho restaurant was announced to be on the MICHELIN Selected list (a list of restaurants recommended by Michelin). The restaurant owner said that this was a complete surprise to the family. "When the organizer sent the invitation to attend the announcement ceremony, I thought it was spam or a scam," said Ms. Cham. "When my daughter read it carefully, the whole family was overwhelmed. Even if we didn't win the award, it was an honor to attend and meet famous chefs and restaurant owners," she said.
Ms. Nguyen Thuy Cham, the owner, is 56 years old. Ms. Cham is from Hanoi and has been passionate about cooking since she was young. The restaurant has been open for more than 30 years and only sells chicken pho. Every day, Ms. Cham wakes up at 3am to prepare the food: cook the broth, prepare the chicken. The restaurant only makes a fixed amount of food and closes when it sells out.
Ms. Cham rarely answers the press about the restaurant. "I believe that if you do it with all your heart, it will be delicious and thoughtful, then customers will trust you and come back. Another reason is that running a restaurant is very busy, I have to focus my mind, energy and time to do it," Ms. Cham said.
Ms. Cham said that since opening her pho restaurant, she has focused on the quality of ingredients and food hygiene and safety. "It's true that some customers say I charge high prices, but in reality, the restaurant has a lot of regular customers, coming back many times, even families of 4 generations still eat here. I determined that the food must first be made from ingredients with clear origins, clean, hygienic, and absolutely no additives that affect health. Therefore, from chicken, pho noodles to lemons and chili peppers, I also carefully select and find reputable sources," Ms. Cham said.
She also added: "I cook for my family the same way I cook for my customers. I've been selling for more than 30 years and I eat chicken pho every day, sometimes 2-3 bowls. My employees also eat it every day."
Ms. La Ngoc Mai (Ha Giang) is a regular customer of the restaurant. Ms. Mai has a daughter studying in Hanoi. Every time she comes down to take care of her child, she comes to Cham chicken pho to enjoy. "I like the restaurant's aromatic herbal broth. The chicken is delicious, the meat is firm, rich, not inferior to chicken in Ha Giang. I think the price is worth the quality," Ms. Mai said.
Another customer said: "Diners often read articles complaining about the high prices and then "make a fuss", even though some people have not directly enjoyed it. Everyone has different culinary tastes. If they find it tasty, delicious, and of good quality, they are willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dong to eat pho. If you cook at home, you will find it difficult to have a bowl of pho for 40,000 dong."
Every day, Mrs. Cham personally prepares the chicken, and uses the bones to make the broth. The broth is simmered for about 7 hours with herbs. The owner said that after more than 30 years, she only needs to look at the skin color to know if the chicken is cooked enough. "I can filter and slice 100 pieces of chicken like 1. The chicken must be cut with thick, even fibers, not mushy but firm, sweet, with crispy golden skin," she said.
The restaurant uses hand-sliced pho noodles instead of machine-sliced noodles to make them softer. However, this type of noodles has the disadvantage of being easily broken, and since it has no preservatives, it can only be kept at room temperature for about 4 hours. Whenever it is almost sold out, Mrs. Cham calls a familiar establishment to bring more.
The owner uses air conditioning and fans to cool the counter area for pho and chicken on hot days.
The restaurant opens from 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. However, in reality, whenever the goods run out, Mrs. Cham closes the shop. Regular customers say that they should come before 8:30 a.m. to be able to choose the full range of liver, young eggs, boneless chicken feet, thighs, and wings to their liking. The restaurant has two floors but the space is not too large, and parking is limited. The busiest time is from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m. and from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.
The restaurant is crowded and has a stable number of regular customers. However, many diners still rate the restaurant as too expensive, one and a half times higher than that of popular, traditional pho restaurants in Hanoi.
"A full bowl of pho, delicious chicken but the price should stop at 50,000 VND. The extras are often too expensive and the attitude of the staff and owner is not really friendly"; "Many pho restaurants cost 40,000 - 50,000 VND/bowl but it is still very tasty, full and clean. This price is too high"; "The price of a regular store is equal to that of a restaurant or hotel"... some diners commented on review applications.
Source
Comment (0)