Ancient Tomb Snail Restaurant

"Oc co mo" is the name diners give to a popular snail restaurant located near the intersection of Tran Hung Dao - Tran Binh Trong (District 5, HCMC).

The reason the snail restaurant is called by that name is because it is located right in the cemetery of scholar Truong Vinh Ky. In addition to the old house - where scholar Truong Vinh Ky lived in his last years and his cemetery, there is also a small cemetery of the Truong family.

Sharing with VietNamNet , Mr. Le Quang Toai - the owner of the restaurant said that this land was previously maintained and looked after by his wife's family.

More than 20 years ago, seeing the empty yard in the campus, Mr. Toai's wife opened a small snail restaurant to earn extra income for the family. Unexpectedly, up to now, the snail restaurant has become a familiar address, attracting a lot of diners every day.

Mr. Toai and his wife named the restaurant "Garden Snails", but diners from near and far who come to enjoy the food still call it "ancient tomb snails".

Mr. Toai's snail restaurant opens from 5pm to 11pm every day with more than 30 different types of seafood, mostly snails such as len snails, star fruit snails, and coconut snails.

The price at Mr. Toai's snail restaurant ranges from 65,000 - 70,000 VND/dish or more. According to many diners, for a popular snail restaurant, this price is quite high.

Mortuary sticky rice over 40 years old

Tran Phu is a rare street in Ho Chi Minh City that has two funeral homes. The households here mainly sell votive paper and funeral services. However, there is a long-standing sticky rice cart on this street that attracts a lot of customers, especially at night.

The owner of the sticky rice cart is Mr. Luu Bao Minh (49 years old). Mr. Minh followed his mother's career, keeping the family tradition of selling sticky rice for more than 40 years.

Sharing with VietNamNet , Mr. Minh said that the restaurant's original name was "Savory Sticky Rice 409", but over the years, customers have given it unique, creepy names such as "Ghost Sticky Rice", "Funeral Sticky Rice" or most commonly "Morgue Sticky Rice".

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Anh Minh - the owner of the restaurant preserves his mother's sticky rice recipe. Photo: Nhu Khanh

The shop only sells savory sticky rice, served with crushed peanuts, scallion oil, fried onions, pork floss, Chinese sausage and especially the "divine" soy sauce. The sticky rice cart opens from 3pm to late at night. According to Mr. Minh, the busiest time is from 7pm onwards.

After sprinkling the spices on the sticky rice, the owner pours in just enough soy sauce so that it gradually soaks into the ingredients, rich but not too salty.

According to diners, Mr. Minh's savory sticky rice dish is popular with many people because of the way the sticky rice is wrapped in banana leaves, very rustic, simple and safe.

The owner wraps the sticky rice into long rolls like banh tet. Customers tear banana leaves as they eat, and do not use plastic spoons. Explaining this way of eating, the owner said he was afraid that plastic spoons coming into contact with hot sticky rice would be bad for their health.

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The sticky rice shop is crowded even though it's 10pm. Photo: Nhu Khanh

Graveyard beef hotpot

A family's beef hotpot restaurant in Nguyen Thi Dinh, District 2, Ho Chi Minh City is famous far and wide with the strange name "cemetery beef hotpot". The reason is because the restaurant is surrounded by graves.

According to research, the restaurant has been open for nearly 30 years, only selling in the evening from 5-9pm and customers mainly buy to take away. For customers who eat at the restaurant, the hot pot is pre-cooked and poured into a thick cast iron pot, placed on a clay stove, burning with charcoal. The beef is stewed for many hours so it is sweet, fragrant, and the tendons and cartilage are soft.

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The beef hotpot restaurant attracts many young customers, mostly students and office workers. Photo: ZNews

The owner and staff are mostly family members. The shop operates from a private home, so there is no need to pay rent, so the prices are affordable, around 100,000 VND/person. According to the owner, all ingredients are imported from trusted sources, ensuring quality.

(Synthetic)

Snail restaurant located in an ancient tomb in Ho Chi Minh City: Unique location, packed with customers every night "Oc co mo" is the name many diners give to the popular snail restaurant located near the intersection of Tran Hung Dao - Tran Binh Trong (District 5, Ho Chi Minh City).