10K noodle shop in Quy Nhon sells out in 3 hours every day

Quán bánh canh bà Thảo mỗi ngày bán hai buổi sáng và chiều. Mỗi buổi chỉ bán từ 1 - 2 tiếng đồng hồ là hết - Ảnh: LÂM THIÊN — Mrs. Thao's noodle shop sells two meals a day, morning and afternoon. Each meal only lasts 1-2 hours - Photo: LAM THIEN

The above noodle shop is owned by Ms. Hoang Thi Thao (48 years old), located on 31/3 Street, opens twice a day, in the morning (6:10 am) and in the afternoon (2:30 pm). For many Quy Nhon people, whenever talking about Mrs. Thao's noodle shop, everyone praises it.

The noodle shop has no flashy signboard and is just tucked away on a small street. According to Ms. Thao, in the afternoon she sells more than 30kg of rice flour and wheat flour, and in the morning she sells 10kg of both types of flour. Every day, the noodle shop sells 500-600 bowls.

Ms. Thao said that since starting her own business, she has been selling banh canh for 26 years. "Since the big market in Quy Nhon burned down, I started moving here to sell. When I moved here, the number of customers started to increase. In addition to local customers, there are also tourists," Ms. Thao added.

According to Mrs. Thao and her husband, every day they have to wake up early to prepare all the ingredients such as fried sausage, steamed sausage, pork skin, coriander, spices...

Khi quán bắt đầu bán, khách hàng tập trung xung quanh để tranh thủ giành phần sớm - Ảnh: LÂM THIÊN — When the shop starts selling, customers gather around to grab their share early - Photo: LAM THIEN

"For the past 26 years, my family has had to do everything by hand. I'm afraid that if someone else does it, there will be mistakes and it will affect the customers, which is not good.

"I bought fresh fish, then grated it, pounded it, fried it, and steamed it. I cleaned the pork skin, soaked it in salt, and boiled it. It was a bit difficult, but I felt secure," said Ms. Thao.

As a regular customer of the restaurant, Mr. Nguyen Phu Xuan (38 years old, in Quy Nhon) commented: "I have been eating Mrs. Thao's noodle soup since I was a child. Mrs. Thao's noodle soup is very delicious, clean and cheap. Everyone really likes it."

According to Mr. Xuan, customers who want to eat banh canh here have to keep an eye on the time and go early, because in the morning about 1 hour after starting to sell, the goods are sold out, and in the afternoon around 4:30 pm, the banh canh is sold out and the shop closes.

Meanwhile, Ms. Tran Thi Thanh (30 years old, in Quy Nhon) shared: "This is probably the most delicious, nutritious, and cheapest noodle soup shop in Quy Nhon. My favorite is the fish cake here. It's very fragrant and chewy. Whenever I'm away from Quy Nhon for a few days, I miss Mrs. Thao's noodle soup. The flavor and quality cannot be found anywhere else."

According to Ms. Thao, although the restaurant is crowded, she does not raise prices because the ingredients in Quy Nhon: fish and pork skin are very cheap.

"We do business long-term, cleanly, customers come back to support us after eating. There are many cyclo drivers here, seeing them suffer, I feel sorry for them so I give them more, but if we increase the price, where will they get the money to eat their fill? My husband and I are determined to make a profit from the work. People eat their fill, enjoy their food, and are happy, that's all that matters," Ms. Thao shared.