Beef noodle shop costs 10,000 VND and sells for one hour in Saigon

A bowl of vermicelli with meat, beef balls, and blood is sold cheaply by Ms. Kim Dung, 63 years old, District 10, so that workers can have enough to eat every morning.

Mrs. Vu Thi Kim Dung's beef noodle shop in alley 7B Thanh Thai street is about 3m wide, just enough for a car to pass through, but is always crowded every morning. The shop has no name, no signboard, no menu, just a large table and a small table placed close together in the corner of the alley. The space of the shop is about 15m2, in front are two pots of broth, the smaller pot of which sells crab noodle soup. Most of the customers are residents in the alley.

The 63-year-old woman said she has been selling at this alley corner for 34 years, a few steps from her house. The main dish is beef noodle soup, and the crab noodle soup, according to her, is "sold for fun, to give people more choices and to help them avoid getting bored". Both dishes are cooked in the Southern style, starting at 1,000 VND 30 years ago, but now Mrs. Dung's highest price for a bowl of noodles is 20,000 VND.

"Only the most special part has that price, normally I only sell a bowl of noodles for 10,000 VND," she said, constantly squeezing noodles and pouring broth into bowls for waiting customers.

Every day, Ms. Dung sells about 100 bowls of noodles, more than half of which are priced from 10,000 to 15,000 VND. Photo: Quynh Tran

"This area is mostly working class, so I sell at a low price. I don't need too many side dishes, but it's still enough for customers to eat well and it's good. I also have many regular customers, so my income is enough to spend, and there's no need to increase the price," said Ms. Dung.

Each of her 10,000 VND servings has enough noodles and broth. The bowl of noodles has beef, pig's blood, and two small beef balls, but does not have the additional sausage and pig's feet like the full portion. Customers can also eat a 15,000 VND bowl, which will have the sausage. Bun rieu has crab soup, bones, sausage, beans, and blood for 10,000 VND, but the restaurant will omit the pork bones and sausage. This price has been the same since 2015.

Every day, Mrs. Dung wakes up at 3am to buy meat, bones, beef balls, raw vegetables... to prepare and cook the broth. Like many other Hue beef noodle shops in Saigon, the broth is about 10 liters, cooked from beef bones simmered for more than an hour, mixed with the sweet taste of pineapple and the aroma of of lemongrass. However, the restaurant is popular so the side dishes are quite basic with brisket, pork leg, beef balls, and sausage instead of adding tendons, cartilage, and rare like other restaurants.

A bowl of beef noodle soup costs 10,000 VND, the following photo is a full portion of crab noodle soup for 20,000 VND. Photo: Quynh Tran

The broth of bun rieu is half the size of bun bo, also made from bone broth, crab paste, tofu, pig's blood, and tomatoes. The noodles are thick , served with shredded water spinach, herbs, bean sprouts, and customers can add more vegetables as they please. After preparing everything, she started selling at 8:30 and in just over an hour, the two pots of broth were empty.

Being alone, she sells about 100 bowls a day, mostly beef noodle soup. "Probably almost half of the customers eat the 10,000 VND bowl. I only make a small profit, seeing people full is enough," the owner shared.

For more than 15 years now, Mr. Huynh Phuc Sang and his son have stopped by Mrs. Dung's noodle shop for breakfast almost every week, after selling lottery tickets for an hour. "If we sell a lot, we eat a full bowl, but normally, we only have 10,000 VND worth of noodles," the 55-year-old man said. With an income of about 150,000 VND per day, the cheap breakfast helps the father and son save on many expenses.

Mr. Huynh Phuc Sang and his son eat a bowl of noodles for 10,000 VND. He adds bread to make it full, on the morning of December 19. Photo: Quynh Tran

At the opposite table, Ms. Thieu Thi Tham has been a regular customer of the restaurant for more than 20 years, since the time when a bowl of noodles cost 5,000 VND. Although Binh Chanh District is more than 15 km away from the restaurant, at least once a week, when she passes by selling scrap, Ms. Tham stops by the restaurant and orders a bowl of noodles for 15,000 VND. "Other places are twice as expensive, but they are not necessarily as delicious. The bowl here still has enough meat, rich broth, and a lot of noodles, ensuring a full meal," said the 50-year-old woman.

The restaurant opens from 8am to 9:30am every day of the week, located in a deep alley so it is quite difficult to find. The restaurant space is not large, maximum about 10 people, there is no convenient parking when crowded and no one to look after, customers have to take care of their own property.

Quynh Tran

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