It is called vermicelli with figs but it is actually vermicelli with crab and pork fat served with salted figs. A full, eye-catching bowl of vermicelli costs 10,000 VND.
Located modestly in the corner of Dien Hong market (Nam Dinh city), Mrs. Hien's vermicelli soup shop has existed for nearly 40 years and is a familiar destination for many Nam Dinh people.
Mentioning bun sung, many people will find it strange but in fact, this is a crab vermicelli dish served with salted sung.
Ms. Duong Thi Hien (67 years old, owner) shared that she was taught the profession by her mother. Since 1985, after getting married, she opened her own restaurant. At first, this dish was simply crab vermicelli soup, later she added pork rinds and sliced figs to enhance the flavor and became a favorite of diners.
Over time, people got used to calling this noodle dish “bun sung” or “bun top gio”. Thanks to that, her noodle shop has attracted customers for nearly 40 years.
Ms. Hien shared that the soul of the Bun Sung dish is the broth, which is cooked entirely from field crabs, so it has a sweet taste, combined with slightly sour vinegar to create a harmonious flavor. On average, the restaurant uses about 20kg of field crabs to cook the broth every day.
The shop opens from 6am to 8pm, so at 3am Mrs. Hien has to get up to prepare the crabs and grind them to make the broth. Other ingredients such as raw vegetables, figs, herbs, etc. are prepared the night before.
“Every day, the restaurant uses about 50kg of figs and more than 100kg of vermicelli. On busy days like weekends, we have to sell 200kg of fresh vermicelli.
After being washed, the figs are sliced thinly and soaked in diluted salt water to prevent them from being bitter and turning brown. When eating, customers will mix their own spices to taste,” said Ms. Hien.
Each bowl of vermicelli typically consists of fresh vermicelli, bean sprouts blanched in boiling water, crispy pork rinds seasoned with spices and herbs sprinkled on top, then poured over with hot broth.
In particular, each bowl of noodles costs only 10 thousand VND but still looks very full and eye-catching.
In the past 6 years, Ms. Hien has added other types of side dishes (toppings) to give customers more choices. Up to now, about 70% of customers order bowls with toppings, the rest still choose the traditional crab vermicelli soup with pork fat.
Even if the customer only eats a 10,000 VND bowl, she is still happy to serve unlimited raw vegetables and pickled figs. If you order fish cakes, fried fish, meatballs or grilled pork with betel leaves, the bowl of noodles will cost from 15,000 to 30,000 VND.
With affordable prices, Bun Sung has become a favorite dish of many students and workers in Nam Dinh City.
From morning to night, the restaurant is almost always busy with customers, but it is busiest at noon and in the evening. To avoid long waiting times, the restaurant has 10 employees working in shifts, each in charge of a different job.
“If a bowl of noodles costs 10,000 VND and the customer eats 2 baskets of raw vegetables, I don’t make a profit. But I’m still happy, considering it as a customer who eats less to make up for the customer who eats more. When selling, if I see someone who does heavy labor, I often add noodles to make them fuller,” Ms. Hien said.
She believes that when selling with heart, with love for food and for diners, diners will definitely feel it.
Perhaps that is why her bun sung restaurant has become a place for many generations of Nam Dinh people to visit. Some people have been eating there since they were little, and now that they are grown up and have families, they still bring their children and grandchildren to eat there.
Mr. Doan Xuan Ninh (Nam Dinh City), a regular customer of the restaurant, said that he has been eating bun sung here for nearly 30 years. Every week, he has to take his wife to the restaurant a few times.
"I've eaten elsewhere and found the taste not as good as here, so for many years I've only eaten Bu Hien's bun sung," Ninh shared.
Delicious, crispy and unique vermicelli dish in Hai Phong, not everyone knows
Top 5 delicious bun moc restaurants in Hanoi, visitors should try in winter
A strange noodle dish in Nam Dinh costs 15,000 VND, but customers still crave more after eating 2 bowls.
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/quan-bun-sung-40-nam-o-nam-dinh-chi-10-nghin-bat-het-veo-ca-ta-bun-moi-ngay-2341680.html
Comment (0)