The 80-year-old woman's 'oil lamp tea' shop on the sidewalk of Ho Chi Minh City, still full of customers after 50 years

As the sky darkens, the city lights gradually turn on, and it is also the time when Mrs. Sau pushes her sweet soup stall out onto the sidewalk to sell. Mrs. Sau’s sweet soup stall is affectionately called “oil lamp sweet soup” by customers. For decades, whenever people pass by here, they are attracted by the flickering oil lamps on the sidewalk, in complete contrast to the luxurious city.

The sweet soup stall was opened by Mrs. Sau and her husband after the liberation of the South (1975). At that time, this stretch of road was still dark, without street lights. Every night, Mrs. Sau had to light an oil lamp to light up her small sweet soup stall. That light has followed her for more than 4 decades.

“Since reopening after the Covid-19 pandemic, the street lights are bright enough so I no longer use oil lamps. Many customers are surprised and regretful because they no longer see the oil lamps - the shop's long-standing characteristic. But luckily, customers still love me very much, still come back often because they like the taste of my tea,” Mrs. Sau confided. At the age of 80, the old lady is still sharp-minded and has nimble hands.

Mrs. Sau meticulously scoops each bowl of sweet soup for the diners.

"Is there a lot of chè"

No expensive premises, no attractive signs, and located on a one-way street, yet Mrs. Sau’s sweet soup stall is always crowded with customers every night. Before, she usually sold from around 5pm, but now because of old age and weak health, and frequent joint pain in her legs, she pushes the sweet soup out to sell 1-2 hours later.

Mrs. Sau’s sweet soup stall sells five dishes: steamed banana sweet soup, sweet rice balls, apple sweet soup, white bean sweet soup, and tapioca green bean sweet soup. Each dish is served separately in a large, clean, hot pot, neatly arranged on a table. Next to it, bowls and spoons are neatly arranged. Mrs. Sau has a few more small chairs for customers to eat on the spot.

“I’m old and cook sweet soup by myself, so I don’t have the energy to make many dishes. I just try to make each dish taste good so that customers are satisfied. And here, almost everyone who comes by eats and buys a few to take home,” she said.

Sometimes when the shop is crowded, a nearby neighbor comes to help Mrs. Sau scoop and package the tea.

Mr. Dang Vinh Tien (1998, Go Vap) is one of the regular customers of "oil lamp sweet soup". He said: "I have been eating here for a long time, from the time when the price was 5,000 VND/bowl, now it is 10,000 VND/bowl. The sweet soup here has a sweet and delicious taste. I am most "addicted" to the tapioca sweet soup".

A warm, fragrant bowl of sweet soup is topped with a layer of coconut milk or a little roasted sesame or ground peanuts. As you eat, you can feel the sweetness gradually seeping into your tongue. In particular, Mrs. Sau's sweet soup is not eaten with ice. Perhaps that's why Mrs. Sau adjusts the sweet soup to be light and sweet, not too fatty, not too boring. Most customers buy to take away because the sidewalk is quite narrow, only enough space for a few customers to sit and eat quickly.

Ms. Nguyen Phuong Thuy (36 years old, Phu Nhuan) has been a regular customer of Mrs. Sau since she was a child. "This sweet soup stall is my childhood. When I was little, my parents often took me there to eat. The sweet soup here is very delicious, I personally think there is no other place like it. The style of the shop is simple and old-fashioned, the price is very cheap. After Mrs. Sau got old and stopped selling, I don't know where to find a sweet soup stall with so many memories like this", Ms. Thuy shared.

Mr. Tien and Ms. Thuy - two regular customers of Mrs. Sau's restaurant

"I will stop selling until I die"

Mr. Tu - Mrs. Sau's husband, who accompanied her every night at the sweet soup stall, passed away 2 years ago during the epidemic. Since then, Mrs. Sau has been the only one taking care of the sweet soup stall. The children have their own jobs and no longer follow their parents' sweet soup cooking career.

To have delicious pots of sweet soup in the evening, Mrs. Sau has to prepare the ingredients and process them from the night before. Beans such as white beans and green beans are carefully selected by her, choosing beans that are even in color, free of worms, not damaged or smelly. According to Mrs. Sau, not all big beans are delicious, you should choose medium beans, the important thing is that the soaking time must be correct and there must be a special way so that when cooked, the beans will be delicious, rich and fatty.

Like the steamed banana dessert, each banana is purchased by Mrs. Sau from people in the countryside to sell. She usually uses bananas because this type of banana is delicious, grows naturally and is also less fertilized. She prioritizes bananas that are moderately ripe, not too big, and not crushed to avoid them falling apart when cooked, losing the characteristic crunchiness and toughness of bananas.

As for the coconut milk, Mrs. Sau personally grated and squeezed the coconut to get the milk. "Although it is a bit laborious and time-consuming, doing it this way will give the coconut milk a distinctive fatty aroma, more delicious than the pre-packaged coconut milk," the 80-year-old woman shared.

Mrs. Sau said that the recipe for making sweet soup was passed down to her from her sister. That simple sweet soup stall is the main source of income, helping Mrs. Sau and her husband raise their children and now their grandchildren. After many years of working, Mrs. Sau is still "passionate" about the job, dedicating her heart and soul to each pot of sweet soup. It is because of that that the small sweet soup stall has kept many generations of Saigonese for nearly half a century.

“I also want to pass on the profession to my children and grandchildren, but they don’t like it. Now they all have their own families, I can’t force them to follow the profession. I will try to sell as long as I still have the strength and clarity of mind,” Mrs. Sau shared while washing dishes, choking up.

Many customers have asked Mrs. Sau if she plans to find a place to open a stable dessert shop, she just smiles and says: "I don't have enough money, I don't have the strength anymore, sometimes I want to have a fixed place to sell, but oh well, maybe my fate is destined to be on the sidewalk like this."

Every night, Mrs. Sau only cooks and brings out exactly 5 pots of sweet soup to the sidewalk, but every night they sell out. Some days they sell out by 10pm, and other days they sell out by 11pm or 11:30pm. On average, Mrs. Sau sells about 300 bowls of sweet soup each night. The love of her customers is a source of encouragement for her to continue cooking delicious sweet soup even though she is "near death".

After 10 pm, Mrs. Sau's pots of sweet soup were almost empty. Both regular and casual customers had left. Ms. Nguyen Thi Quynh Van (1993, Go Vap) with her husband and two sons were among the last customers to visit Mrs. Sau's sweet soup stall.

Ordered four bowls of hot sweet soup, the family gathered to eat together. Ms. Quynh Van shared: “This is the first time my whole family has visited the shop. I have only eaten it once but I feel that the sweet soup is delicious, moderately sweet, especially not eaten with ice, so it is to my liking. Eating with family like this is so much fun. Seeing an old lady still selling sweet soup late at night, very attentive to customers, I feel very sorry for her. I will definitely come back many times in the future."

Vo Nhu Khanh

Grilled sticky rice bananas on the sidewalk are the most popular in Ho Chi Minh City, Western customers enjoy them in the rain . Despite the rainy weather and the restaurant having no seats or roof, Luca - a German female tourist and many domestic and international tourists still lined up to buy grilled sticky rice bananas on Vo Van Tan Street (Ho Chi Minh City).

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