That is the special noodle shop of Mr. Ha Hung Thang's family (60 years old), located right on the front of Vo Van Tan Street (District 3, Ho Chi Minh City), where for a long time, diners from near and far have regularly come to enjoy.
From decorator to noodle shop owner
Many people know the restaurant by the story that in the morning, from 6am to 1pm, Mr. Thang's sister-in-law sells. In the afternoon, from 3pm to 11pm, he is the "face" of the restaurant, standing in the kitchen preparing dishes for customers. For decades now, customers often jokingly call this restaurant "morning for you, afternoon for me".
From a home decorator, Mr. Thang has opened his own family restaurant for more than 20 years.
Rich, tasty dishes are loved by many diners.
Around 11am on a weekday, I went to the restaurant to have lunch with a bowl of noodles and some dumplings, and the owner informed me: “We’re out of noodles! We only have fried dough left. If you want noodles, come back in the afternoon!”
I asked around and found out that the restaurant was so crowded that it was completely sold out, and on normal days it would not be finished until early afternoon. Seeing this, I bought a portion of fried dough to fill my stomach and decided to come back earlier in the afternoon.
While waiting for the fried dough, I spent some time chatting with Mr. Thang and his relatives. The owner said that more than 20 years ago, he decided to open this restaurant because of the advice of a close friend.
The restaurant is located on Vo Van Tan Street (District 3).
Mr. Ha Hung Thang, Owner Opening the restaurant from zero, he hired workers to cook. Also in the early days of opening the restaurant, through the workers working at his restaurant, he also learned many recipes for cooking noodles, wontons, fried dough, fried rice... in the Chinese culinary style. Later, the kitchen workers of his restaurant opened other restaurants on their own, with the knowledge and experience they learned, the 6 siblings in his family were able to cook and maintain the restaurant themselves.
Pointing to the menu with dozens of diverse dishes colored in 3 different colors, he said his brothers divided up the cooking, each person would be in charge of a separate dish. When a customer ordered a dish, that person would quickly prepare the dish to serve. As for him, he mainly cooked noodles and wontons, which are the restaurant's specialties. To me, this is also a "strange" thing for a family restaurant.
In the morning, his sister-in-law sells. In the evening, Mr. Thang stands at the shop.
A little later, the fried dough sold at noon was brought out. I must say, the fried dough here was quite to my taste. Although the taste was not much different from the traditional Chinese fried dough carts I had eaten in Cho Lon, it was still a delicious and filling lunch.
Determined to maintain a dedicated restaurant
Mr. Thang said that at present, business sometimes faces many difficulties when the number of customers is not as crowded as before. The shop owner commented that this is the common situation of many shops in Ho Chi Minh City at the present time.
“Many restaurants have recently closed down because people rented the space but couldn’t do business. Luckily, this restaurant is also my family’s home, so it’s not too bad. Otherwise, if we rented it, it would be difficult to stay open,” he said.
Dumpling noodle dish costs 76,000 VND.
[CLIP]: Chinese noodle shop "you in the morning, I in the afternoon" right in the center of Ho Chi Minh City.
However, having been involved in this job for more than 20 years, he considers it not only a job, but also his "career". The restaurant has supported his family and his siblings for all these years. Thanks to this restaurant, Mr. Thang raised his 3 children to adulthood, all of whom went to university.
The owner is grateful to the customers who have supported him over the years. Seeing customers enjoy delicious food, being satisfied, and praising it is a great motivation for him and his siblings to maintain and develop this restaurant every day until they no longer have the strength.
The menu is varied, each color in the dish represents a person in his family in charge of making it.
The owner is determined to keep the restaurant open as long as possible.
In the afternoon, the shop continues to sell, still with regular customers. As one of the regular customers of the shop for the past 6 years, Mr. Hung (35 years old, living in District 3) said that because his house is not far from the shop, he often comes here. His favorite dish here is Hu Tieu Mi, sometimes he changes it to Ha Dumplings for a different taste.
“The prices at the restaurant are also reasonable, right in the center, and the food is Chinese so the price is reasonable. The restaurant is open until late at night so sometimes when I'm hungry at night, I just go out and have a bowl and it's great. For me, the food here suits my taste, there are many dishes to choose from, I can change the menu all week long," the customer commented.
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