On a weekend night, Dong Thinh eel noodle shop, located on Hang Dieu street (Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi) is packed with customers. Ms. Quach Kim Dung (67 years old, owner) quickly blanchs the noodles, adds eel, soy sauce, and other vegetables to eat with... and urges the staff to concentrate.

According to Ms. Dung, the restaurant has been open for more than 40 years, so it has a stable number of regular customers. Recently, after being awarded the Michelin Bib Gourmand, the number of new customers has increased. Both new and regular customers coming to the restaurant ask: "Is it true that the restaurant was honored by Michelin?" and send their congratulations.

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Mrs. Dung, 67 years old, still sells goods directly every day. Photo: Kim Ngan

The restaurant's menu is diverse with dishes made from eel such as mixed eel vermicelli, vermicelli with eel in water, stir-fried eel vermicelli, eel soup, eel porridge, and eel rolls. Of which, the two dishes mixed eel vermicelli and vermicelli with eel in water are the most popular with diners.

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The restaurant is packed with customers on weekend nights. Photo: Kim Ngan

For the mixed dish, the vermicelli is blanched until just cooked, still retaining its chewy, crunchy texture. Each bowl of vermicelli will have crispy fried eel meat, drizzled with soy sauce, served with cucumber, bean sprouts, perilla, basil, mint... sprinkled with roasted peanuts and fried onions. The mixed eel vermicelli will be eaten with a bowl of rich broth, with Vietnamese coriander and green onions.

Eel vermicelli soup - a popular dish on cool, chilly days, has the same ingredients as mixed eel vermicelli but is served with hot, rich broth. "The broth is the key factor that creates the unique flavor of the restaurant," said Ms. Dung.

The restaurant's eel vermicelli soup and eel vermicelli salad are popular with diners. Photo: Kim Ngan

Ms. Dung said that all the eels at the restaurant are fresh eels imported from Nghe An and Bac Ninh, then brought back to be carefully processed and fried at home. This ingredient is preserved and sold out on the same day and not left until the next day, to avoid the eels from becoming soggy and losing their crispiness.

Ms. Dung shared: "Eels must be of moderate size, not too big or too small, with smooth skin and a round body. When you bring the eels home, you must carefully process them with coarse salt to remove the slime and fishy smell.

Then, we cut the eel into pieces, coat it with flour mixed with many spices, according to a special recipe, and then fry it. When frying, the chef must be very careful, waiting until the eel is firm, turns golden brown, crispy, and fragrant to achieve the desired result.

A bowl of eel vermicelli soup costs 45,000 VND, mixed eel vermicelli costs 55,000 VND. Other dishes range in price from 30,000 to 65,000 VND. In addition, the restaurant also sells dried eel by weight for more than 1 million VND/kg.

Dried eel is stored in vacuum bags for longer storage. Eel can be carried everywhere, domestically and internationally.

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The dried eel at the restaurant is fried crispy and seasoned with rich flavors. Photo: Kim Ngan

Ms. Nhung (Ba Dinh district) is a regular customer of the restaurant. "I have been eating at this restaurant since I was in my mother's womb, about 22 years now.

I find the eel here to be well-seasoned and crispy but without losing its sweetness and inherent "eel flavor". In addition to the eel vermicelli and broth, the stir-fried eel vermicelli here is also very appetizing and suitable for my taste," Ms. Nhung shared.

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Ms. Nhung and her family are long-time regular customers of the restaurant. Photo: Kim Ngan

Ms. Uyen (Ba Dinh district) came to the restaurant for the first time and was impressed with the rich flavor of the mixed eel vermicelli dish.

"The eel is very crispy, fresh, not fishy or has a strong oil smell like many other places. A bowl has a lot of raw vegetables and cucumbers so it is not too greasy to eat," Ms. Uyen shared. However, according to the customer, the flavor is not too special or different.

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Ms. Uyen came to the restaurant for the first time to enjoy eel vermicelli. Photo: Kim Ngan

The restaurant is open from 6am to 10:30pm. The restaurant's busiest hours are lunch (11:30am - 1pm) and dinner (7pm - 8:30pm). Some dishes may sell out early. Eel soup is also a highly rated dish at the restaurant.

Sharing her feelings when being honored by Michelin Guide, Ms. Dung could not hide her pride and happiness: "This award is not only a recognition for more than 40 years of diligently preserving traditional flavors, but also a great motivation for us to continue to improve the quality of dishes and services."

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The dishes at the restaurant are considered to have quite a "higher" price compared to the general level. Photo: Kim Ngan

The restaurant is quite spacious, has two floors, and can accommodate about 20 tables.

The restaurant is crowded, but there is no need to queue or wait for a long time. In addition to regular customers, the restaurant also attracts many foreign tourists to try this Vietnamese specialty.

However, according to reviews on some culinary applications, the flavor of eel vermicelli here is not very unique.

The restaurant serving rice rolls with water bugs is the most expensive in Hanoi, selling thousands of servings a day . The restaurant selling rice rolls for over 70 years on To Hien Thanh Street (Hanoi) is a familiar address to many diners. This is one of 5 dining establishments in Hanoi listed in Michelin Selected 2024 (Michelin selected).