For 42 years without a sign, Mrs. Tam's beef noodle shop still attracts many customers to line up and wait for a number to eat pho like during the subsidy period.
Ms. Tran Thi Tam (67 years old), owner of the shop at 52 Mai Anh Tuan Street, near Hoang Cau Lake, Dong Da District, said that around 6:30 every morning, customers start lining up, peaking around 7:00 onwards. Each time, there are about 8 customers waiting, after a few customers take their number, more people come in.
Customers line up to get a number to enjoy pho at Mrs. Tam's restaurant.
Ms. Tam said she loves cooking and studied at a culinary school. In 1981, she decided to open a restaurant at 78 Hang Non, Hoan Kiem District, and later moved to her current address. She has been selling pho for 42 years. She came up with the idea of queuing to get a number to create a process of serving customers in order, avoiding chaos that would affect the enjoyment of pho.
Mr. Nguyen Van Dat, a regular customer whose house is near the shop, said he is used to the scene of people lining up every morning here and it feels "like the subsidy period".
Without a prominent sign, Mrs. Tam’s stall is simple with a basket of pho noodles, a glass cabinet of beef, green onions, and stacks of clean bowls. The pot of broth is in a separate corner. She simmers beef bones for 14 hours, adding cinnamon, star anise, ginger, and grilled onions to enhance the aroma. The stall is located right in front of the shop. In addition to Mrs. Tam, the shop has 10 employees, in charge of steps such as taking numbers, pouring broth, serving pho, slicing meat, and cleaning.
Mrs. Tam’s pho restaurant is open for about three hours, from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., or until the broth runs out. Customers line up on the sidewalk across from the restaurant, and the staff writes their number on a thin piece of aluminum the size of a matchbox. Diners pay in advance to get a card and sit at a table to wait for service.
The restaurant has two spaces to serve customers. At the place where Mrs. Tam sets up her counter, there are 5 plastic tables arranged along the path leading inside the house. The area of the two rooms in the house is about 30 square meters, one room uses a fan and the other has air conditioning. The second location is about 5 meters from Mrs. Tam's counter, has an area of 30 square meters, and can serve about 25-30 people at a time.
From 6:30 to 8:00, Mrs. Tam is almost non-stop because of the large number of customers. Standing at the counter with her are two employees, one preparing the noodles and the other pouring the broth. The noodles are blanched in the broth until they are cooked and separate into strands. Mrs. Tam adds sliced beef, chopped green onions and coriander, then gives them to the staff to pour the broth over, then passes them to the waiter. According to this process, customers do not have to wait too long, at the busiest time it is only about 10 minutes.
The restaurant's menu includes the familiar beef pho dishes: rare, well done, rare flank, crispy tendon, red wine sauce, ranging from 40,000 - 60,000 VND per bowl.
In the autumn of Hanoi, the early mornings are chilly, a hot bowl of beef noodle soup is the breakfast choice of many people. Just like many other bowls of pho, Mrs. Tam's beef noodle soup is no different. It is still a layer of thinly sliced beef, blanched to a pinkish red color that stands out against the green of onions and coriander on the surface. Below are soft, smooth rice noodles.
According to some diners, the broth at Mrs. Tam's restaurant is sweet and clear. The beef is not sliced too thin, so when you eat it, you can feel the toughness and firmness of the fresh meat. Diners can see the quality of the beef when looking to the left side of the counter, where the staff sits and slices each piece of fresh beef.
Ms. Tam said she makes the pho broth lighter than some other restaurants so that diners can easily season it to their taste. On the dining table, there are fish sauce, lemon, garlic vinegar, chili sauce, and sliced chili. The beef is selected as the best, freshest, and highest quality, "even though the price is expensive and the profit is low, the quality of the food is guaranteed for customers," she said. However, Ms. Tam did not say how many bowls of pho her restaurant sells each morning.
The restaurant owner said that in addition to taste, ensuring food safety is her top priority. "People find it delicious but if I don't make it properly, they will be disgusted. My pho doesn't have any special secret, but every step I take is as clean as if I were cooking for my own family," she said.
Mr. Dang Van Trong, who lives on Mai Anh Tuan Street, said: "The queue is a bit inconvenient, but after a while you get used to it. It's also quick, just five or ten minutes to get a number and sit at a table." He also agreed that Mrs. Tam's beef noodle soup doesn't have a special flavor, but the owner prepares it cleanly and the staff serves well, so he still comes to the restaurant regularly.
In addition to regular customers like Mr. Trong, sometimes people see the strange queue and are curious to try the food, but not many, said the staff who took the table number. The restaurant does not advertise on social media, so few tourists know about it, mainly customers living and working in the surrounding areas.
Mrs. Tam's crispy rare beef pho costs 50,000 VND.
Located on a small road along Hoang Cau Lake, there is a lot of traffic in the morning, so it is quite inconvenient to get to the restaurant or cross the street. Because it is only open for three hours in the morning, right when people go to work, the restaurant is almost always crowded and customers have to wait. After getting a table number, customers sit in the correct table area and pay attention when the staff calls their number.
With the form of queuing to get a number and paying in advance, Mrs. Tam's pho restaurant has the feeling of a restaurant during the subsidy period. Perhaps that is why the restaurant attracts many middle-aged customers, who come to eat pho as a way to remember the difficult times of the country.
Article and photos: Quynh Mai
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