Unique sticky rice with peach-shaped meat shop, customers must book in advance to 'reserve their portion' from Hanoi owner

Recently, Mr. Hoa's sticky rice dish with pork cheek meat (pork cheek meat) in Bach Dang (Hanoi) "suddenly" became a hit on social media. However, new customers, coming to the restaurant for the first time, rarely "successfully hunt" for this unique sticky rice dish with pork cheek meat.

Waiting for her turn to receive sticky rice, Ms. Hong Anh (Hoan Kiem, Hanoi) "whispered her secret": "Yesterday afternoon, I had to call in advance to order 3 servings of sticky rice with peach cheeks because this dish only has a few dozen servings each day. I have been eating here for nearly 2 years, and I always have to order in advance. Usually, I only order on weekends because I don't have time to line up or wait on weekdays."

Mr. Ho Van Hoa, the owner, is nearly 70 years old this year. From 1994 to 2002, Mr. Hoa used to sell pho on a street stall. Then, due to poor health, he stopped selling. In 2020, Mr. Hoa's family reopened the sticky rice stall right in front of the small alley leading to the house. At first, he sold from noon to 10 p.m., but recently, the number of customers has increased significantly, and by 2-3 p.m., Mr. Hoa had run out of goods. "I'm old, so I only make a fixed amount, how to ensure delicious, quality sticky rice," he said.

The restaurant's signature dish is sticky rice with peach-shaped meat, with 50-80 servings available every day. Customers who want to eat it usually have to order in advance to "reserve their portion".

Cheek meat is the inner part of the pig's cheek, with soft tendons interspersed with meat, and less fat than the outer cheek. "When cooked, cheek meat has many soft tendons but is not greasy, it melts in your mouth," said Mr. Hoa. Each pig only has 200-300 grams of cheek meat, so it can be said to be a "quintessential" dish, "rare and hard to find", priced from 200,000 - 250,000 VND/kg.

Processing peach cheek meat is quite elaborate. When choosing good meat, Mr. Hoa meticulously removes all the bones, including the small bones, then processes them many times with salt and ginger. Mr. Hoa marinates the peach cheek meat with 17 different spices such as sugar, honey, green bean powder, basil, five-spice powder..., of which 4 "cannot be revealed".

According to the owner, he does not marinate the meat with fish sauce because it overpowers the flavor of the other ingredients. Each bowl of sticky rice with peach cheeks is priced at 35,000 VND.

In addition to the peach meat, Mr. Hoa also has many other side dishes such as fried eggs, ham, Chinese sausage, pate..., combined with pickles and scallion oil. Each portion of sticky rice here costs from 15,000 VND to 50,000 VND. With special portions, served with lots of meat, eggs, ham... the price can be up to 100,000 VND.

Soft-boiled eggs, "all the same," are also a favorite of many diners. The yolk is in the middle, not too cooked or too runny, the white part is crispy, and none of them are overcooked. The eggs have an eye-catching yellow color from fresh turmeric powder, crushed. When eaten, the yolk blends well with sticky rice. On weekends, Mr. Hoa fried and sold out 150 eggs. "It takes about 2 minutes to fry each egg," said the restaurant owner.

According to Mr. Hoa, currently, he cooks an average of 22-24kg of rice every day. Side dishes or sticky rice are made from 3am to be sold in time. "For sticky rice, the sticky rice is very important. The rice must be delicious, new, washed and then steamed so that it is soft, fragrant, not crushed, not too dry. To be honest, I buy very expensive sticky rice. The profit is not much, but I have to sell good food," said Mr. Hoa.

Ms. Oanh Thu (Cau Giay, Hanoi) came to the restaurant for the third time to enjoy it. After two times of "failing" to try the sticky rice with peach-shaped meat, she texted to order in advance. "It's true that this part of the meat is very delicious, soft, fragrant, rich in spices, but not salty or boring like regular braised meat," Ms. Thu said. However, according to this customer, the other side dishes are not very special.

Recently, the sticky rice shop has become much more crowded. On weekends, customers may have to queue from the beginning of the alley, waiting 15-20 minutes.

The restaurant is located in an alley so it is quite difficult to find. Customers should note that Mr. Hoa is usually closed on the 1st, 2nd, 15th and 16th of the lunar calendar.

Pho restaurant in Hanoi, customers line up like in the subsidy period, the owner explains the reason . The scene of customers lining up "like in the subsidy period", waiting to order, pay in advance and get a table number has become a "specialty" of Pho Tam restaurant (Dong Da, Hanoi).

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