Why no more 'strange' hours?

Not too unfamiliar, that is the broken rice restaurant of Mrs. Cuc (also known as Aunt Muoi, currently 58 years old) located in a small alley on Xo Viet Nghe Tinh Street (Binh Thanh District). This used to be the "favorite" restaurant of many late-night diners in Ho Chi Minh City because for decades it has been open from 11pm to 4am the next morning.

Changed opening hours… suddenly, still crowded with customers

Every afternoon, Ho Chi Minh City is drizzling. I slowly make my way through the traffic jam near Hang Xanh intersection to visit Aunt Muoi's restaurant, which has been around for more than 3 decades. At 6 p.m., the restaurant is lit up with a full food cabinet, and customers are sitting at several tables in a cozy family atmosphere, happily chatting and enjoying their food.

In the evening, Aunt Muoi's shop was full of food.

[CLIP]: 35-year-old broken rice restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City passed down from mother to daughter.

This is a restaurant but also a house where Aunt Muoi's family members live, so as soon as I entered, I felt very cozy, familiar and clean. It was drizzling, Aunt Muoi sat leisurely on a high chair in front of the restaurant taking care of her little grandchild, occasionally glancing at the kitchen counter where her youngest daughter and a few relatives were busy preparing dishes for the customers.

Nowadays, there are not as many customers eating at night as before, there are not many people going out at night, singing karaoke late at night, so my son and I decided to open at a new time frame. Luckily, no matter what time we open, customers still come to support us, that is the joy and happiness of a restaurant owner like me!

Aunt Ten, Owner

Seeing me, the owner greeted me warmly and told me that she had left the restaurant to her son for about 3 years now, and that she was enjoying her old age and would help out whenever she could. It sounded like the owner was very pleased with the second generation of her family running the restaurant.

Customers sit in a cozy, intimate restaurant space.

Ms. Ngoc inherited her mother's restaurant and is busy preparing dishes for customers to eat in and take away.

In the past, the shop was famous for being open from dusk until 4am for 20 years, but now my aunt said it only opens from 5:30pm to almost 11pm, which surprised me a bit.

When asked, the owner calmly explained: "Nowadays, there are not as many customers eating at night as before, there are not many people going out at night, singing karaoke late at night, so my son and I decided to open at a new time frame. Luckily, no matter what time we open, customers still come to support us, that is the joy and happiness of a restaurant owner like me."

The cheapest dish at the restaurant costs 30,000 VND, increasing gradually depending on the dish the customer orders.

Aunt Muoi said that in the past, she used to be a traditional medicine doctor. But after a while, because of her family's livelihood, at the end of 1987, she decided to switch to selling food and chose to sell broken rice because it was a filling dish. At that time, the owner sold it in front of an elementary school not far from her house, for almost ten years, then moved here to sell it until today.

"Cook like you're cooking for your family!"

When asked about the secret to keeping customers for decades, despite the restaurant changing locations or opening hours, the owner smiled and said there was nothing special except that she and her children in the family cook for customers like they would cook for family.

Ribs are not dry, well seasoned.

The rib rice dish at the restaurant is popular with customers.

“In addition to food hygiene issues, the restaurant space is always clean, we also always try to please customers, whatever customers want to eat, whatever they want to add, the restaurant also tries to satisfy. In addition, there is also free iced tea with ginger for customers to drink comfortably and it is good for health", Ms. Muoi introduced.

Ms. Ngoc (29 years old, daughter of Aunt Muoi) is the current owner of the restaurant. She introduced that in addition to the familiar broken rice with ribs, pork skin, and sausage, the restaurant also sells many other dishes to meet the diverse needs of customers such as steamed fish sauce, braised pork, offal, braised chicken, etc.

The restaurant also sells a variety of delicious dishes.

It was raining harder outside, and I was hungry after work, so I ordered a hot plate of broken rice with egg and ribs to enjoy and was really impressed. As the owner had said, the ribs were marinated in a very unique flavor, fragrant with lemongrass and not "common" like some restaurants I had been to.

The ribs at the restaurant are not too dry, served with broken rice, scallion oil, a little crispy pork rind and the restaurant's signature dipping sauce, which is a perfect match for the delicious rib rice dish. Personally, I rate the egg ribs dish at this restaurant 8/10, worth trying and coming back to eat.

Aunt Muoi said that every ingredient in the rice dish as well as the side dishes are carefully prepared by the restaurant as if it were for family.

Leisurely, Aunt Muoi often goes in and out of the shop to help her daughter when needed.

Ribs are grilled over charcoal.

Mr. Thanh Danh (34 years old, living in Binh Thanh District) took his wife and young child to Aunt Muoi's restaurant and ordered a plate of rice with ribs, pork skin, sausage, and braised pork with eggs. He said that on busy days, he often takes his family here to eat for convenience, partly because it is close to home, partly because he loves the taste of Aunt Muoi's restaurant.

“I have been eating here for more than ten years. Back then, the restaurant was open late so I ate alone. Now it is open earlier so I can bring my family along. The restaurant makes me feel like I am eating at home because it is called a restaurant but everything here is close and familiar because it is also the owner's house,” he commented.

The owner works hard every day to develop the restaurant passed down by her mother.

For Ms. Ngoc, inheriting the restaurant that her mother had worked hard to build for her entire life is both a source of pride and happiness. Not only that, this is also a restaurant that commemorates her childhood, when she came home from school, she would help her parents sell. The owner said that she will continue to strive every day to promote the brand of her family restaurant...

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/quan-com-tam-35-nam-o-tphcm-me-truyen-cho-con-gai-sao-khong-con-ban-gio-la-185230614130555463.htm