QUANG BINH – Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhat, with the nickname Chicken Lady, was given to many guests.
Coming to Bong Lai Valley (Hung Trach Commune, Bo Trach District), you will have the opportunity to meet a woman called Chicken Lady by many Western guests. She and her restaurant have been likened to a local legend by The Guardian .
“Chicken dress” real name is Nguyen Thi Nhat, the owner of the restaurant “The Pub with cold beer” (Pub with cold beer). The U40 woman did not intend to do tourism, but her fate had pushed her and she changed her life ever since.
Previously, Bong Lai valley was still a pristine area, hardly visited by tourists. Nhat is the owner of a small grocery store, specializing in selling groceries. The store originally had a freezer, but it was rarely plugged in due to the absence of customers and was usually turned on in the summer.
The story begins in 2009 when Ben, an Australian man, surveyed Phong Nha, passed by Nhat’s grocery store. When Mr. Ben visited the shop, the freezer did not turn on, beer was available but not cold. Nhat confirmed that she would have a cold beer and sent a message to the Australian guest to wait.
A moment later, she brought back an ice pack and made cold beer to serve Mr. Ben. Seeing the assertiveness of the owner of the grocery store, Mr. Ben named the place “The pub with cold beer”. Ben then had just settled with his Vietnamese wife in Quang Binh and opened a farm stay. He decided to guide Nhat and her wife to do tourism and put her popular restaurant on the tourist map of Quang Binh.
From a grocery store, this place turned into a eatery, and soon developed into an eco resort. From a small house on the bank of Rao Con River, Nhat’s house has been gradually expanded and more spacious, ready to serve all types of tourism for visitors. Visitors now here can experience the swimming pool, drink beer, watch the sunset, bike ride, bathe in the river …
To maintain a stable number of visitors, Mr. Ben always introduces delegations to support Nhat. She shared that, unlike Vietnamese, Western guests do not like to drink beer poured in glasses with ice, but prefer to drink beer in bottles or cans that are pre-cooled. “Always have the refrigerator plugged in!”, Nhat recounted what Ben still told her and her husband. At first, Nhat served snacks and then later cooked rice. The dish that makes the restaurant famous is grilled chicken.
Coming to The pub with cold beer, visitors can experience catching chickens by themselves, then witness with their own eyes the process of Ms. Nhat processing. The name “chicken dress lady” also comes from that. I don’t remember exactly who gave me this nickname, but Nhat heard so many calls by the guests that the name unconsciously imprinted on her mind: “As long as the guest mentions Chicken Lady, I know for sure it is me “. Nhat said that many foreigners teased, given such nicknames in order to be able to remember themselves and the restaurant more easily. She is proud of this nickname and puts a nameplate right in front of the shop gate.
Western visitors know the restaurant a lot thanks to its special English name, but this is also a barrier that makes this culinary address not popular with domestic customers. Due to the influence from Covid-19, the revenue of the restaurant of Nhat decreased due to not being able to receive Western customers. She shared that the number of domestic tourists is mainly regular customers, because the restaurant is deep inside the village, the entrance is quite difficult to go and the name of the restaurant is difficult to remember for Vietnamese.
Currently, Mr. Quy, her husband Nhat, works as a construction worker and motorbike taxi driver to earn extra income, while she stays at home as a gardener with vegetables available to maintain the brand that she has struggled to build. When asked about the motivation to overcome this difficult time, she shared: “As long as there are guests left, it is important that I still believe in travel. One day when I travel again, I am always ready. sieve “.
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