Every day at the end of the afternoon, a small donut shop on Lac Long Quan Street (Hanoi) welcomes hundreds of visitors to enjoy.
Called “bar”, but in fact, there is only a temporary canvas to shield the sun from the rain, and yet for the past 30 years, these donuts have never been empty.
At peak weather in Hanoi gets cold, every day, the restaurant has about 400-500 visitors coming in and out, most concentrated from 15:00 to 17:00. Currently, the price of savory cakes here is at VND 9,000 / piece, and pastries are VND 7,000 / piece.
Before the Covid-19 translation took place, the restaurant was so crowded that diners who came to enjoy the cakes would be given out tickets according to the ordinal number, avoiding jostling and controversy. The owner of the shop calls whose number is that person to take the item.
However, at this time, customers are less so during peak hours, customers just need to wait in line and wait.
The owner of this donut shop is Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa (49 years old, Hanoi). In the past, Hoa’s family worked as a handicraft paper maker. After this job, Hoa’s mother opened a row of donuts to earn extra income.
“Previously, she sold donuts at Buoi market, only later moved back to the alley on Lac Long Quan street. Initially, because of the hidden place, there were few customers, 30 years of selling, familiar customers spread to each other. “, Said Hoa.
The donut crust at Mrs. Hoa’s restaurant is made from glutinous rice flour mixed with Gac oil, so the color is always beautiful yellow. The cake is also meticulously processed with all kinds of ingredients: vermicelli, shiitake mushrooms, wood ear fungus, pork and spices mixed well. Ms. Hoa always prepares the cake herself because this is the most important part to help her taste properly.
The cakes after being molded are fried through 6 large pots of oil at a high temperature one after another, according to the owner, frying the cake through many turns of oil will help the cake always reach a crispy temperature.
There are two types of donuts at Mrs. Hoa’s donut shop: pastries and savory cakes. However, the number of salty cakes sold is still more and more popular.
Ta Minh Quang (Tay Ho, Hanoi) is a regular guest of this donut shop, Quang shared: “The most special feature of the donut here is the sauce. Surely there will be no taste like the sauce at this donut shop, sweet and sour and rich. The owner of the shop also adds papaya and carrot salad, so it helps to reduce the fat taste of the cake.
Each piece of cake is mixed with all kinds of delicious sauces to create an impressive flavor. To have a delicious dish like this, Hoa’s family spent 30 years devoted to the recipe left by her mother.
Ms. Hoa shared that the flavor of donuts has not changed since she started selling, only the sauce is adjusted so that the dish is better and suitable with the taste of customers.
Ms. Hoa said that each day, the donut shop sells about 20kg of both filling and filling. Every day she has to get up from 5 am to manually prepare the necessary ingredients from the crust, cake filling, sauce and salads.
The ingredients are only enough to sell out during the day.
When asked by the PV about her intention to open a more spacious store, Ms. Hoa laughed: “Having a store is a dream. Every day, many customers come, they sell a lot, but the profit is not much. I focus on quality, a little bit of profit, but it is still better to be trusted and remembered by customers ”.
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