From a sidewalk stall, after 14 years of opening, Pho Ga Nguyet has been rated by Michelin culinary experts as one of the delicious restaurants with good prices in Hanoi.
In early June, Nguyet Chicken Pho restaurant of Ms. Le Thi Minh Nguyet, 67 years old, became one of 29 restaurants ranked by the Michelin Guide as a delicious restaurant with affordable prices (Bib Gourmand).
Located at 5B Phu Doan, Hoan Kiem District, the restaurant is simply decorated like street restaurants in Hanoi. From a small pot of pho with a few plastic chairs on the sidewalk, after accumulating a certain amount of capital, Ms. Nguyet opened a chicken pho restaurant in 2009.
The restaurant serves mornings from 6 to 1 p.m., evenings from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. The restaurant space is about 50 m2, can accommodate 8 stainless steel tables for 4 people.
Right in front of the restaurant is a pho processing counter with a glass cabinet containing chicken and baskets of pho placed underneath. On the left side of the counter are two pots of broth, one pot for blanching pho noodles and one pot for boiling.
Entering the restaurant, diners are attracted by the tray of chicken with golden skin. The restaurant uses chicken meat from acquaintances because the chicken meat is firmer and more fragrant. When boiled, it does not add many spices to maintain the original flavor.
After being boiled, the meat is divided into parts such as breast, thighs, and wings, arranged neatly. After diners order, the staff begins slicing the meat, deboning, creating soft, succulent slices of meat.
What creates the special flavor of chicken pho at the restaurant is the pot of broth simmered from pig bones and cutting bones for 12 hours. According to Ms. Nguyet’s experience, do not choose the leg bone because it will make the pot of broth cloudy.
The preparation steps from boiling chicken, roasting peanuts, and washing vegetables are prepared by the staff at the restaurant from 4 a.m. every day. The broth is prepared and simmered the day before. At the end of the sale, leftover ingredients are removed, ensuring diners can enjoy new items the next day.
At the processing counter, there are two employees standing permanently, each in charge of one step. When diners order, one person blanches the pho noodles while the other person quickly slices the chicken into slices. After placing the chicken on soft white pho noodles, adding lime leaves, chopped fresh green onions and pouring broth to complete a bowl of pho to serve to guests.
A simple bowl of chicken pho with the light yellow color of the broth and golden chicken skin, the green color of the green onions obscuring the layer of white rice noodles below. Diners add their own chili sauce and garlic vinegar to create sourness and spiciness to suit each person’s taste.
Nguyet chicken pho broth is clear, fragrant, and has the natural sweetness and fat of pork bones. The soft noodle cake after soaking in the broth becomes smooth and soft but still retains its chewy texture, does not break or crumble when picked up with chopsticks. Boiled chicken meat should be firm and not crumbly. Succulent meat combined with fatty skin.
In addition to liquid pho, the restaurant also serves chicken pho mixed with a small bowl of broth. A bowl of chicken breast pho costs 50,000 VND, back pho costs 55,000 VND, thigh or wing pho costs 60,000 VND. If you order two types of meat combined or increase the amount of meat, the price ranges from 75,000 – 100,000 VND.
In the evening, the restaurant sells pho dishes combined with chicken gizzards, prices range from 55,000 – 80,000 VND. Diners can also order more quiche for 4 pieces at 10,000 VND or 10,000 VND for 5 pieces. In addition, the shop sells chopped chicken from half to whole, priced from 330,000 to 660,000 VND.
The shop is currently managed by Ms. Bui Thi Minh Thu (left), daughter of Ms. Nguyet. After the restaurant’s name appeared in the Michelin guide, many foreign tourists not only came to enjoy but also shared their feelings about pho with Ms. Thu. In the picture, Ms. Thu is communicating with two tourists from China.
On average, the shop sells 600 bowls per day. On weekends, the number of customers can be larger, but it cannot increase suddenly because the restaurant space is fixed. “Previously, we could serve 10 – 12 customers at a time, but now it has increased to 15 – 20 customers,” she said.
After 7:00 p.m., which is peak time, the restaurant borrows space from the store next door and displays about 7-10 more plastic tables to serve a large number of customers. However, at some busy times, many people still have to wait in line.
Ms. Thu said that the restaurant only has about 4-5 employees for the morning shift, but for the evening shift it has to increase to more than a dozen people to keep up with the service. In addition to one person slicing meat, one person blanching pho noodles, and one person pouring broth, the remaining employees are responsible for preparing pho, cleaning, and seating guests.
Trinh Hoai Nam, 24 years old, came to eat chicken pho with his friends on December 27, and ordered two portions of breast and thigh pho for 200,000 VND. According to Nam, “the pho broth is fragrant and delicious, the chicken is sweet, but the selling price is somewhat higher than the average.”
Having become famous in 14 years of business, being recommended by Michelin is still an opportunity to help chicken noodle soup attract more new customers, both domestic and international.
($1~24,000 VND)
Photo,Video: Internet (Vinlove.net)