Ms. Thien’s family’s eel vermicelli restaurant (Dong Da, Hanoi) has been passed down through 4 generations. This place has become a familiar address, attached to many diners.
During the winter days in Hanoi, diners can’t help but “miss” the hot, smoky, flooded dishes like vermicelli, pho, crab cakes or eel vermicelli.
Eel vermicelli is a dish loved by many people. In Hanoi, Mrs. Thien’s eel vermicelli (Thai Thinh, Dong Da, Hanoi) is one of the addresses that has attracted customers for many years.
This eel vermicelli shop sells out 300-400 bowls every day, increasing to 500 bowls on weekends. The restaurant’s menu includes a variety of dishes made from eel such as water eel vermicelli, mixed or stir-fried eel vermicelli, eel soup, eel salad… Among them, water eel vermicelli is the most popular with customers.
According to Ms. Thien, this is a family heirloom dish. The recipe has been passed down from Thien’s grandmother. “My mother was a street vendor all her life. Later, I opened a shop in Dinh Ngang and then changed the location to here,” she said.
The store in Thai Thinh has an area of nearly 100m2, quite spacious and airy, welcoming about 25 diners at a time. Currently, Mrs. Thien teaches the recipe to her children – the 4th generation selling eel vermicelli.
Ms. Thien imports fresh eels from Nghe An, moderately large, smooth, shiny skin, and round body. Through the hands of Mrs. Thien, with many different complicated steps, the finished fried eel is produced.
In the first step, fresh eels are prepared with white salt and rice water to remove the slime and fishy smell. Next, the shop owner skillfully removed the eel meat and separated the bones. Eel meat is cut into pieces, breaded, and fried until the meat is firm. After that, Mrs. Thien fried the eel again with turmeric powder to help the outer shell turn golden brown evenly and crispy.
The ingredients are stored separately in aluminum trays, neatly arranged in a glass cabinet right in front of the shop door. To make a delicious bowl of eel vermicelli, you first need to have delicious dong vermicelli, delicious eel, along with bean sprouts, Chinese coriander, laksa leaves… and indispensable pot of rich broth.
“Proper eel vermicelli broth must be cockroach brown in color. The water is simmered from eel bones with onions, ginger and when ready, add coriander roots for aroma. Occasionally, I skim off the foam to make the water clear. When the bones are soft , I took it out, filtered the residue, only took the clear broth and seasoned it to taste,” Ms. Thien shared.
Usually, there are two types of vermicelli: water eel vermicelli and mixed eel vermicelli. In particular, mixed eel vermicelli is divided into 2 types: soft eel vermicelli and crispy eel vermicelli.
Water eel vermicelli is usually served with broth, added with bean sprouts, laksa leaves… while mixed eel vermicelli will be served with previously stir-fried eel, without water. With mixed eel vermicelli, the restaurant serves a sauce made from garlic, sugar, vinegar, chili, pepper, fish sauce and pickles.
When diners order, Mrs. Thien quickly blanches the vermicelli in boiling water and then puts it in a bowl, adding Vietnamese coriander, green onions, coriander, green onions and blanched bean sprouts. She scooped a ladle of hot broth into a bowl of vermicelli, picked up fried eel and placed it on top, sprinkled with fried onions, and added steamed chili.
A bowl of mixed eel vermicelli or water costs 35,000 VND. On the menu are stir-fried eel vermicelli priced at 45,000 VND, eel soup priced at 35,000 VND, and eel salad priced at 85,000 VND. The shop also sells dried eels to take home for 120,000 VND/tael.
Mr. Tran Huan, a regular customer of the restaurant, shared: “I often eat eel vermicelli here, depending on the day I eat it liquid or dry. At Mrs. Thien’s restaurant, what I like the most is the broth, which has a naturally sweet taste, not There’s a lot of fat and it makes you feel sick. Another plus point is that the shop is very clean.” However, according to Mr. Huan, if it’s lunchtime, diners have to wait quite a long time due to the large number of customers.
For some customers, the deep-fried eel soaks up a bit of oil, making it greasy. They choose stir-fried eel vermicelli because the eel is softer and less greasy.
According to Ms. Thien, the restaurant’s peak hours are 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm and 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm.
($1=24,000 VND)
Photo,Video: Internet (Vinlove.net)