HO CHI MINH CITY – Ms. Oanh’s restaurant, located in a small alley in District 4, is loved by diners for its soft meat, rich and sweet broth.
District 4 in Ho Chi Minh City is famous for its fried rice. Just weaving in the streets from big to small, you will come across dozens of stalls with bread or instant noodles. At market 200 located on Xom Chieu Street, Ms. Oanh’s laurel shop is a familiar place for diners to sip in the late afternoon.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Oanh, 60 years old, owner of the restaurant, shared the craft of breaking laurel she learned from her mother, which has been sold for more than 20 years so far. “In the past, this area did not have many people dumping Lau, I sold it from the time when I was still 2,000 VND/cup to students. Up to now, the price has increased to 30,000 VND/cup and still many people come to eat and find the old taste.” Ms. Oanh said.
The space of the shop is narrower than before, but long-time customers still come to Mrs. Oanh’s dish thanks to its “unmistakable” taste. According to her, if you want to make a delicious dish, the stage of choosing raw materials and cleaning the intestines of beef is very important. In addition, she chooses to cook Pha Lau with coconut water, as a secret to making the water rich and sweet and reducing the fishyness of the beef intestine.
“I never cook with filtered water, the beef will get fishy right away. I season and cook according to my own taste, when I feel good and satisfied, I will sell it to customers,” Ms. Oanh shared.
In addition to the traditional dish, Ms. Oanh’s restaurant also has a fried style of fried rice, the taste is not too different. Here, Pha Lau has a variety of beef offal ingredients such as feather towels, beehives, leaves, stomach, intestines, liver… all cooked soft and fragrant with the aroma of marinated spices.
Ms. Kim Xuyen, 30, a resident of District 4, and her husband sat down to eat lunch at the restaurant in the afternoon, said that they usually order two cups of fried rice and cooked to eat with bread, then order 1-2 more. Another cup to enjoy. “In this 200 market alone, there are about 5 stalls selling Lau, but I often visit Auntie Oanh’s, the food is full and the chili sauce is very fragrant, dipped with soft beef intestines,” she said.
Hoai Khanh, 23 years old, living in Binh Thanh district, said that he was quite impressed with the broth because it was fragrant and sweet, the taste was mild, not too greasy with coconut milk like other restaurants. “The beef is cooked soft, no fishy smell, only the small intestine is a bit soft, the ingredients are not very fresh and have a slightly bitter taste”, he said and also shared, the space is small, so it is suitable for a small group of people. Guests should park their cars at the end of the market for convenient sightseeing and dining.
In the morning, the market at 200 is mostly clothing stores, until 13:00, many new food stalls open. The rhythm of Saigon’s life in the afternoon and evening is vibrant again in a new way with the aroma of food, the sound of fried food, the sound of order, the bustling cash register and the indispensable sound of motorbikes and bustling trumpets on the road.
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