HO CHI MINH CITY – The noodle shop on Ta Quang Buu Street, District 8 of Ms. Ngoc Phuong has meat, intestines, and duck blood, only sold for three hours a day.
The duck noodle shop next to the bus station in District 8 has been a familiar breakfast address for people in the area for more than 20 years. “This dish is not as popular as crab noodle soup. Since the day I opened it for sale, I have only seen a few places with duck noodle soup in Saigon, but mainly in District 8,” said Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, the shop’s owner. kindness to guests.
The dish was learned by Mrs. Phuong from her husband’s uncle and sold on the sidewalk of Ta Quang Buu Street until now. Called vermicelli, but the broth does not have crab sauce, nor does it come with pork, snails, beans, and tomatoes. “Perhaps because the water has a deep red color like a bowl of vermicelli in the South, and it is served with shaved water spinach, it has such a name,” said the 45-year-old woman.
Every day, Mrs. Phuong gets up at 4 a.m. to boil 5 ducks and 13-15 sets of intestines. The boiling water is added with cashew color to give it a red color similar to that of vermicelli broth. The pot of broth cooks for more than an hour, after seasoning, do not add pork bones to keep the flavor of duck meat. The shop uses grass duck, low fat, weighs about 3.5 kg.
Duck intestines are washed with salt, scraped off the dirt inside, washed many times to remove the fishy smell. Each piece of duck noodle is rolled up like a braid so that it doesn’t get tangled while boiling. The duck’s gizzard is also threaded so it doesn’t come loose. Duck intestines will be boiled separately to avoid the smell of other ingredients.
At 6 o’clock, the shop starts to welcome guests, in the yard about 40 m2 wide, with stainless steel tables and covered with tarpaulins, guests park their cars on the sidewalk. The vermicelli bowl of the popular restaurant consists of small noodles, duck blood, gizzards, and meat to be placed on top before adding broth and sprinkled with onions. The broth is clear, rich, with a natural bright red color, not the red color of tomatoes commonly found in vermicelli noodles. The vegetable part includes shredded water spinach with a price, which can be blanched or left raw.
“The heart, duck meat or blood has been sliced by new customers and left in large pieces. When eating, I can feel the crunchiness of the gizzard, the chewiness of the pho. Three years ago the bowl of vermicelli also had duck’s heart and liver, but few people ate it, so I decided to eat it. Take it off the menu,” said the owner.
A standard bowl is sold for 25,000 VND, full of side dishes, guests can also order a special part with heart and private meal for 40,000 VND including vermicelli. The seasoning served with lemon, chili, shrimp paste also has ginger fish sauce to dip when eating duck. According to the owner, ginger sauce is an indispensable dipping sauce that determines the taste of duck vermicelli.($1=24,000 VND)
In addition, the shop also has two types of duck blood, the type that is usually frozen and placed in the pot of broth. The other type is glutinous blood, which is mixed with glutinous rice into a round piece about 15 cm in diameter, boiled, kept outside, then cut it into a bowl when the customer eats it.
The shop also has propellers and necks for customers to freely choose from with prices ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 VND. Many customers do not have enough money or children’s meals, so they can buy as many shops as they can. Every day, the shop sells in just over 3 hours, until about 9:30, the noodle shop is out of noodles with about 200 bowls.
For more than a decade, Mr. Tien Ba, District 8 often chooses duck vermicelli twice a week as a breakfast dish before going to work. He often ordered a special meal, a separate cup of heart to eat to his satisfaction. “This dish has a different taste from vermicelli with crab, the broth from duck meat is sweet, not boring, less greasy. I like the inner part with sticky blood because it’s crispy, chewy and the restaurant also gives a lot, so it’s quite comfortable to eat.” , I said.
The shop sells sidewalks, in an area with many working people, so according to many diners, the price is quite cheap, a full bowl, lots of noodles and vegetables. However, due to the lack of specific premises and small signboards, it is difficult for many first-timers to find.
( According to vnexpress )