The noodle shop located in Gam Cau owned by Mrs. Ha for the past 40 years is still considered the most salty in Hanoi, not to mention, the price is also high. However, when the shop is open, it is crowded with customers, sitting at the table.
“Two cores, one rare? Wait a minute!”
“What did you eat today, was it the same as usual?”
“It’s a bit crowded today, please wait a bit!”
At 7:30 a.m., Mrs. Ha, the owner of the Pho Man restaurant on Gam Cau street (Hoan Kiem, Hanoi) quickly dipped meat, blanched noodle soup, and greeted guests. For the past 40 years, every time it’s opened, Mrs. Ha’s pho shop “mow” is crowded with customers, people coming in and out.
Many years ago, Mrs. Ha had a stroke, her face was distorted on one side, so guests often called her “u Ha distorted”. Returning after treatment, she was still agile, prepared the broth by herself, sold pho from morning to noon, enthusiastically serving customers.
Mrs. Tran Thi Thu Ha’s Pho Man restaurant is located on Gam Cau street at the intersection with Hang Giay. The shop has been open since 1981. Mrs. Ha honestly shared: “The strange name of the restaurant is given by the customer, not by her own imagination. Customers who eat pho find it rich and salty, different from other pho shops, so it’s easy to distinguish.”
“The pho here is really salty, but it’s not salty because of fish sauce, salt, and spices, but it’s salty, after eating, it feels sweet, fragrant, very strange,” a regular customer of Mrs. Ha shared.
Mrs. Ha has just made pho and said that in the past, she has cooked more deliciously than everyone else. Unexpectedly, when she opened a pho restaurant, her “salty” was different from that of her customers.
“When I recently moved back to work, my boss invited me to eat Pho Mrs. Ha. Oh, the first bite was very salty, I don’t understand why the boss praised it delicious. But after eating a bowl of pho, I felt familiar. After this, go. I eat in many places, everywhere I find it pale, not as delicious, as rich as here. Except for the time when Ha took a break from the Covid-19 epidemic, I also attended her house for 3-4 days a week, 7 days a week”, said Mr. Thanh Hai. (Ba Dinh, Hanoi) shared.
According to regular customers like Hai, Pho Ba Ha is delicious not only because of the salty taste of the broth but also in the part of the noodle soup that is especially chewy, with crispy, sweet, and fresh core meat.
“Eating pho at u’s house is really delicious, but it’s a bit expensive. Bowl of pho is twice as expensive as other places, huh?”, Mr. Hai joked with Mrs. Ha.
Here, each bowl of pho costs from 50,000 VND / bowl, in which beef core noodle costs up to 80,000 VND / bowl. The price of “salty” pho is “bitter” but every day, Mrs. Ha sells up to 200 bowls.
All recipes for seasoning, processing, checking ingredients, preparing each bowl of pho for guests in the kitchen are done by one hand of Mrs. Ha. However, to meet the needs of diners, she hired a kitchen assistant who only specialized in cutting meat. However, many times they fail to make it in time.
Pho Man is sold from 6 am to 11 am daily, but is most crowded around 7:30 am – 8:30 am. At this time, the tables were filled with guests, and people got up to take their place. “Sometimes it’s too crowded. U Ha forgets my pho, so it takes 40 minutes to eat. You have to be urged constantly, your whole neck is hoarse to get a bowl of pho. But still love it, every week you don’t pass, you will remember”, Mr. Ha Hung (Dong Da, Hanoi) said.
Beef core noodle soup uses the core meat in the middle of the beef. Beef muscle has a lot of nutrition, when dipped it becomes more crispy, sweet, not chewy. These pieces of meat were ordered separately by Mrs. Ha from the slaughterhouse for people to bring, but could not be bought in the market. “The core meat is very expensive and the quantity is limited, so the price of a bowl of pho is so high,” Ms. Ha said.
For a long time, Mam Gam Cau noodle soup has been ranked as the “first pho” of Hanoians. Many people consider this a favorite breakfast place on the weekend because they can both eat pho, drink iced tea, and watch the train pass overhead. Follow (Dan Tri)