Open for sale 24/24, Mrs. Lien’s pho restaurant is rumored to sell 2-3 cows per day by many diners. What’s the truth?
For many years, the noodle shop of Mrs. Do Thi Lien’s family (62 years old) located on Nguyen Oanh Street (Go Vap District) has caused a lot of memories for many “intestinal” customers.
Decades… “not closed”
In the morning, Ho Chi Minh City was cool after the heavy rain the night before. In this weather, there’s nothing better than waking up early to eat a hot bowl of pho.I’ve heard of Mrs. Lien’s restaurant for a long time, especially the rumor that the shop sells 2-3 cows every day, but it’s only been so far. have a chance to visit.
In the spacious family restaurant with dozens of tables, I was overwhelmed by the amount of food presented at the counter. Those are the bowls full of big “nest” beef bones placed in front of the restaurant, the huge pot of broth, the oxtails, encrusted, beef books, beef balls, tendons, beef ribs … full of mounds to be stored. in trays.
Seeing me, the hostess warmly welcomed me. On occasion, I took advantage of the opportunity to inquire about the famous rumor of this restaurant. “Is it true that the day our shop sells 2-3 cows like people say?”, listening to me ask, the owner smiled and said:
Before the epidemic, there were many customers. After the service, the number of visitors is even more crowded because in Go Vap, there are a lot of people. There are a few record days, my shop sold the amount of bones and meat estimated at 2-3 real cows. But now the economy is difficult, peak selling only about 1 cow per day!
Mrs. Lien, Owner
Pho here is from 45,000 – 70,000 VND.($1=24,000 VND)
CAO AN BIEN
After listening to the owner, I was also somewhat surprised. But looking at the regular number of customers, looking at the amount of food on display and the sale time of the shop, I believe what the owner said is true.
Many patrons call this restaurant a pleasure for decades… it hasn’t closed, and there’s a reason. According to Ms. Lien, for more than a decade, her family has decided to sell continuously without a break in the day, customers come to eat pho every hour, the shop also sells to serve the needs of customers. Before that, like most other shops, she only sold from morning to 0:00.
Recipes from Grandma’s life
Here, each pho is priced from 45,000 VND – 70,000 VND, depending on the needs of the guests. The hostess insists that guests come to the restaurant want to eat, she and the staff will try to make the most of it.
Being hungry, I immediately ordered a special pho for 70,000 VND with all the ingredients. Besides the ingredients in the fresh beef, my favorite is the cloudy but rich broth, I guarantee that the owner uses bone broth that has been simmered for many hours to get this flavor. Personally, I rate 8/10 for the overall taste of the pho at the restaurant.
Agreeing with me, Mr. Hoa (37 years old, living in Go Vap district), who is a regular customer of the restaurant, also said that the broth of this pho restaurant is a big plus. Because his house is close, he and his wife often come here to eat 2-3 times a week, but have been eating for 3 years now, since moving here. Besides the airy space and looking at the clean way of making pho, he also liked the enthusiasm and friendliness of the staff as well as the owner.
It is the broth and the harmony in the ingredients, which is the pride of the owner. But for her, the important thing to make a good bowl of pho is the “mind” of the seller to put in it.
If you cook without heart, no matter how delicious the recipe is. For me, the guests who come here to eat are not only the relationship between the owner and the diners, but after the bowl of pho, it’s also the feelings of everyone to each other. That is what connects the shop with many customers over the past decades.
Mrs. Lien, Owner
Tell us, Mrs. Lien said that her grandmother in 1932 moved from the North to Saigon to live and do business. Later, the grandmother opened a pho restaurant, cooking according to the family’s traditional recipe. Then, her grandmother died at the age of 70, leaving her mother a pho restaurant with the same recipe.
“Once, my family opened dozens of shops in Saigon, not a few. But because we couldn’t manage all of them, we reduced the hours to only 2 shops. More than 30 years ago, on the advice of my family, I just came here from Hai Phong to do business, inheriting my mother’s restaurant. I didn’t like this job at first, but I liked it when I did it, and then fell in love all the time,” said the owner.
Now, the restaurant has become the pride of Mrs. Lien. She is happy when she and her sister maintain her grandmother’s and mother’s pho restaurant every day as well as welcome her customers.
Photo: Internet (Vinlove.net)