Located on a small Yen Phu street, Ms. Le Thi Nhu Cuc's bun cha restaurant has been operating from 1990 to now. From a simple family restaurant, this place has gradually become a familiar address for many Hanoi diners, and at the same time attracts the attention of many celebrities.
According to Ms. Cuc, what helps the restaurant retain customers for nearly three decades lies in the meticulousness in each stage. Every day, ingredients are imported from early morning, from meat, vegetables to accompanying spices.
After preliminary processing and processing, the restaurant starts selling from about 9 am and usually runs out of stock in the early afternoon. "One day goes out," she emphasized, as a core principle to ensure freshness.
The restaurant's bun cha is imbued with the traditional Hanoi flavor. The bun cha pieces are marinated moderately, each piece of meat still retains its softness and is not dry. The minced bun cha part is rich. A portion of bun cha combined with dipping sauce mixed according to a special recipe creates a harmonious balance between salty, sweet and slightly sour tastes.
A serving of bun cha usually costs 45,000 VND, including fresh bun, grilled meat, buns and raw vegetables, which are highly appreciated for their full portion size and stable quality. In addition, diners can order more spring rolls to eat with for 10,000 VND each.
Not only serving new customers, the restaurant in Yen Phu has maintained a stable number of customers for many years, mainly long-term regular customers.
According to Ms. Cuc's sharing, the restaurant is also a destination for some well-known faces on social networks such as Salim - Hai Long's family, and Vietnamese stars. In particular, Tran Thanh is a regular customer of the restaurant.
The owner said that every time he comes to Hanoi, the male artist stops by to enjoy. He has also expressed many times his desire for the restaurant to open more facilities in the South so that more diners have the opportunity to experience this flavor.
The idea of expanding to the South was originally cherished by the family from before, but it was not until receiving encouragement from Tran Thanh that the plan was truly implemented in 2025.
The second facility was later opened on Nguyen Dinh Chieu street, Ward 5, District 3 (now Ban Co ward, Ho Chi Minh City), managed by her son. Ms. Cuc directly went to Ho Chi Minh City to support her son in the initial stage to ensure uniform quality.
In the Siêu thực Thành culinary series, Tran Thanh directly experienced it at the Ho Chi Minh City facility and gave many positive comments. He said that bun cha is a "easy to eat but difficult to taste" dish, and to feel it most fully, Hanoi is still a place that brings a standard flavor experience.
However, when enjoying it in Ho Chi Minh City, he highly appreciated the similarity in quality, especially the grilled meat part "not dry", the dipping sauce "just right, not salty". According to sharing, this is the best bun cha restaurant he has ever eaten according to his personal taste.
All recipes and ingredients are kept consistent with the restaurant in Hanoi. In the early days, the restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City operated at a stable level, the number of customers was not too large. However, after being introduced by Tran Thanh, the number of customers increased significantly and gradually maintained stability.
