Recently, social networks have been buzzing with the image of a bun rieu restaurant with a classic decoration, reminiscent of a restaurant for the ancient aristocracy. That is the Ziu Ganh noodle shop - Ms. Yen, a familiar address for gourmets in the old town for decades.
Located deep in a small alley at the beginning of Quoc Tu Giam Street, the restaurant stands out despite its modest space. Upon entering, diners will be surprised by the relaxing soft music and unique decorations made of wood and ceramics. From large paintings hanging on the wall to small objects such as vases, statues, chopstick holders, chili jars... both ancient and modern.
Mr. Hoang Minh Viet (45 years old), the owner of the restaurant, shared: “This space was originally decorated as a living room for the family, now it has been converted into a place to sell goods. Before, there was a bed and a sofa in the room, but I moved them to another place to make space for customers to sit.”
Mr. Viet said that the original owner of the restaurant was Ms. Yen, his mother-in-law. Ms. Yen started selling vermicelli soup with crab soup in 1991, and in 1994, she started selling it permanently on Hang Bun Street. Later, she passed the business on to her children and sold it herself at the establishment on Hang Khoai.
“My mother is old now and can’t sell on the sidewalk forever, so I advised her to move here,” he said.
When he learned that the restaurant was famous on social networking sites and was called by names like "luxury bun rieu", "fancy bun rieu"..., Mr. Viet was quite surprised because he had never thought of this.
In addition, he also feels happy and grateful for the affection of diners: "I see people giving many good names to the restaurant. I can only smile, because that is everyone's feeling, I really appreciate it."
Besides the unique space, what attracts diners to the restaurant is still the taste of bun rieu in Hanoi. A full bowl of bun rieu at the restaurant includes vermicelli, broth, fresh onions, dried onions, crab soup, fried tofu, snails, pork ear mushrooms, Vietnamese Hai Phong fish sausage, fresh beef and Vietnamese beef sausage balls. In addition to the two main ingredients that remain unchanged, crab soup and fried tofu, diners can order as many toppings as they like.
The bun rieu has a light sour taste from vinegar, clear and very tasty. Anh Viet confirmed that the restaurant only adds annatto oil so the soup has a beautiful natural red-orange color.
When eating, diners will feel the crunchiness of snails, the chewiness of Vietnamese fish sausage, the characteristic peppery smell of beef balls and especially the rich crab fat flavor.
“Other places may mix beans into the crab roe to make it fluffier and fuller, but my family only keeps pure crab roe so when eating, diners will feel the crab flavor very clearly,” Mr. Viet shared.
The owner of the restaurant confirmed that the bun rieu at the restaurant does not have a complicated recipe but mainly comes from the feelings of the chef herself, Ms. Yen.
"Ms. Yen was born in Hang Chieu, a native of Hanoi. The taste that she has absorbed from the past, she just cooks it to resemble it and feels satisfied. In general, I see that people in the old quarter are like that. They make food that they find delicious. That has been accumulated over many generations," said Mr. Viet.
Normally, Ms. Yen is responsible for cooking the broth and preparing the ingredients, while other tasks such as loading and serving are handled by Mr. Viet and the restaurant staff.
In addition to vermiceilli, the restaurant also serves red rice noodle if customers request it. “The restaurant mainly sells vermiceilli, but sometimes customers request red rice noodle. Especially, when Western customers come to the restaurant, I always suggest them to try red rice noodle and everyone who finishes eating it praises it as the best dish they have ever eaten in Vietnam,” he said.
According to Mr. Viet, on average the restaurant sells more than 100 servings a day, more on weekends or holidays.
When opening a restaurant at home, Mr. Viet believed that he would not only sell the flavor but also the space and service. Therefore, when the restaurant's reputation exploded on social media, he decided to temporarily close it because he could not guarantee the quality of service for such a large number of customers.
“If I can’t serve in time, customers will have a bad experience. That day, I also had to fight to stop selling to wait for the trend to pass. I don’t want to receive customers and make them wait too long, they will get impatient and customers who are eating will not be comfortable,” the restaurant owner said.
Currently, the restaurant has 2 locations in Luong Su Alley (Quoc Tu Giam Street, Dong Da District) and Hang Bun Street (Ba Dinh District). If you want to enjoy noodles in a unique "aristocratic" space, you can visit the location near Quoc Tu Giam, open from 10am - 9pm. The noodles cost around 30,000 VND - 55,000 VND/bowl, depending on the customer's request.
