GO TO DONG HA TO FIND MRS. HA'S PORRIDGE RESTAURANT
"Hey bro, if you visit Dong Ha and don't have a bowl of Mrs. Ha's beef porridge, it's a waste", that's what my Dong Ha-born brother, currently living in Da Nang, told me while we were drinking a few glasses of Hanoi draft beer.
I have eaten beef porridge in many places and have developed a love for this porridge. For example, the beef porridge shop on Tran Quang Khai Street (Hue), the beef offal porridge stall on the sidewalk of Ha Ton Quyen Street (Ho Chi Minh City) or the steamed beef porridge in Pleiku Mountain Town.
More than 20 years ago, I was still haunted by a bowl of beef offal porridge, stirred to see the whole cow eye still looking at me longingly by an old lady who often carried a basket of porridge to sell at the corner of Hang Thung Street (Hanoi). The customers were mostly Sans Souci cyclo drivers and porters because each bowl was only two thousand dong. But for a long time, I have not seen that basket of porridge anymore.
“But Mrs. Ha’s beef porridge is the best for me, you can’t find a bowl of beef porridge like that anywhere else,” my younger brother affirmed. Then we had to try it, especially when we landed in Dong Ha early in the morning, our stomachs were growling after a night of shaking on a sleeper bus.
I waved down a random motorbike taxi driver waiting for customers in front of the Le Duan statue and told him the “must-go” address. Don’t expect to book a ride-hailing service in Dong Ha because there are none here, so I just took the motorbike taxi, even though I was hesitant because I was afraid of being ripped off. But then I felt ashamed of that hesitation.
The Mrs. Ha beef porridge shop (a way of calling elderly women in the Central region) has no sign or specific address, just a vague description of it being on Ngo Quyen street near the intersection with Nguyen Cong Tru. Don’t expect to find the Mrs. Ha beef porridge shop on online search engines.
The motorbike taxi driver wandered back and forth looking for a porridge shop, and finally called his relatives to ask if they knew of Mrs. Ha's porridge shop. Finally, he took me to a beef porridge shop with no name, only inside the house and on the sidewalk full of people eating.
He carefully asked, "Is this Mrs. Ha's porridge shop?" After being confirmed, he turned back and said to me, "We're here, brother." Then he took the money and left, determined to refuse my enthusiastic and apologetic invitation to eat porridge for my hesitation just now.
A 30-YEAR “WORD OF MOUTH” PORRIDGE CART
But let bygones be bygones, what is hungry is very hungry. I walked into Mrs. Ha's porridge shop and saw that all the tables were occupied, so I decided to sit at the table with the two men who were enthusiastically scooping up spoonfuls of porridge to enjoy. I immediately ordered a bowl of mixed porridge with meat, hooves, tendons, ribs, ears, and cow nose, then waited impatiently.
I had to wait about 5 minutes because the restaurant was crowded, and only one woman was sitting there making porridge, while her husband was busy serving and clearing tables and chairs. The porridge restaurant was located in a 2-story house, the ground floor had a porridge counter and a few tables for customers to sit and eat, the rest of the tables were on the sidewalk. When I arrived it was 7:30 am, but it seemed like the porridge was almost sold out.
Sure enough, when the bowl of porridge was brought out, the aroma of the porridge was accompanied by a slightly burnt smell from the bottom of the pot. It was fortunate because if I had counted a little slower, there would have been no burnt porridge to scrape off. Taking a spoonful of porridge, my first impression was that the beef porridge had a pretty good taste, the aroma of the beef was very strong but not pungent.
Stir gently with a spoon, the layer of chopped coriander and green onions spread out, revealing the porridge grains blooming in the light yellow water. The way to cook porridge here is to use whole grains of rice and simmer until soft but not mushy, when eating you can still feel the chewing and the aroma of the rice grains.
The porridge is made from beef bones that have been deodorized very well so there is no longer a distinctive smell. The bones are stewed first, then the beef is added, and finally the rice. This is necessary so that the porridge grains do not become mushy, while the meat is stewed until soft, the cartilage of the ears and nose is still crunchy when chewed, but all the sweetness in the bones is extracted.
Thanks to that, the porridge has a sweet, rich taste and is really attractive. I rarely see anyone talking while eating porridge, just focusing on eating straight away, only chatting animatedly with each other or with the restaurant owner and his wife when finished. It must be so delicious to make people focus on enjoying it like that.
However, a bowl of beef porridge is still not perfect without a little fish sauce with ginger, green pepper and fresh chili. Even though Vinh Linh pepper has been sprinkled on the porridge, this spicy fish sauce cannot be ignored. You can pour the fish sauce into the porridge bowl to add more spiciness and richness, or you can scoop it into a small bowl to dip the beef meat and ribs. A few tears suddenly welled up, not knowing whether it was because it was too spicy or delicious.
After finishing my meal, seeing that the restaurant was empty and the owner was cleaning up, I immediately asked about the porridge shop. It turned out that this was Mrs. Ha's youngest daughter, only in her forties. No wonder I kept wondering since I arrived that she was called Mrs. Ha but looked so young. However, she still kept the name Mrs. Ha's beef porridge in the customers' habit, as if acknowledging the tradition.
Mrs. Ha started cooking beef porridge and selling it more than 30 years ago, when Dong Ha was still a town and not a city. Mrs. Ha's house is in Ward 5, but she doesn't sell it at home, but instead carries it around town. Her porridge stall appears around early afternoon and is sold out by late afternoon.
Mrs. Ha's beef porridge has become a "delicious, nutritious, cheap" snack for many generations living in Dong Ha, firmly embedded in the memories of students who are always hungry and craving for food. I think that my younger brother from Dong Ha has also been fond of the deliciousness of Mrs. Ha's beef porridge since that time of craving so when he remembers his hometown, the beef porridge is the first thing that appears.
My younger brother remembers Mrs. Ha's porridge cart with a bowl of hot porridge, imbued with the smell of charcoal. Just smelling the porridge from afar, his mouth was already full of gastric juices from hunger and craving. Also, at that time, economic conditions were still difficult, so not everyone could eat porridge, even though the price was very "poor".
Thanks to the porridge stall, Mrs. Ha was able to support her whole family. When her health declined, Mrs. Ha was no longer able to carry the cart to sell on the street, so she opened a porridge stall at home, setting up tables and chairs in the garden. However, customers still came to eat porridge in droves, and the situation was "if you come late, the porridge will be gone".
Now, the youngest daughter has taken over Mrs. Ha's business, only changing the selling time from afternoon to morning, instead of a snack becoming a breakfast. Otherwise, the quality of the beef porridge remains the same as before with soft rice grains, tender stewed meat, rich beef blood, and moderately thick porridge.
A bowl of mixed porridge costs 35 thousand dong, while a normal bowl of porridge is only about 20 thousand dong. The price of that bowl of porridge is still suitable for workers like 30 years ago. Dong Ha is more prosperous now, many luxury restaurants have opened, but what I remember about Dong Ha is a bowl of ordinary beef porridge. Especially on cold rainy days like today.
