Nestled in a small alley on Tran Hung Dao street (Hanoi), the 1976 mixed sweet soup shop has long become a familiar address for many generations of diners.
Not only attractive by its traditional flavor, this place also evokes childhood memories through each cup of cool, rich tea.
Among the dishes of the restaurant, mixed sweet soup is the most popular choice. Without elaborate promotions, the sweet soup still conquers diners thanks to the harmonious combination of many ingredients and the characteristic flavor that has been preserved for many years.
Each full cup of sweet soup not only brings a delicious feeling but also evokes memories of familiar snacks from childhood.
To create a quality cup of tea, all ingredients are carefully selected. Instead of using too much sugar, the shop prioritizes retaining the natural sweetness from beans, fruits and coconut milk.
Thanks to this, diners can clearly feel the unique flavor of each ingredient without feeling greasy or intensely sweet.
The richness of ingredients does not lose the traditional flavor, on the contrary, it also makes the sweet soup more attractive while still evoking childhood memories.
Inside, there are fragrant red beans, large and small pearls, green tea pearls, jelly, agar, longan, jackfruit, fresh melons, stir-fried young rice with a layer of fatty coconut milk covering the top. When mixed well, the ingredients blend together to create many layers of flavor and texture, from chewy, soft, crispy to fragrant.
The restaurant's special highlight lies in the types of pearls made handmade every day. Unlike popular industrial pearls on the market, pearls at the restaurant are moderately chewy, soft but not mushy, retain their natural aroma and create a pleasant feeling in each spoonful of sweet soup.
On hot summer days, many diners come to the shop not only to cool down but also to find the familiar taste of childhood. A glass of cool sweet soup with full of colors becomes a snack reminiscent of school afternoons, times when parents reward you with a delicious dish after hard studying days.
The sweet soup dishes at the shop currently have a uniform price of 70,000 VND/cup, especially some special sweet soup dishes such as durian sweet soup are priced at 100,000 VND/cup. This price is higher than the general level of many traditional sweet soup shops, but many diners believe that the quality of ingredients, large portions and unique flavors are completely commensurate.
The first time she visited the shop at the recommendation of friends, Ms. Nguyen Thu Ha (68 years old, Hanoi) said she was quite surprised to see a cup of sweet soup full of ingredients.
At first, I thought the price was a bit high, but when it was brought out, it was really different from other places. A cup of sweet soup is very full, with fresh and diverse ingredients. What I like most is the light sweetness, eating a lot still doesn't make me feel greasy. When enjoying it, I remember the feeling of being taken by my mother to eat sweet soup when I was little," Ms. Ha shared.
When the street lights are on, it is also the time when the sweet soup shop enters the most crowded time of the day. From about 7 pm to 9 pm, many diners, from locals to tourists, come to the shop to enjoy cool sweet soup after a day of work.
Among countless modern snacks, traditional sweet soup cups still retain their own appeal thanks to the meticulousness in processing and the memories they bring.
For many people, this is not simply a dessert but also a part of childhood preserved over the years.
