My Thien (32 years old), living in District 10 (HCMC), records videos sharing her journey of discovering long-standing Chinese mooncake shops on the “Cholon Downtown” channel. As a Chinese, My Thien said that there are many mooncake shops associated with her childhood. Among them, there are some long-standing shops that she had to ask the elderly in Cho Lon to “tell” her about.
Nam Viet Bakery
Nam Viet Bakery at 22A Ngo Quyen (Ward 6, District 5) has been open for over 40 years. The owner of the bakery is of Cantonese origin and has been baking since he was 13. According to what he shared with Ms. My Thien, the name Nam Viet means “a Cantonese person doing business in Vietnam”.
At this bakery, each mooncake is printed with a number instead of the store name. These numbers represent the type of filling used in the mooncake, which is usually only available at traditional bakeries.
Quang Nguyen Long moon cake facility
Quang Nguyen Long Bakery at 633/12/19 Hong Bang (Ward 6, District 6) is one of the famous Mid-Autumn cake shops in Saigon since before 1975.
The current owner of the shop has a Teochew father and a Cantonese mother. Over the years, the shop has maintained the family recipe, and the cakes are still baked in a charcoal oven, thus preserving the traditional flavor. In addition, the shop is also one of the few places that has chao cakes with a unique flavor.
Phuong Diem Thuan Bakery
This bakery is nearly 40 years old, located at 108-110 Pham Phu Thu (Ward 3, District 6) and is owned by a Teochew family named Phuong. The special thing about this bakery is that every Mid-Autumn Festival, all the children will gather at home to sell cakes.
At the shop, the most unique and popular mooncake flavors are pineapple, two-color pandan taro,... Phuong Diem Thuan's cakes are rated as having thin, soft crust, very smooth filling with golden salted egg yolk.
Long Phung Store
Long Phung is a confectionery shop that is over 30 years old, located at 729 Nguyen Trai (District 5), associated with the childhood of many people in Cho Lon. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the shop owner makes moon cakes to sell. However, the shop only makes and sells pig-shaped moon cakes, filled with various fillings and eggs.
The image of piglets next to their mother pig represents warm family affection, as well as the wish for a full and prosperous life. The shop's pig-shaped cakes are beautiful and soulful, with a particularly delicious filling.
Trieu Minh Hiep Bakery
On the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, the Chinese of Teochew origin in Ho Chi Minh City often eat crispy pia cakes with green bean, taro, and salted egg fillings. "Pia" comes from the Teochew language (dialect of Chaoshan, Guangdong, China) meaning "cake".
Trieu Minh Hiep bakery (123/23 Binh Tay, District 6) has been passed down through 3 generations. The steps from mixing, rolling dough, making filling, shaping are all done by hand. The cakes can only be used within 10 days, and are best when they are fresh out of the oven and still hot. For decades, the shop has used hand-folded paper boxes, printed in bright colors to preserve the hot cakes.
In addition, Ms. Thien My also shared two other old pia cake shops that few people know about. They are Lai Kham Phong (the cake is served cold) and Bon Lap Chay - a 100-year-old bakery that requires pre-ordering to eat.
