In recent days, the image of player Nguyen Xuan Son and his wife buying banana cake at a sidewalk restaurant in Nam Dinh City has attracted much attention and comments, especially when his performances in recent matches at the ASEAN Cup 2024 brought impressive scores for the Vietnamese team.
Footballer Xuan Son often buys banana cakes from a vendor on the sidewalk of Nguyen Du Street, the intersection of Nguyen Du and Bac Ninh, near Nguyen Khuyen High School (Nam Dinh City).
Mr. Vu Van Dat (33 years old, owner of Nam Dinh banana cake cart) shared: “Football player Xuan Son and his family often come to buy fried banana cakes from my family. The image being shared on social media was taken by me a few months ago. In recent days, after Xuan Son's impressive performance, many people have shared it again, attracting attention and creating a good effect."
After learning the trade from an acquaintance in Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Dat returned to Nam Dinh to sell banana cakes from the end of 2021. His cake cart sells from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., with fried bananas, sweet potato cakes and fried coconut cakes, priced at 10,000 VND/cake.
According to Mr. Dat, to make delicious fried banana cake, the banana chosen is the western banana (also known as the goong banana), which is just ripe. Before frying, the banana is pressed thinly about 20cm, then dipped in flour and fried in a pan of oil, so that the cake crust is crispy, evenly cooked, the inside is soft, and retains the aroma of the banana.
Ms. Quynh Ngoc (Nam Dinh City) said: “Fried banana cake is a snack I often buy in the late afternoon for the kids to have as a snack. Knowing about the banana cake cart that football player Xuan Son often buys, I was curious to stop by to buy some to enjoy. The cake is crispy on the outside, has a fragrant banana flavor on the inside, and is very ‘addictive’.”
On average, Dat's banana cake cart makes nearly 200 banana cakes every day. But since the image of soccer player Xuan Son buying the cakes was shared widely, Dat has to make 50 more banana cakes every day to have enough to sell.
