Beef noodle shop with price of 10,000 VND, open in one hour in Saigon

A bowl of vermicelli with meat, beef balls, and blood is sold cheaply by Ms. Kim Dung, 63 years old, District 10, so that workers can have enough to eat every morning.

Mrs. Vu Thi Kim Dung's beef noodle shop in alley 7B Thanh Thai street is about 3 meters wide, just enough for a car to pass through, but is always crowded every morning. The shop has no name, no signboard, no menu, just a large table and a small table placed next to each other in the corner of the alley. The space of the shop is about 15 square meters, in front are two pots of broth, in which the smaller pot sells vermicelli soup. Most of the customers are residents in the alley.

The 63-year-old woman said she has been selling at this alley corner for 34 years, a few steps from her house. The main dish is beef noodle soup, and the crab noodle soup, according to her, is "sold for fun, so people have more choices and don't get bored of eating." Both dishes are cooked in the Southern style, starting at 1,000 VND 30 years ago, but now Mrs. Dung's highest price for a bowl of noodles is 20,000 VND.

"Only the special part has that price, normally I only sell a bowl of noodles for 10,000 VND," she said, constantly squeezing noodles and pouring broth into bowls for waiting customers.

Every day, Mrs. Dung sells about 100 bowls of noodles, more than half of which are priced from 10,000 to 15,000 VND. Photo: Quynh Tran

"This area is mostly working-class, so I sell at a low price. I don't need too many side dishes, but it's still enough for customers to eat well and it has to be delicious. I also have many regular customers, so my income is enough to spend, so there's no need to increase the price," said Ms. Dung.

Each of her 10,000 VND portions has enough noodles and broth. The bowl of noodles has beef, pig's blood, and two small beef balls, but does not have the additional sausage and pig's feet like the full portion. Customers can also eat the 15,000 VND bowl, which will have the sausage. The crab noodle soup has crab, bones, sausage, beans, and blood for 10,000 VND, but the restaurant will omit the pork bones and sausage. This price has been kept the same since 2015.

Every day, Mrs. Dung wakes up at 3am to buy meat, bones, beef balls, raw vegetables... to prepare and cook the broth. Like many other Hue beef noodle shops in Saigon, the broth is about 10 liters, cooked from beef bones simmered for more than an hour, mixed with the sweet taste of pineapple and the aroma of of lemongrass. However, the restaurant is popular so the side dishes are quite basic with brisket, pork leg, beef balls, and sausage instead of adding tendons, cartilage, and rare like other restaurants.

A bowl of beef noodle soup costs 10,000 VND, the photo below is a full portion of crab noodle soup costs 20,000 VND. Photo: Quynh Tran

The broth of Bun Rieu is half the size of Bun Bo, also made from bone broth, crab paste, tofu, pig's blood, and tomatoes. The noodles are thick , served with shredded water spinach, herbs, bean sprouts, and customers can freely add more vegetables. After preparing everything, she started selling at 8:30 and in just over an hour, the two pots of broth were empty.

Being alone, she sells about 100 bowls a day, mostly beef noodle soup. "Probably almost half of the customers eat the 10,000 VND bowl. I only make a small profit, seeing people full is enough," the shop owner shared.

For more than 15 years now, Mr. Huynh Phuc Sang and his son have been stopping by Mrs. Dung's noodle shop for breakfast almost every week, after selling lottery tickets for an hour. "If we sell a lot, we eat a full bowl, but normally, the noodle portion is only 10,000 VND," the 55-year-old man said. With an income of about 150,000 VND per day, the cheap breakfast helps the father and son save on many expenses.

Mr. Huynh Phuc Sang and his son ate a bowl of noodles for 10,000 VND. He added bread to make it full, on the morning of December 19. Photo: Quynh Tran

At the opposite table, Ms. Thieu Thi Tham has been a regular customer of the restaurant for more than 20 years, since the price of a bowl of noodles was 5,000 VND. She lives in Binh Chanh district, more than 15 km away from the restaurant, but at least once a week, when she passes by selling scrap metal, Ms. Tham stops by the restaurant to order a bowl of noodles for 15,000 VND. "Other places are twice as expensive, but they are not necessarily as delicious. The bowl here still has enough meat, rich broth, and a lot of noodles, ensuring a full meal," the 50-year-old woman said.

The restaurant opens from 8am to 9:30am every day of the week, located in a deep alley so it is quite difficult to find. The space of the restaurant is not large, maximum about 10 people, no convenient parking when crowded and no one to look after, customers have to take care of their own property.

Quynh Tran

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