Mother-to-daughter sticky rice shop
Under the old apartment building on Nguyen Duy Duong Street (District 5, HCMC), the Hai Co spicy sticky rice shop is tiny but has existed for nearly 50 years. The space is narrow, the shop's counter is neatly arranged on a stainless steel table.
The sticky rice shop is run by Mrs. Ly Quoc Huong (58 years old) and a few female employees. Recently, Mrs. Huong and her daughter went abroad to visit relatives, so the shop is managed by Mr. Ly Vi Thien (born in 1988, Mrs. Huong's son-in-law).
According to Mr. Thien, the sticky rice shop has been around since the time of Mrs. Huong’s mother, commonly known as Mrs. Hai. Up to now, the sticky rice shop has existed for nearly 50 years.
In the early days, Mrs. Hai sold both spicy sticky rice and sticky rice with braised pork. However, spicy sticky rice was the most popular dish among customers. Seeing this, Mrs. Hai focused on selling this dish and established Mrs. Hai's sticky rice shop.
Later, the sticky rice shop was run by Mrs. Huong and her mother, so customers jokingly called it Xoi Hai Co. Mrs. Huong found this name interesting, so she used it as the name for her small sticky rice shop.
While other sticky rice restaurants have a variety of side dishes, for nearly 50 years, the sticky rice at Hai Co restaurant has only had pork sausage, pork floss, ground roasted peanuts, pate and spicy satay sauce. However, the sticky rice here still makes diners remember it forever.
Mr. Thien shared: “Many diners wonder why for nearly 50 years, the restaurant has not added many types of side dishes to the sticky rice dish. However, we believe that delicious sticky rice does not necessarily need to have many types of side dishes.
Because when eating, we mainly enjoy the flavor of sticky rice and the characteristic flavor of a certain spice of the dish.
The difference, what makes our sticky rice shop unique, lies in the accompanying ingredients such as pate, peanuts, pork floss and especially spicy satay sauce.
These ingredients are all homemade according to the family's traditional recipe.
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Mr. Thien revealed that the roasted peanuts and pork floss are made from delicious peanuts and high-quality fresh pork. After pre-processing, the ingredients are roasted to the right degree, then ground, and seasoned to taste.
This helps the ingredients blend easily with the sticky rice, adding flavor to the dish. When eaten with sticky rice, these ingredients also have a distinctive aroma and almost melt in the mouth without being tough or hard.
Meanwhile, the restaurant's satay sauce is prepared using a traditional method, creating a unique flavor.
When eaten, the sauce blends with other ingredients to give the sticky rice a spicy, fatty, moderately sweet, delicious and rich flavor.
The restaurant is selling well.
Every day, Hai Co sticky rice shop only sells for 4 hours, from 6am to 10am. After that, the shop takes a break and focuses on preparing side dishes for the next day.
Every morning, the sticky rice is cooked according to Mrs. Huong’s 50 years of experience. The sticky rice is then kept warm in a steamer at just the right temperature to avoid getting mushy.
When there are customers, the staff quickly scoop the sticky rice into prepared green banana leaves, add pork sausage, pate, pork floss, peanuts and satay sauce with a little scallion oil.
Depending on the needs of diners, each portion of sticky rice here costs from 15,000 to 40,000 VND.
For decades, Hai Co sticky rice shop has served a large number of customers. In addition to students studying at the school across the street, the sticky rice shop is also a familiar address for the surrounding people.
This is also the breakfast place of many tourists when they come to explore District 5, Ho Chi Minh City. Some Chinese tourists also buy a large quantity of spicy sticky rice here as gifts when they come to Ho Chi Minh City to visit relatives and friends.
During peak hours, many customers have to stand in line to be served. Because of the limited space, many customers choose to order sticky rice online or take it home. Every day, the restaurant sells about 40kg of sticky rice.
A woman in her 60s who came to buy Hai Co spicy sticky rice for breakfast said she had been eating sticky rice here for many years. She liked sticky rice and had tried many types of sticky rice at different restaurants. However, she still liked the spicy sticky rice here because it had a very special flavor.
“The spicy satay and the side dishes are just pork sausage, pork floss, roasted peanuts, and pate without much oil, making the sticky rice not greasy but have its own flavor. Moreover, I like the restaurant wrapping the sticky rice in banana leaves.
This not only reminds us of tradition but also makes the sticky rice more delicious and contributes to protecting the environment," she confided.
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/quan-xoi-me-truyen-con-noi-noi-tieng-gan-50-nam-o-tphcm-nho-nuoc-xot-bi-truyen-2412475.html
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