This is the tea cart of Mrs. Nhan Hau's family (43 years old), nestled beside Thiec Market (District 11, Ho Chi Minh City). What is the special flavor of this Chinese-owned tea cart that has made so many people loyal customers for decades?
"From my grandmother's time…"
As night falls, Mrs. Nhan Hau's family's tea cart lights up a corner of Pho Co Dieu street. Her husband busily sets up the stall and prepares portions of tea for early customers.
Mrs. Nhan Hau's late-night tea cart.
The simple tea cart has no sign. But customers come and go constantly, buying to eat on the spot or take away. The owners, a husband and wife, along with an assistant, each have their own tasks to bring the food to customers as quickly as possible without making them wait too long.
I sat down at a table and glanced at the menu, which had nearly 20 different types of sweet soups, such as black sesame and mung bean, mung bean and lotus seed, mung bean and ginkgo, lotus seed and water chestnut, egg and longan tea... Every dish looked appealing to me.
Seeing that the menu didn't list prices, I was a little puzzled and asked the owner. She smiled and explained that most of the customers were regulars who already knew the prices. Furthermore, Ms. Nhan Hau wanted to keep the menu the same as when her grandmother used to run the shop, so that customers would feel a sense of familiarity when they came to eat at this dessert shop.
"My grandmother used to sell this sweet soup in the same Thiếc market area more than 30 years ago, then my mother, and then my sister. Later, my sister's health deteriorated, so I inherited the sweet soup stall and have been selling it for almost 4 years now with my husband. In total, the sweet soup cart has passed through 4 generations."
The dessert wasn't too sweet; it was refreshing to eat.
[CLIP]: Nighttime tea cart in Cholon area for 30 years.
"I want to keep the familiar things at this dessert cart, so that people who haven't visited in a long time, and Vietnamese expats who occasionally come back to the shop, can still recognize it. I'm afraid that if they see a different menu and a different owner, they'll think this isn't the familiar dessert cart they used to frequent," the owner recounted.
The price for each serving of dessert here ranges from 25,000 to 32,000 VND, or more depending on the customer's needs. Seeing me about to order, the owner smiled and said, "You have to try a little bit of everything here to fully appreciate it." "There are dozens of dishes; I'd probably have to come and try one every day to finish the menu," I replied with a laugh.
A place of peace
Finally, I decided to choose my favorite longan and water chestnut dessert, priced at 32,000 VND. What I liked most about it was that the dessert wasn't too sweet, and all the ingredients were fresh.
On a cool Saigon night, enjoying a small bowl of sweet soup, sipping some iced tea, and gazing out at the streets lined with Chinese-style shops and restaurants is truly a delightful experience.
That's also why Huu Nhan (27 years old, residing in District 8) often brings his girlfriend here to eat sweet soup on dates, because he finds peace and romance here. He's known about the shop for over a year now, and whenever he craves sweet soup, he always comes here.
The shop's menu is diverse, featuring many different types of sweet soups.
"Every time we come, we order different dishes to try everything on the menu. In the end, I like the longan and lotus seed sweet soup the most, while she prefers the egg and longan sweet soup. I'm not a big fan of that one," the customer confided.
The tea cart is open from 6 PM to midnight. The owner explained that the reason the stall only operates at night is because during the day, her family rests and prepares thoroughly to welcome customers in the evening.
Mrs. Nhan Hau has two children. Partly thanks to this tea cart, she and her husband were able to support their eldest son's medical studies and their youngest daughter, who is now a high school student. The woman is proud and happy to have inherited her family's traditional eatery, and night after night, she enjoys welcoming familiar customers who come to support her…
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