The 4th generation owner inherited

Located on the frontage of Vinh Khanh Street (District 4), the grilled pork noodle shop of Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Truong Tho's family (23 years old) is loved by many diners and is often crowded on weekends.

Only open from 5pm to 2am the next day

At around 5pm, Tho’s restaurant just started to welcome customers. After the pouring rain in Ho Chi Minh City, I stopped by to eat a portion of grilled pork noodles to satisfy my hunger. As soon as I arrived, the fragrant smell of grilled meat wafted out, making my stomach growl even louder.

Mr. Tho's family's grilled pork noodle shop has been passed down for 4 generations.

[CLIP]: Unique grilled pork noodle shop lets customers eat in a bowl, passed down through 4 generations.

The restaurant has been open for business for a short time, but it has been full of customers, at times all the tables are full. Everyone is happily eating, drinking, laughing and chatting. The nearly ten employees here are busy with the young owner, each with their own task to bring the grilled pork noodle bowls to the table for the customers as soon as possible and in the most neat way.

The special thing I observed at this grilled pork noodle shop is that instead of making grilled pork noodle in a bowl to serve to customers like other restaurants, the shop makes the dish in a stainless steel basin. Explaining this, the owner smiled gently:

Before, my family also sold noodles in normal plastic bowls, but after a while, the bowls got dirty, affecting hygiene as well as the health of customers. Since my mother took over my grandmother's noodle shop, in 2015, we have switched to selling in these small basins for easy cleaning and durability!

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Truong Tho, Owner

The noodles are attractive and customers eat them in a bowl.

A bowl of grilled pork vermicelli at Mr. Tho's restaurant also has all the same ingredients as at other restaurants I've been to, from vermicelli, grilled pork, meatballs, spring rolls, pork skin... served with raw bean sprouts, pickles, peanuts, scallion oil and sweet and sour fish sauce.

However, the owner said that all the ingredients are made by his family according to a special recipe passed down from his great-grandmother. In addition, the pickles here are also unique because he does not use carrots or white radishes, but green papaya, which tastes very strange.

The price of each bowl of noodles here ranges from 40,000 - 50,000 VND depending on the customer's needs. Unable to bear the hunger, I ordered a bowl of noodles to enjoy. As the owner recommended, the bowl of noodles here is delicious because of the combination of different ingredients, the spring rolls are crispy with a rich filling inside, the grilled meat is soft, retains moisture, and is rich in flavor. Eaten with crunchy sour papaya, fatty and fragrant peanuts and fresh young coriander, it is truly "the best".

The Gen Z owner inherited his grandmother and mother's restaurant.

I don’t know if it was because I was hungry, or because the noodles here were really delicious, or maybe both, but the bowl of noodles here was surprisingly delicious, and the bowl was gone in no time. For me, the grilled pork noodles here scored 8.5/10, worth trying and coming back.

Mr. Thuong (34 years old, living in District 1) also took his wife to Mr. Tho's noodle shop in the evening to eat. The customer said he had eaten here since the old shop was located at another address on Vinh Khanh Street, and then fell in love with the taste.

“It’s impossible to say which restaurant is better than the other, because everyone has different tastes. But the grilled pork noodles here suit my taste, I have to come here 3-4 times a week to eat. This restaurant used to open from 10pm to 2am, but later changed to 5pm to 2am so I could eat earlier,” said the customer.

The grilled meat here is marinated well, keeping it moist and tender.

Mr. Tho confirmed the opening hours, saying that the reason he opens until dawn is to serve late-night customers. However, he also plans to change the opening hours in about a month, opening both morning and evening to better serve customers.

3 generations in the family sell together

In Mr. Tho's restaurant, his grandmother, mother and brother sell together. However, the day I met, I didn't see his mother because she was traveling . That's also the reason why the dish is missing an important ingredient, the restaurant's signature ingredient: pork skin. Without his mother, the Gen Z owner couldn't make it in time.

Looking at her grandson and the restaurant staff busily serving customers, Mrs. Chu Thi Nhan (72 years old, Tho's grandmother) said that she opened the restaurant more than 30 years ago on Doan Van Bo Street (District 4). Although it is called a restaurant, at that time it was just a small stall.

Mr. Nhan opened a shop and sold according to his mother's recipe.

In the past, my mother moved from the North to the South. In order to earn money to raise her children, she carried grilled pork noodles and sold them in the center of Saigon. Later, I also learned how my mother made noodles and opened a stall to sell them. After selling until 2015, I felt that my strength was not strong enough, so I asked my daughter, who was working as a garment worker at that time, to take over the shop.

Ms. Chu Thi Nhan

From that day on, Mrs. Chu Thi Nga (51 years old, daughter of Mr. Nhan) quit her job as a factory worker to sell grilled pork noodles. Thanks to her mother's guidance, she gradually learned how to cook and prepare the dish to make it delicious according to the family recipe.

In Mr. Tho’s memories of the noodle shop, his childhood was spent coming home from school and helping his mother and grandmother. But the young man never thought he would pursue this career. After finishing 9th grade, he dropped out of school. After that, he studied to be a bartender and worked at a bar in the center of Ho Chi Minh City for a while.

The shop is open from afternoon until 2am the next morning.

Mr. Tho decided to inherit and develop his family restaurant.

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, he temporarily quit his job. From then on, he returned to take over the family noodle shop with his mother and grandmother. "My mother has two sons, I am the youngest. My brothers have other jobs and are not interested in selling food. The more I sell, the more I learn, the more I enjoy this job, so I decided to stick with it," said the Gen Z guy.

For the young owner, seeing customers enjoy delicious food, satisfied with the dishes and come to support him is a happiness. He is even happier when he is continuing the passionate grilled pork noodle shop that has passed through many generations in his family. He tells himself to try harder to not let down his grandmother, mother and all the customers who have supported him for the past decades...

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/bun-thit-nuong-cho-khach-an-trong-thau-o-tphcm-anh-chu-doi-thu-4-ke-thua-185230629114147776.htm