Inside Europe's largest Vietnamese market.

Located in District 4 of Prague, Sa Pa Market is divided into several sections, including food, wholesale fashion , and a supermarket, covering an area of ​​nearly 40 hectares and still expanding. Entering the market, visitors feel as if they've wandered into a bustling street in a northern delta province. Occasionally, groups of Czechs come here to explore Vietnamese cuisine, get haircuts, manicures, spa treatments, or shop at the Tam Da supermarket, where goods are significantly cheaper than elsewhere.

The market is located about 11 km from the center of Prague. To get to Sa Pa Market, you can take a bus or a ride-hailing taxi for about 15 euros (approximately 400,000 VND). The market was established in 1999 by the Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic on the site of a former bankrupt factory. Therefore, the market looks old and dilapidated, except for the newly constructed prefabricated buildings, which house hundreds of stalls selling wholesale fashion, shoes, bags, etc.

Right at the entrance is the Hai Duong rice roll shop. Despite its name, the shop sells many other dishes, such as pork offal porridge, vermicelli with tofu and shrimp paste, fertilized duck eggs, etc.

Mr. Dao, the owner, originally from Hai Duong province, moved to the Czech Republic in the 2000s and opened a successful steamed rice roll shop because "many Vietnamese customers in Germany often order large quantities to take home and store in the refrigerator to eat gradually."

A large plate of Vietnamese steamed rice rolls with pork sausage, enough for two people, costs 180 koruna (approximately 180,000 VND). Some EU countries have not yet switched to the euro, such as the Czech Republic. In this country, tourists can use both currencies simultaneously, but in Poland or other Nordic countries, you cannot use the euro for transactions.

There are many restaurants, but they are always crowded with customers.

Pho is the most popular dish in Sa Pa market, with 5-6 stalls selling it. Tourists can find Nam Dinh pho, Hanoi pho; followed by other dishes like bun cha, bun ca, goat hotpot, seafood, banh mi, etc.

According to the vendors at the market, whatever herbs are available in Vietnam are also available here, grown by Vietnamese people in the Czech Republic.

"Every time I travel from Germany to Prague, I always go to Sa Pa market to eat. The food and drinks here taste the most authentically Vietnamese, like this Hue beef noodle soup restaurant," shared Hung, who lives in Munich. According to Hung, Sa Pa is a wholesale market, supplying goods to buyers in many places inside and outside the Czech Republic. Besides that, Sa Pa market has a wider variety of food and fruits imported from Vietnam than other Vietnamese markets in Europe because import regulations into the Czech Republic are more relaxed than those into Germany, France, etc. Therefore, many Vietnamese people from Germany still have to go to Sa Pa market to get their goods.

Hai Ha Bun Cha restaurant is quite famous in Sa Pa, having been in business for 20 years. Ms. Ha, the owner from Hai Phong, said: "On weekends or local holidays, customers – mostly Czechs – line up all the way out onto the street." Each serving of bun cha costs 180,000 VND.

Sugarcane juice carts with vendors completely covered up are a familiar sight that can be found anywhere in Vietnam. The only catch is that a glass of ice-cold sugarcane juice here costs 150,000 VND. According to the owner, the sugarcane is imported from Africa.

Dessert lovers can also find their "true love" here, with a full range of desserts from black bean to coconut jelly, mixed fruit, durian... each cup costs 100,000 VND.

A grocery store inside Sa Pa market sells a variety of fruits such as durian, mango, jackfruit, lychee... A kilogram of lychee costs about 350,000 VND, Thai longan 150,000 VND, and Vietnamese longan up to 450,000 VND.

However, the main activity at Sa Pa market is fashion items, shoes, etc. The wholesale stalls in the market mainly supply distributors in European countries. According to one stall owner, the goods supplied to the market come from Poland.

Inside the Sa Pa market, there's also the huge Tam Da supermarket, mainly selling household consumer goods. The supermarket attracts not only Vietnamese customers but also many Czechs because the prices are cheaper than in other supermarkets.

At the end of the journey, visitors can stop by the Vinh Nghiem Pagoda in Prague, located right inside the market, to enjoy the cool breeze and offer prayers. The pagoda, built on an area of ​​approximately 12,000 square meters, was inaugurated in 2008.

Vietnamese people make up nearly 1% of the Czech Republic's population, approximately over 80,000. The Vietnamese are deeply integrated into the country's economy and society, which is why in 2013, the Czech Parliament recognized the Vietnamese community as the nation's 14th ethnic minority.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/ben-trong-cho-viet-lon-nhat-chau-au-185230523184131105.htm