Traditional crab noodle soup for over 30 years in Hanoi

The small stall of an old woman over 73 years old on Hoe Nhai street has attracted diners for 30 years with Hanoi 's traditional crab noodle soup.

Located on the sidewalk of house number 7 Hoe Nhai street, the shop of Mrs. Tran Bich Ngoc (73 years old) has been selling only one type of traditional Hanoi noodle soup for 30 years. Not the famous bun thang, bun cha, bun rieu, but bun soup, a dish that is "both familiar and strange".

"Bun soup is a dish that my grandmother often took me to eat when I was a child. Nowadays, Hanoi children rarely know about this dish, and there are not as many restaurants as other types of noodles," Ms. Ngoc explained why she called bun soup a dish that is "both familiar and strange".

Starting her restaurant business in her 30s, and taking 10 years off to stay home to take care of her husband who had a stroke, Ms. Ngoc has been making noodle soup for more than 30 years.

A bowl of crab noodle soup with traditional flavor of Mrs. Ngoc. — Traditional crab noodle soup at Mrs. Ngoc's restaurant.

Every day at 11:30, Mrs. Ngoc sets up a small stall in front of the narrow alley between houses 7 and 9 on Hoe Nhai Street. Over the years, Mrs. Ngoc’s stall has remained simple with a pot of crab fat broth boiling on the stove, a pot to ferment the vermicelli, a basket of boiled vegetables, crab fat, dried onions, stewed chili, vinegar, garlic and chili placed on a small table.

Customers sit on plastic tables and chairs placed on the sidewalk, only about 5 square meters in area, with no fans and little parking space. Despite the cramped and hot weather, many people are willing to wait in line to enjoy a bowl of crab noodle soup at the restaurant because Ms. Ngoc only sells about 100 bowls a day. "On busy days, the soup is sold out after an hour. At the latest, it closes at 5 p.m., but usually only on rainy days when people are afraid to go out," she said.

Mrs. Ngoc makes crab noodle soup in the traditional style with simple ingredients. Diners can choose seasonal vegetables such as water spinach, water mimosa, mustard greens, and celery. The vegetables are boiled and cut into bite-sized pieces. Then Mrs. Ngoc picks up the noodles the size of chopsticks that have been blanched in boiling water and are still in the pot and puts them into the bowl. Add a spoonful of reddish-brown crab fat, some crispy fried pork rinds, and golden fried onions, and finally pour in a ladle of broth.

Ms. Ngoc, the owner of the restaurant, is preparing food to serve customers.

Ms. Ngoc revealed that the broth is the main factor that creates the flavor of crab noodle soup. "The crab broth is crushed and filtered, cooked with tomato wedges, and the seasoning only uses pure fish sauce and seasoning powder," she said. Instead of the usual lemon and chili sauce, the seasoning served with crab noodle soup is chili garlic vinegar and homemade chili.

Using chopsticks to stir, the green color of the vegetables is revealed between the white noodles. The noodles are thick so even though they are soaked in water, they still retain their texture, smooth, soft, and do not break when picked up. The pork fat is selected from pork belly, with a layer of lean meat in the middle, a dish loved by many people because "it is crispy when eaten alone, but when soaked in water, it is chewy, rich, and not mushy". The broth has the fatty taste of field crab, the sweetness mixed with the light sourness of vinegar and the spicy taste of stewed chili. The orange-yellow color of crab fat, the dark red of chili oil, and the golden color of crispy, fragrant fried onions make the bowl of crab noodle soup attractive.

"In the past, the soup only had noodles, vegetables and crab broth. After the economy improved, we added pork rinds and fried onions," said Ms. Ngoc. A bowl of crab noodle soup costs 25,000 VND. She also sells ham for 10,000 VND each.

Some diners come to the restaurant because they mistake crab noodle soup for crab noodle soup because the noodles have crab roe on top. "The noodle soup has bigger noodles, the broth is poured over the noodles, almost like a mixed dish, not flooded like crab noodle soup," Ms. Ngoc said, distinguishing the two types.

Diners visit Mrs. Ngoc's restaurant to enjoy crab noodle soup.

The restaurant's regulars are mostly middle-aged and older customers because this is a familiar dish from the past. "Most of the long-time vendors around here have eaten Mrs. Ngoc's noodle soup," said Ms. Lien, owner of the roast meat shop next door. Young customers are often new customers in the past few years because they saw information about the restaurant shared on social media.

Dam Ngoc Hanh (24 years old, Quang Ninh ) has known the restaurant for about three years now because "the name is strange, it looks like bun rieu". According to Hanh, the broth of the bun soup is less, so it has a stronger crab flavor and is thicker than the broth of bun rieu. A bowl of bun soup can satisfy a female customer but is a bit small for a male customer. "The price is cheap, next to it is a famous roast meat shop. If anyone feels that the bun soup is not enough to fill them up, they can buy more to eat with it", Hanh said.

From 5 or 6 a.m., Ms. Ngoc prepared the ingredients and pre-processed them such as pounding and filtering crabs, slicing tomatoes to make broth, washing and boiling vegetables, and frying onions. She used two stoves, one to boil vegetables, boil noodles, and cook broth, and one to fry onions and steam chili.

Sometimes Ms. Ngoc has difficulties due to old age diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and herniated discs. "Whenever I don't open for business, customers ask me the next day, saying they are afraid I won't open anymore," Ms. Ngoc said. Customers love her friendliness and come back year after year. As for her, she doesn't want customers to feel disappointed when they lose their regular shop, so she continues to sell even though she is over 70 years old.

Article and photos: Quynh Mai

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