American husband - Vietnamese wife sells vermicelli with fermented shrimp paste, ranked in the top 26 most famous restaurants in New York

Bun Dau Mam Tom Restaurant Tops Votes in American Newspaper

In recent days, the couple Nhung Dao (35 years old) and Jerald Head (31 years old) - the owners of a rare bun dau mam tom restaurant in New York (USA) have continuously received phone calls for interviews from the media or congratulations and compliments from relatives, friends and diners. The number of customers coming to the restaurant is also clearly increasing, making the couple "work non-stop".

"Recently, our Mam NYC restaurant was honored to be ranked 26th in the top 100 best restaurants in New York City by The New York Times. We are the only restaurant selling Vietnamese dishes on the list," Ms. Nhung shared with VietNamNet reporter.

"Every day we open, we serve about 100 special servings of vermicelli with fermented shrimp paste. The customers are not only Vietnamese students studying abroad, overseas Vietnamese, but also many Americans. Many people are starting to get "addicted" to the "unpleasant smell" of Vietnamese fish sauce," Ms. Nhung humorously added.

Bun Dau Mam Tom Restaurant Appears in The New York Times

Currently, the Vietnamese-American couple’s vermicelli with shrimp paste restaurant is located in southeast Manhattan, only open from 5pm to 8:30pm on Fridays and from 12pm to 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Each serving of vermicelli with shrimp paste is sold for $32 (equivalent to VND800,000).

Full serving of vermicelli and fried tofu for diners

Bun dau is served on a bamboo tray, lined with banana leaves. Each special serving includes vermicelli, fried tofu, green rice sausage, grilled intestines, boiled sausage, pork, herbs, and shrimp paste. On nice weather days, the owner also places plastic chairs along the sidewalk for... diners to experience eating "standard Vietnamese" sidewalk bun dau.

"These plastic chairs are completely made in Vietnam and we brought them to the US," said Ms. Nhung.

Jerald Head serves food on a busy day (Photo: Nico Schinco/The New York Times)

Bringing sidewalk vermicelli with fermented shrimp paste from Vietnam to New York

Jerald Head is an American chef. At the age of 20, he first enjoyed Vietnamese beef noodle soup in Hue. The delicious, unique dish, a harmonious combination of many ingredients, excited and intrigued Jerald. After that, the American guy continuously searched for information, read books and taught himself how to make Vietnamese dishes. In 2014 - 2015, Jerald Head started working at a Vietnamese restaurant in New York. He met a Vietnamese colleague there.

"I became more and more curious about Vietnam and the authentic flavors of Vietnamese food. In October 2016, I went to Vietnam for three months to travel and experience the cuisine from the South to the North," Jerald said.

About 3 years later, Jerald returned to Vietnam many times, and at the same time met and fell in love with his current wife, Nhung Dao. When they met in Ho Chi Minh City, the couple often made appointments at a noodle shop with fermented shrimp paste.

"It's hard to believe, but the two of us always eat three servings of special vermicelli and fried tofu. Jerald makes everyone happy because he eats delicious shrimp paste, even addicted to the taste of this sauce," said Ms. Nhung.

In 2020, after getting married, Ms. Nhung followed her husband to New York to live and work. At this time, Covid-19 was spreading complicatedly. "In the US, finding a place to sell vermicelli with fermented shrimp paste is already very difficult, and it is even more difficult during the pandemic. Because we craved this dish so much, my husband and I tried to make it ourselves at home," Ms. Nhung said.

When they shared pictures of their bun dau dish on social media, many friends were interested and shared. In September 2020, the couple started selling bun dau at a friend's shop on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

"We were surprised that the restaurant was crowded as soon as it opened. That made us very happy, we were able to live our passion," the couple shared. However, after Nhung became pregnant, Jerald decided to temporarily close the bun dau restaurant. He returned to work as head chef at another Vietnamese restaurant in New York.

After a while, the couple "missed the job" so much that they decided to stick with the dish of vermicelli with fermented shrimp paste. Every Monday, the couple spends time taking care of their young child. From Tuesday to Thursday, Jerald calculates the bill, imports goods, prepares ingredients... The couple makes all the bean curd, green rice sausage, and pork sausage dishes themselves.

Jerald makes the tofu himself and sells it every day. On average, he makes 30kg of tofu every day he opens for business. The American chef makes the tofu using a 60kg machine brought from Vietnam. "We tried American tofu but it was too industrial, not soft and fatty, but often dry and hard," the couple said. "The process of making tofu is laborious, grinding the beans, cooking, pressing into pieces... but it can bring the most authentic Vietnamese flavor," said Ms. Nhung.

Making sausage takes even more time than making tofu. After buying the intestines, Jerald had to process and wash them many times to remove the odor, then stuff them with pig blood, pork fat, etc. according to the recipe that Nhung's father taught him. "To make the dish not too greasy and easy to get bored, we boil it instead of frying it," said the American chef.

The shrimp paste that Jerald and his wife use is shrimp paste from Thanh Hoa . According to Ms. Nhung, American supermarkets currently sell shrimp paste, but there is no type that is as delicious as they want. Therefore, they ordered the shrimp paste from Thanh Hoa to be shipped to Ho Chi Minh City and then brought it directly to the US. For example, during the 2023 Lunar New Year holiday, when returning to the US from Vietnam, the couple brought 100 liters of shrimp paste. By now, the amount of shrimp paste is almost gone. Each bowl of shrimp paste is mixed with sugar, lime juice and Thai chili.

Com sausage is made from fresh Hanoi green rice.

The noodles used are dried noodles, which Jerald boils, presses into strips and cuts into small squares, simulating Vietnamese vermicelli. Fresh herbs such as fish mint, perilla, and basil, served with the vermicelli and bean curd tray, are purchased weekly. These herbs are grown in a state with a climate similar to Vietnam. However, the price of raw vegetables is very expensive.

"It's really time-consuming and expensive to make a plate of vermicelli with fried tofu in New York, so the price is many times higher than in Vietnam," said Ms. Nhung.

In an article in The New York Times titled "Mam Serves the Most Exciting Vietnamese Food in New York", author Pete Wells described the tofu as having a crispy outer layer and a mozzarella-like interior, more delicious than any tofu he had ever eaten. His favorite dish in the vermicelli and bean curd platter was the pork sausage. The author was also excited when the restaurant arranged plastic tables and chairs on the sidewalk, creating the feeling of "having lunch in Hanoi".

Nhung and her husband said that many Vietnamese restaurants abroad can make slight changes to make the dishes more suitable for local people. However, they want to bring the full flavor of Vietnamese food to America. With his love of Vietnamese food, Jerald plans to open more branches and introduce many other Vietnamese dishes.

Photo: NVCC

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