"Breaking into" a 12-year-old spring roll shop selling thousands of spring rolls every day near Tet in Hanoi

(Fatherland) - The spring rolls here use thin rice paper wrappers, so when fried, the outer layer is crispy. The filling inside is rolled tightly and is full, so when eaten, it feels quite satisfying.

During Tet, fried spring rolls are an indispensable dish on the meal tray and the offering tray. Fried spring rolls with a thin, crispy crust, fresh filling mixed with meat, shiitake mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms and vegetables... are a dish that everyone from adults to children love.

Many families still like to wrap their own spring rolls. However, busy people choose to buy pre-wrapped spring rolls. A spring roll shop in a small alley on Nguyen Hong Street, Dong Da District, Hanoi is the place to bring home-made spring rolls with such flavor.

Spring roll shop in a small alley, selling spring rolls with homemade flavor

We visited the spring roll shop named Ngoc Anh in alley 47 Nguyen Hong, Dong Da, Hanoi, at noon. Here, during lunch time, the shop serves dine-in customers. To try many flavors, we decided to order traditional spring rolls, shrimp spring rolls and some shrimp cakes to eat with.

Fried spring rolls with crispy outer layer.

Spring rolls are served with thinly sliced ​​rice noodles, raw vegetables and dipping sauce. The spring rolls are wrapped in a moderate size, and when eaten, they are cut in half so that the filling does not fall out too much. Traditional spring rolls with familiar fillings include ground pork, wood ear mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, vermicelli, kohlrabi, jicama, carrots, eggs... mixed together in a moderate ratio. When eaten, you can clearly feel the fresh ingredients. As for shrimp spring rolls, a shrimp is added inside. In addition, there are also mantis shrimp spring rolls.

For lunch, change the menu with vermicelli spring rolls served with some crispy and fragrant shrimp cakes.

The spring rolls at the restaurant use thin rice paper, so when fried, the outer layer is crispy. The inside filling is rolled tightly and is full, so when eaten, it feels quite delicious. For customers who eat at the restaurant, the spring rolls will be fried hot when brought to customers.

The shrimp spring rolls are delicious and attractive.

Take a piece of spring roll, dip it in sweet and sour fish sauce, add some vermicelli and raw vegetables, all create a delicious harmony. Because it is fried food, it is eaten with raw vegetables and dipped in sweet and sour fish sauce with a little kohlrabi, carrots... so everything becomes balanced, harmonious and suitable, not at all greasy.

Banh goi is also a dish you should try when coming to the restaurant.

The shrimp cakes here are quite good. Each shrimp cake is placed on top of 2 medium sized shrimps. The cake batter is quite delicious, the outside is crispy but the inside is still soft and spongy. The dumplings have a thick crust and a full filling.

The shrimp cakes are fried once.

When brought out to customers, it will be fried again to make the outer layer crispy.

The price for a traditional spring roll is 8,000 VND/piece, shrimp spring rolls are 12,000 VND/piece, and shrimp cakes and pillow cakes are also 12,000 VND/piece. This price is considered quite reasonable for delicious and quality food.

Thuy Linh, 34 years old, a regular customer at this spring roll shop, said: "Every now and then when I crave spring roll noodles, I invite my friends to come here to eat. The spring rolls here taste just like the spring rolls I make at home, the traditional style. At home, I'm often too lazy to make spring rolls, so I come here to eat or buy them to take home for quickness."

Customers who want to eat directly can stop by the restaurant to enjoy hot spring rolls.

The husband works in construction, the wife is a teacher, both decided to open a small spring roll shop, selling a few hundred to a few thousand spring rolls a day.

Mr. Trong, 44 years old, owner of Ngoc Anh fried spring rolls shop, confided: "My family has been selling spring rolls for more than 12 years now. My wife likes cooking so we decided to sell spring rolls. I chose this dish because my hometown is Thai Binh , and during Tet in my hometown, we also make spring rolls like this. Therefore, the ingredients to make spring rolls such as wood ear mushrooms, vermicelli, rice paper... are also brought from my hometown, ensuring the best quality."

Mr. Trong, owner of Ngoc Anh spring roll shop.

Later, Mr. Trong and his wife made more dumplings and shrimp cakes. Talking about shrimp cakes, he happily said that his family went to West Lake to eat shrimp cakes and found them so delicious that they bought the recipe to make and sell them.

Shrimp cake was added to the menu because the family went to eat shrimp cake in West Lake and liked it so much that they came home to learn how to make it.

It turns out that Mr. Trong works in the construction industry. He used to be in the army and worked as a chef, so he has a lot of cooking experience. His wife is currently a teacher. The two of them work in the morning and the afternoon, one manages the restaurant. Besides the family spring roll restaurant, both of them still do their own jobs.

The dipping sauce here is okay, if you like it strong, you can mix it to suit your taste when you buy it home.

Despite being busy, the spring roll shop is still the passion of both husband and wife. Before, the couple made the spring rolls themselves. Now that the shop has more customers and is stable, they have to hire more workers. The workers here are all long-time employees. Because as Mr. Trong shared, just wrapping the spring rolls beautifully and evenly can sometimes take several months to do.

The spring rolls are fried until golden brown on the outside and cut in half when served to customers.

At noon, the restaurant is always crowded with customers, coming and going. But in fact, the restaurant mainly sells to people to take away and restaurants and eateries buy in large quantities. Mr. Trong said: "My family often orders for restaurants or places that host parties. For a party, people sometimes buy 1,000 - 2,000 pieces."

The filling of the spring rolls is a blend of many fresh ingredients.

In the days leading up to Tet, Mr. Trong's spring roll shop is always busy. "Normally, my family sells a few hundred spring rolls a day. During Tet, we can sell up to a few thousand spring rolls, but we don't have the energy to make them. People usually order spring rolls in advance, and I also accept early orders, but in the days leading up to Tet, my family doesn't make them anymore because there's no one to make them ," said Mr. Trong.

Seeing fried spring rolls is seeing the Tet atmosphere.

With just over a week left until Tet, the Tet atmosphere is starting to permeate everywhere. And it must be admitted that seeing banh chung, bamboo shoot soup or nem ran makes you feel Tet.

Source: https://toquoc.vn/dot-nhap-quan-nem-ran-12-nam-tuoi-ban-hang-nghin-chiec-moi-ngay-dip-can-tet-o-ha-noi-20250114152956474.htm