Narrow space, mainly customers come to buy take away

Of the 29 restaurants and food establishments awarded the Michelin Bib Gourmand (good food at affordable prices) award on the evening of June 6, 12 were pho restaurants. Photo at Pho Chao restaurant (HCMC) on the morning of June 8.

This pho restaurant opened in an alley in a residential area in Binh Thanh district in 2020. The owner of the business is Ms. Bui Thi Dung and her family, originally from Nam Dinh province. The restaurant's regular customers are mostly foreigners and residents in the surrounding area.

Inside the restaurant, the cooking and preparation areas as well as the seating areas are very cramped. After receiving the award in Hanoi , Ms. Dung intended to return to Nam Dinh to visit her hometown, but upon hearing that the restaurant was suddenly crowded, she had to change her flight ticket and fly back to Ho Chi Minh City to take care of important tasks.

Sharing about the Bib Gourmand award, Ms. Dung said that she was completely surprised and did not know when the appraisal team had arrived. Only when her daughter informed her did the family burst into joy because the efforts and dedication that she and everyone in the family had made over the past time had finally paid off.

Prices for dishes at Pho Chao range from 50,000 VND to 250,000 VND. Ms. Dung explains that this is because the restaurant imports the best ingredients.

"We select beef and chicken from familiar establishments, only taking the best parts to process," said Ms. Dung.

In addition, the broth of pho is simmered with bones continuously throughout the day.

Mr. Tong's family (Binh Thanh District) came to enjoy Pho Chao after learning that the restaurant had just won the Bib Gourmand award. "The broth is quite delicious, but the beef is a bit tough. This is my personal opinion. Maybe I will give this issue to the restaurant so that they can serve customers better," Mr. Tong shared.

The way meat, onions, and vegetables are arranged at this pho restaurant is similar to Nam Dinh pho and also somewhat similar to Hanoi pho.

The restaurant is small, with only two tables inside and three outside. Ms. Dung shared that there were times when the restaurant was so crowded that she had to stop accepting dine-in customers. "The largest number of customers usually come during dinner time," the owner said.

The raw material preparation area is sometimes used by staff on the floor. The owner shared that she is quite concerned about this because when the brand has been voted for internationally, everything needs to be professional. "In the near future, I will rent another house across the street to increase the area to serve customers. The old location is only used to process raw materials and cook pho," said the woman from Nam Dinh.

In addition to traditional pho, the restaurant also sells “pho tine,” a dish that combines french fries, cheese, and pho sauce.

Mr. Peter (a Canadian working in Ho Chi Minh City) shared: “I am a regular customer of the restaurant. I come here 3 to 4 times a week because I find the pho here very delicious. When I heard that the restaurant received the Bib Gourmand award, I was quite surprised. I will definitely introduce more friends to try it.”

Mr. Thao (District 10) said that he was introduced to try the dish by a friend. "The stir-fried vermicelli with eel is quite delicious, the vermicelli is not tough, especially the eel is marinated with a strange flavor, very pleasant to eat," said Mr. Thao.

During the time from morning to after noon when reporters were there, the majority of the delivery drivers came to pick up take-out food. Ms. Dung said that there were days when the orders "exploded" continuously, the service was not fast enough, the drivers had to wait quite a long time to get the pho that the customers ordered.

Dining at a 1-star Michelin restaurant in Hanoi: Price from 8.5 million VND/person

Due to the curiosity of many people, Michelin-starred food establishments were fully booked at noon on June 7. Notable among them was a restaurant located in a hotel in the center of the capital, where diners had to spend at least VND8.5 million per person.

103 restaurants in Vietnam honored by Michelin, 4 restaurants awarded stars

103 restaurants/eateries were honored with 4 award categories, including 4 Michelin-starred restaurants, 70 Michelin Selected restaurants/eateries, 29 Bib Gourmand restaurants, 3 Michelin Guide Special Award winners.

Many customers are upset when they have to wait a long time at Obama Bun Cha restaurant.

At noon on June 7, many curious diners came to enjoy Bun Cha Huong Lien (Obama) after this brand was listed in the top 70 restaurants selected by Michelin. Some people were annoyed because they had to wait too long.

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