Restaurant in Germany is crowded with customers thanks to the braised fish and pickled eggplant dish that costs more than 1.4 million VND.

A restaurant in Berlin, Germany is attracting a large number of diners thanks to its traditional Vietnamese dishes with braised fish, pickled eggplant, pickles... priced at 1.4-2 million VND/dish for 2-3 people.

Vietnamese home-cooked meals attract customers

On a weekend evening, Trinh Dinh Tuan's restaurant (43 years old, from Thai Binh , now Hung Yen) located on Oranienburger Street, Berlin (Germany) was packed with diners. The chef and waiters worked at full capacity.

In the past 5 months, when changing its operating model, switching to serving traditional meals from the 3 regions of Vietnam, the restaurant has become an attractive destination for diners.

The image of a shiny aluminum tray filled with a pot of braised fish, a bowl of crab soup, a plate of roasted meat, stir-fried morning glory with garlic, a little pickled eggplant, roasted peanuts… was shared all over social media. As soon as the staff brought out the tray, diners were eagerly taking photos.

Every day, the restaurant serves 20-30 Vietnamese meals, priced at 45-65 Euro/tray (about 1.4-2 million VND) for 2-3 people.

In 2020, Mr. Tuan bought this restaurant from an Italian owner. Initially, the restaurant specialized in serving Japanese food and Vietnamese pho.

However, after 5 years, Mr. Tuan wanted to find a new direction, bringing a breakthrough for the restaurant. The idea of ​​making traditional Vietnamese meals was born, with the desire to serve overseas Vietnamese in Germany and introduce the cuisine and typical "home-cooked" culture to international guests.

The restaurant was packed with diners.

According to Mr. Vo Ta Luc - restaurant manager, in the past, many restaurants in Germany sold Vietnamese food but only stopped at individual dishes.

Meanwhile, the Vietnamese meal is a harmonious combination of many dishes and spices, demonstrating the sophistication and balance in cuisine. In particular, the meal is a symbol of togetherness, recalling beautiful memories with family. Each dish is a meaningful cultural story.

Mr. Tuan (left), Mr. Luc (middle) took a souvenir photo with singer Pham Anh Khoa in front of the restaurant.

After only a few months of implementation, the Vietnamese menu has helped the number of customers to the restaurant increase rapidly.

Borrow bowls and chopsticks to serve a standard Vietnamese meal

From June 2025, the restaurant will start selling Vietnamese dishes. The restaurant owner decided that week 1, 2, and 3 of the month will sell Northern, Central, and Southern dishes, respectively, and the last week of the month will sell mixed dishes.

"Finding typical dishes of each region is difficult, but expressing the typical flavors of each region is even more difficult. We invited guests from different regions to try, give comments and reviews to learn from experience and make changes. It took us about 2 months to come up with a complete menu and recipe," Luc shared.

The restaurant's crispy roast pork dish is a favorite of diners.

At first, the restaurant was open during the day to maintain operations. At night, the owner, manager and staff were busy repairing and decorating. The restaurant owner hired a hand-painted mural depicting the beautiful scenery of the three regions of North - Central - South, images of families gathering around a meal or graceful girls in ao dai...

Because the restaurant mainly sold Japanese cuisine before, when it first changed direction, it had to borrow utensils from other Vietnamese restaurants to use.

"It wasn't until October that the bowls and plates we ordered from Bat Trang pottery village were officially shipped to Berlin. There are probably few restaurants that borrow bowls and plates like us," Luc shared.

According to the restaurant's current menu, the Northern-style meal will have crispy roast pork skin, fried pork belly, tofu with tomato sauce, crab soup, stir-fried water spinach with garlic, eggplant and pickled cabbage, roasted peanuts... The Central-style meal will have braised mackerel, braised pork, chrysanthemum green soup with minced meat, stir-fried cabbage with mushrooms... These are the two best-selling meal trays.

Braised fish is the most elaborate dish, the chef must braise it for at least 4 hours.

Southern Vietnamese meals include braised snakehead fish in a clay pot, sour soup with snakehead fish, stir-fried mustard greens with mushrooms, and braised fish sauce... Meanwhile, mixed meals are served on the last week of each month with braised fish sauce, sweet and sour ribs, crispy roast pork skin, squash and shrimp soup, boiled vegetables...

Ingredients are purchased at Asian markets in Germany. According to Mr. Luc, Vietnamese ingredients are not difficult to find but are quite expensive. However, the restaurant still keeps its prices reasonable compared to the general level in Berlin. 3-4 hours before opening, the chef must prepare all the ingredients. Some elaborate dishes such as braised fish are prepared the night before.

Pickled eggplant and pickled cabbage are all homemade according to the restaurant's own recipe.

Currently, the restaurant attracts about 30-40% of foreign diners to enjoy Vietnamese meals. Many people use chopsticks for the first time but clearly enjoy it. They share that this is an interesting experience of Vietnamese culture.

International diners excitedly enjoy Vietnamese meals

The restaurant serves Vietnamese meals in two time slots from 11:30-14:30 and from 17:00-22:00. In the afternoon, the restaurant sells coffee (including the famous egg coffee) and cakes.

In the coming time, this restaurant will continue to add famous Vietnamese specialties to the menu to introduce to customers.

Photo: NamPan Restaurant

A Vietnamese restaurant in New York makes diners willing to wait 1-2 hours to enjoy a series of specialties such as Banh Uot Chong, La Vong Hanoi fish cakes, and Hai Phong baguettes.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/nha-hang-o-duc-dong-nuom-nuop-nho-mam-com-ca-kho-ca-muoi-gia-hon-1-4-trieu-dong-2461307.html