Half a century on the sidewalks of Ho Chi Minh City, the night porridge stall is crowded with customers from late at night until dawn.

Although only temporarily located on a corner of the sidewalk, the traditional porridge and noodle stall in Ho Chi Minh City has existed for more than half a century and is always crowded with customers from midnight to dawn.

Mr. Thang's family went to the porridge and noodle shop at the corner of Le Loi and Phan Boi Chau streets for a late night snack. Photo: Ha Nguyen

Porridge shop for more than half a century

At night, after walking around Ben Thanh market (Ben Thanh ward, Ho Chi Minh city), Mr. Thang (35 years old) and his wife and two children stopped by a porridge and noodle shop on the corner of Le Loi - Phan Boi Chau street for a late night snack.

Following him were two tourists from Korea. After discussing, both decided to choose porridge to enjoy.

Because he doesn't know Vietnamese, the foreign guest (in black, left) points to the dishes he wants to try. Photo: Ha Nguyen

Called a restaurant, this place only has a stall selling porridge and rice noodles with two large pots, a tray of pig intestines and a few small plastic tables placed on the sidewalk. However, the porridge stall has been around for more than half a century, is famous for its delicious taste, and has been visited by many diners.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Huong (68 years old, owner of the porridge stall) said that the porridge stall has been around since her grandmother's time. Ms. Huong's grandmother has been selling porridge since the French colonial period.

When she was young, Ms. Huong followed her grandmother to sell porridge and rice noodles. Later, when her grandmother passed away, Ms. Huong's mother took over the night porridge stall.

When she was young, Mrs. Huong also sold porridge with her mother. When she reached her teens, she branched out, opened her own porridge, noodle, and noodle stall, and sold it across the street, opposite her current location.

Mrs. Huong took over the porridge and late night noodle stall that has been around since her grandmother's time. Photo: Ha Nguyen

After her mother passed away, Mrs. Huong combined her porridge stall and her mother’s into one, and then sat down to sell at the current location. She said: “The family porridge stall has been kept in the family tradition, passed down from mother to daughter. I am the third generation. Up to now, the porridge stall has existed for more than 50 years.

Before, my grandmother used to sell porridge from 7pm until late at night. Later, my mother also sold according to her schedule. I sell across the street but sell later, usually only from 1am to 4am.

After my mother passed away, I started selling at her old time slot, from 7pm to around 3am the next morning. I have been selling at this time slot for so long that I am used to it. Customers are also used to this slot. Therefore, even though we sell late at night, we still have our own customer base.”

Pork offal is a popular dish. Photo: Ha Nguyen

Mrs. Huong cooks porridge and noodle soup in two unusually shaped pots. She calls them gourd pots. The pots have a wide bottom and a rounded top. This shape of the pots helps the food to simmer and also helps retain heat better.

A bowl of porridge at Mrs. Huong's porridge stall has pig intestines, tongue, heart, pig ears, blood and fried sausage. Fried sausage is the most popular side dish chosen by many diners.

This dish is made by Mrs. Huong from a special filling and then fried until fragrant. All the offal dishes are prepared by her cleanly, so when eaten, there is no strange smell.

The resting place of many famous people

In addition to congee, the restaurant has a variety of noodle soups such as noodle soup with offal, chicken noodle soup, rib noodle soup...

The noodles here are soft and not chewy. The broth is made from chicken bones and meat, so it is sweet and low in fat. Depending on your preference, you can eat noodles with pork or chicken offal.

According to Ms. Huong, the later it gets, the more customers choose porridge. Every night, she cooks about 2kg of rice in a large gourd-sized pot.

Mrs. Huong cooks porridge in the traditional way. If the rice is sticky and has a lot of starch, she usually has to roast the rice before cooking it into porridge.

The later it gets, the more customers Mrs. Huong's porridge stall has. Photo: Ha Nguyen

If the rice has little starch, she cooks it directly into porridge, without going through the roasting step. The finished porridge is kept hot in a gourd-shaped pot placed on a charcoal stove, giving off fragrant smoke.

To have a pot of delicious, quality porridge and noodle soup, Ms. Huong goes to the market to buy ingredients right after cleaning the shop. She said: “Around 2-3am, we stop selling. At this time, my son takes care of cleaning the porridge stall, while I take the opportunity to go to the market and the slaughterhouse to get fresh, delicious intestines.

After having pig and chicken intestines, I start cleaning and pre-processing them many times to ensure the ingredients are clean and hygienic before processing them into dishes. Only after completing these steps can I rest.

Open in the evening, from 7pm to 3am, Mrs. Huong's porridge shop is not only a stop for workers getting off work late at night. It is also a favorite late-night snack spot for night-goers, artists, and celebrities.

One of them is comedian Tran Thanh and MC Hari Won. Both of them often come to Mrs. Huong's porridge shop to experience and praise it endlessly.

Image of artists Tran Thanh and Hari Won coming to experience Mrs. Huong's porridge stall. Screenshot

Ms. Huong confided: “In the past, when there was still a night market here, my porridge stall was crowded with customers from the time it opened until 2-3 am. In addition to workers, people going out late at night, foreign tourists, some singers and artists also came to my porridge stall to eat at night.

However, I remember most the memory of a passing customer. When he came to the restaurant, he only ordered one dish: sausage to eat with hot porridge.

He kept ordering more sausages. Finally, he ate a whole string of sausages by himself. When it was time to pay the bill, I told him the price of the porridge was 80,000 VND. He got angry, cursed loudly, and said I was charging too much.

Ms. Huong said her business is like serving a hundred families, always trying to please all her customers. Photo: Ha Nguyen

Despite my explanation, he did not agree and accused me of ripping off customers to the authorities. Fortunately, the diners present that day came forward to testify, so my name was cleared.

After that time, I never saw that customer again. Instead, I met many customers who were foreigners, overseas Vietnamese, and famous people.

Every time they return home or travel to Ho Chi Minh City, they come to eat my night porridge. What makes me happy and proud is that I no longer hear anyone complain about the quality of my food."

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/nua-the-ky-bam-via-he-tphcm-ganh-chao-dem-dong-khach-tu-khuya-den-rang-sang-2426207.html