The restaurant with the owner 'raps while calculating the bill' is about to close, customers regret coming to eat

A famous restaurant has a female owner who "raps" to calculate the bill and announces that she is about to close, leaving many diners surprised and regretfully coming to eat.

Mrs. Nghia's snack shop is located on peaceful Pho Duc Chinh street with little traffic. Photo: Ha Nguyen

The owner "raps to pay the bill"

In the early afternoon, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Nghia (63 years old, Gia Dinh ward, Ho Chi Minh City) pulled open the iron door in front of her house to reveal a glass cabinet filled with many beautiful snacks. For more than two decades, Mrs. Nghia's living room has been a famous snack shop, serving many generations of students.

Behind the glass cabinet and small kitchen is the restaurant space with about 10 plastic tables for customers to sit. Because it is a living room of a house, the restaurant is not elaborately decorated.

Instead, the walls of the shop are covered with photos of the owner and her regular customers. Most of the customers in the photos are students. The rest are small families and foreigners.

The shop is simply decorated, with many photos on the walls capturing memorable moments between customers and the owner. Photo: Ha Nguyen

The restaurant sells a variety of dishes, mainly snacks such as: fried fish balls, mixed tré, mixed rice paper, spaghetti, Yangzhou fried rice, wontons, sour spring rolls, tofu with shredded pork, fried rice paper, grilled egg cakes, sausages, tamarind-stir-fried quail eggs, fried corn... Each dish costs 15,000 VND.

Mrs. Nghia has been selling snacks since 1994. At first, she sold pomelo sweet soup, tofu, ginseng... in the Turtle Lake area (District 3, old HCMC). During those years, Mrs. Nghia's sweet soups were famous for their high demand.

In 2000, she moved her sweet soup stall to her own house but had no customers. To change the situation, she switched to selling snacks.

Most of the dishes at the restaurant are prepared by Mrs. Nghia based on her experience. The dishes are all rated as very delicious.

The restaurant has many dishes, mainly delicious and beautiful snacks. Photo: Ha Nguyen

Located in an area with many schools, her restaurant is supported by many students. When calculating the bill, Mrs. Nghia has a habit of reading the numbers out loud in a rhyming, pleasant, and precise way.

Seeing this, students often jokingly say that she "raps" to calculate the bill. Many customers even intentionally order many dishes to hear her "rap" longer.

Later, she found that "rapping" like that was both tiring and time-consuming, so she decided to set the price for all dishes at 15,000 VND.

All dishes are prepared by Mrs. Nghia herself. Photo: Ha Nguyen

Guests regret

She shared: “The restaurant has been supported by students for over 20 years, I am very happy. However, I am getting old, I no longer have the strength to stay up late and wake up early to prepare the dishes.

So, I plan to stop selling on the 25th of Tet. I am very sad to stop selling because I have been attached to the shop and the students for over 20 years.

Many students have come to eat snacks with me since they were still in school, and now their families still come to support me. Foreign guests after returning to Vietnam also bring their friends to eat…

Recently, when they knew I was going to stop selling, students tried to stop me. At that moment, I suddenly burst into tears, crying like a baby.”

After more than 20 years of selling snacks, Ms. Nghia said she will stop selling on the 25th of Tet. Photo: Ha Nguyen

The first time they came to Mrs. Nghia’s restaurant, a girl named Khuyen (20 years old) and her friend named Thuy (23 years old) were attracted by the beautiful and fragrant snacks. They both knew about the restaurant through social networks.

Seeing the attractive dishes, which were confirmed by many young people to be both delicious and cheap, the two decided to come and experience. When hearing that the restaurant would be closing in the near future, the two girls expressed regret.

“The food is delicious and the prices are reasonable. Even though it only costs 15,000 VND, every dish is full and beautifully decorated.

The first time I came here to eat, I hadn't found my favorite dish yet, but then I heard the news that the restaurant was about to close. I was both surprised and regretful," Khuyen shared.

A girl named Khuyen was surprised and regretful when the restaurant closed. Photo: Ha Nguyen

Meanwhile, Phong (born 2003) took his pregnant wife to a familiar snack shop in the late afternoon. Phong had known the shop since he was a student.

When they were still lovers, Phong often took his girlfriend to the familiar snack shop. The couple had many beautiful memories there.

Phong shared: “The shop is our familiar snack spot. Every time we finish eating, we wait for Ms. Nghia’s catchy bill payment that sounds like a rap.

As time passed, we moved in together and were about to become parents. However, whenever we had time, we still stopped by the snack shop. When we heard that the shop was about to close and cease operations, we were very sad and regretful.

Phong and his wife are regular customers of the shop, so they were very sorry to hear Mrs. Nghia share that they would not maintain the snack shop that has been associated with many generations of students. Photo: Ha Nguyen

The news that the restaurant will be closing soon has caused the number of customers to increase many times more than usual. As the afternoon progressed, the number of customers increased.

To serve, Mrs. Nghia had to hire 3-4 more employees to help. However, she and her employees still could not prepare the dishes and serve the customers in time.

“The kindness of the students, pupils and diners touched me deeply. It was the greatest reward and joy I have had after many years of running a small restaurant at home,” she added.

After comedian Tran Thanh praised the food , the small restaurant hidden in an alley in Ho Chi Minh City became even more crowded, always in a state of being busy from opening to closing.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/quan-an-co-ba-chu-doc-rap-tinh-tien-sap-dong-cua-khach-tiec-nuoi-khi-den-an-2463247.html