'Legendary' restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City is about to close: Goodbye to the owner who raps while calculating the bill

The restaurant, which is more than 2 decades old and famous for its unique story of the female owner rapping while calculating the bill, is about to say goodbye to the customers of Ho Chi Minh City. Many people feel regretful because this is a 'legendary' restaurant for many generations of students.

Located on the quiet Pho Duc Chinh street in Gia Dinh ward, Ho Chi Minh City (Binh Thanh district), the 47 restaurant of Ms. Nguyen Thi Nghia (63 years old) is famous as a legendary snack shop for many generations of students, familiar with the image of the owner calculating the bill like rapping super accurately, making customers excited. However, recently, the owner announced the sad news that the restaurant is about to close.

Why did the shop stop selling?

It was past 2pm on a weekday afternoon, when Mrs Nghia’s restaurant had just opened, we immediately went to ask. In recent days, the story of this “legendary” restaurant closing was being spread by word of mouth among many regular customers and shared widely on social media.

Mrs. Nghia's restaurant is considered a "legendary" snack shop for many generations of students.

PHOTO: NGOC NGOC

The restaurant, which is also the cozy home of Mrs. Nghia’s family, is located on a quiet street. The restaurant stands out with its eye-catching food counter in front, and inside are nearly a dozen neatly arranged dishes for customers to sit on.

On the wall, diners can easily see countless photos capturing moments of the owner with regular customers, mostly students, including photos of foreigners who heard of the restaurant's reputation and came to visit.

Looking at the nostalgic photos, Ms. Nghia pondered, saying that it was not easy to say goodbye to beloved customers, ending a 24-year journey with this dedicated restaurant.

"I plan to stop selling on the 25th of Tet. I have been thinking and tossing and turning for more than a year now. After working for decades, it is time for me to retire and no longer have the strength to sell. Sometimes I think about it and cry, feeling sorry for the customers and the students I consider my own children," Mrs. Nghia said emotionally.

The owner is famous for her super fast and accurate rapping style of calculating bills.

PHOTO: NGOC NGOC

The restaurant was usually crowded, but since the news of its closure, more and more customers came. Among them, there were customers who had eaten there for decades but had not visited for a long time, now looking for old memories, and there were also customers who came for the first time out of curiosity. As the evening wore on, the number of people coming in grew more and more crowded, making the owner and her assistants work so hard that they could not stop working.

The owner no longer raps to pay the bill.

Ms. Kim Doan (20 years old), a regular customer of the restaurant, said that all the dishes here are to her taste, but the fried rice paper and green rice sausage are her two favorite dishes thanks to their special flavor, completely different from other restaurants.

Although her house is quite far away, Kim Doan and her group of friends still regularly come to the restaurant to support it and feel regretful when they hear that the restaurant is about to close. "I will come to eat every Wednesday until the restaurant closes because the food is delicious, the price is reasonable, and the owner is very friendly," she shared.

Tra My (19 years old) came to eat for the first time and she was quite regretful that she found out about the restaurant late. She was most impressed with the delicious taste and reasonable price, and also said that she will come back often to support the restaurant more before it closes.

The menu at the restaurant is diverse.

PHOTO: CAO AN BIEN

Attractive snacks are prepared at Mrs. Nghia's shop.

PHOTO: NGOC NGOC/CAO AN BIEN

[CLIP]: Space at Mrs. Nghia's "legendary" snack shop

Famous for her super fast and accurate rapping, however, in the past 2 years, Ms. Nghia no longer does this job because she has switched to a menu with a fixed price of 15,000 VND/dish.

The restaurant's dishes are diverse with dozens of dishes, mainly snacks and drinks that students love, such as fried fish balls, mixed tre with 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...

In 1994, Ms. Nghia sold sweet soup in the Turtle Lake area in the center of Ho Chi Minh City, and later also opened to sell tofu, ginseng, etc. After many years of hard work and effort, in 2001, she officially bought a house and opened this restaurant, which she has been selling until now.

Nostalgic space inside the restaurant

PHOTO: NGOC NGOC

A group of young customers from Go Vap came to the restaurant to support the owner even though they lived quite far away.

PHOTO: NGOC NGOC

For the owner, the restaurant is the passion of her life, the result of decades of tireless efforts. She confided that the restaurant not only preserves the memories of her customers, but also of herself.

"There are families that have been eating here for three generations. There are young people who went to school in the past, then got married, had children, and brought their children here to eat. There are guests from abroad who come back to Vietnam every time they come back. Whenever I talk about the memories of the guests, I am touched and feel so much love. I love you all so much! I also told you that when the restaurant is no longer open, if you miss me, just come ring the doorbell, I will always be ready to welcome you!", the owner emotionally told her guests.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/quan-an-huyen-thoai-o-tphcm-sap-dong-cua-tam-biet-ba-chu-doc-rap-tinh-tien-185251112232635896.htm