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Mr. Binh's grilled chicken feet restaurant is famous in Nam Dinh city.

Sitting at the entrance of alley 92, Mr. Binh kept fanning the fire while quickly inviting customers to come inside to choose a table. Customers who prefer open space can choose to sit at the tables on the sidewalk.

At the entrance of the alley, there were only Mr. Binh and two young employees, one of whom was his son. But when asked, it turned out that the total number of employees in the restaurant was 12 people, mainly serving inside.

On average, customers have to wait 30 minutes for their food. On weekends or in winter, customers have to wait for an hour. Despite such a long wait, Nam Dinh people still come here to enjoy the handmade grilled dishes that are rarely found anywhere else.

They say they come to Mr. Binh's restaurant to "eat grilled chicken feet" but in fact the restaurant has 5 different dishes: Grilled chicken feet, grilled chicken wings, grilled pork ribs, grilled stomach and honey butter toast.

Unlike many other barbecue restaurants, Mr. Binh does not use a fan to fan the fire. He grills everything by hand – his left hand constantly flips the grill, his right hand fanning vigorously with a bamboo fan. He sits and fanns from 4-10pm.

He said: “You have to fan like that to make the fire even, the chicken feet will be cooked nicely both inside and out. Using an electric fan will burn the outside easily while the inside will not be cooked yet.”

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All grills are hand fanned.

With a face younger than his 60 years, Mr. Binh answered very wittily when asked about his income. “Enough money to go to Japan every 3 months to replace the shoulder gear” – he implied talking about the arm holding the fan for 5-6 hours.

Talking about his chance to get into the profession, Mr. Binh said that when he joined the army, he learned how to grill chicken and duck. After leaving the army, he tried many jobs but all of them were difficult to make a living. Thinking about the grilled dishes he made in the army, he decided to grill chicken feet to sell.

“In 1996-1997, no one here sold grilled chicken feet. It wasn’t until the year 2000 that customers learned about this dish. They just learned about it, but the number of customers was only 1/10 of the number now,” Mr. Binh shared.

Gradually, his grilled chicken feet restaurant became a household name on the culinary map of Nam Dinh City. “Of course, the grilled recipe from my time in the army has been modified over time to suit the tastes of the majority.”

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On weekend nights or in winter, the number of visitors is very large.

His meat marinade is made from common and easy-to-find ingredients such as: ginger, seasoning powder, MSG, honey, oyster sauce, etc. He has also taught the profession to many people and has never hidden the recipe.

Many other shops opened to compete with his, but they all closed down one by one. “Because it was too hard and the profit was low,” he explained.

Perhaps, to survive for 29 years, Mr. Binh had to adhere to his own principles that not everyone can steadfastly follow.

“In the morning, three people have to take turns going to the city markets to collect ingredients.

We have a relationship but still have to go there, choose each chicken leg, wing, rib, etc. to make sure it is the freshest, not passively waiting for someone to bring the goods. The ingredients are sold out every day.

After getting the goods home, the whole family sat down to peel each leg and wash them clean. After lunch, they rested for a while, then got up at 3pm and worked steadily until night.

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Grilled food is served with pickled vegetables.

The restaurant is busiest between 8-10pm. On weekends or in winter, the number of customers is one and a half times higher than usual. “That means I can’t take on more customers, otherwise it would be even more crowded. Now that I’m old, I only work until around 10pm and then I stop.”

Each plate of ribs costs 180,000 VND, chicken feet 70,000 VND/plate of 4, chicken wings 80,000 VND/plate of 2, stomach 130,000 VND/plate, bread 15,000 VND/2 pieces.

Every day, the restaurant sells about 20kg of ribs, 300-400 chicken feet, 40 wings, 20 pieces of stomach - each piece weighs 700-800g. The quantity may vary depending on the amount of goods received that day.

In addition to the income that has ensured a stable life for the past several decades, his greatest joy is the regular customers, families of up to three generations who come to eat grilled chicken feet - from grandparents to grandchildren.

When asked if anyone would “take over the family business” in the future, he pointed to his 30-year-old son who was helping his father grill meat. He used his natural sense of humor again: “I work too much and don’t have time to have children. He’s the only one who can have children.”

The sidewalk barbecue restaurant has provided a stable income for Mr. Binh's family for the past 29 years.
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