Famous "long xe pipe" restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City is deserted: The owner said she "can't eat or sleep"

Posing as a customer, Dan Tri reporter went to a famous offal restaurant in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, which is well-known on social networks, especially TikTok. On the channel with nearly 90,000 followers, the restaurant regularly posts videos promoting its dishes, of which offal xe dieu is the "main product".

In the clips, the pipe's intestines are described with attractive phrases such as "a dish you will remember for life once you eat it", "rare and hard to find"... Some clips attract from several hundred thousand to several million views.

In a video, a restaurant representative shared: "Many customers say that our pipe intestines are frozen, which is sad to hear. Our intestines are available every day, never frozen."

However, at the time the reporter arrived during the lunch rush hour, the restaurant only had about 4 groups of customers eating, the business atmosphere was gloomy, completely different from its popularity online.

The restaurant's menu is quite diverse, in which the porridge hotpot and the pipe-grilled intestines are listed as "bestsellers", but the pipe-grilled intestines have a note saying "prices vary depending on the day".

The shop staff said the price of the pipe intestine is 289,000 VND/100g, or nearly 3 million VND/kg. The price may be higher depending on the thickness of the intestine.

Speaking to Dan Tri reporter, Ms. KA - the shop owner and also a familiar face in the videos promoting the car's inner pipe on the shop's TikTok channel - said that her business is being heavily affected after a series of recent controversies.

The restaurant has been around for over 7 years and used to be the most popular destination in the central area of Ho Chi Minh City. However, according to Ms. KA, this is a rare difficult period.

"Previously, at noon, customers came and went in droves, sometimes there were no empty tables. But since the controversy broke out, the number of customers has decreased significantly. Today, even during peak noon hours, there are only a few tables with people sitting. Meanwhile, my restaurant has nearly 20 employees, the sudden decrease in customers has made everyone confused," she shared.

Ms. KA admitted that if she put herself in the customer's shoes, she would also be concerned. "I understand consumer psychology. When a favorite dish is involved in negative information, they will definitely be skeptical, even stopping eating for a while to observe," the restaurant owner said.

According to Ms. KA, the intestines are a mutation of the pig intestines, not all pigs have them so they are very rare. Every day, she has to collect from many different slaughterhouses to get about 2kg to sell, sometimes there is no product at all. On average, the restaurant only has intestines to serve about 20 days a month.

Faced with the reality that some establishments were being inspected by authorities, Ms. KA said she was also willing to cooperate and comply with regulations.

This shop owner said: "I really hope to soon have results from the authorities to clarify everything because I affirm that my products are of high quality, chemical-free, and not frozen.

But honestly, once a boycott wave has formed, even if there is a positive conclusion, bringing customers back to the way they were will be a long-term process."

"From a restaurant that used to be one of the busiest in the city center, now we only have a few tables in the morning and only a few customers in the afternoon. I am extremely tired, unable to eat or sleep. These past few days I have not dared to leave the restaurant and feel like I am sitting on a bed of fire," she added.

Previously, Dan Tri reporters were also present at Long Chat restaurant (HCMC) and noted that this establishment was being inspected by a food safety inspection team. When customers arrived, the staff informed them that the kitchen was closed and asked permission to stop serving, which surprised many people and interrupted their lunch.

The restaurant staff also said that in recent days, due to a lot of negative information related to the dish, the restaurant has proactively reduced the amount of ingredients for the day. That is also why, there are days when after selling in the morning, the restaurant runs out of ingredients and closes the kitchen.

In recent days, a video recording the owner of a restaurant in Hanoi showing off a 40m long, 5.8kg pipe has caused a stir.

In the video, the restaurant owner introduces the entrails taken from a female pig weighing more than 100kg. The image of restaurant staff lining up to measure the length of the entrails makes many people doubt the authenticity and origin of the dish.

Speaking to Dan Tri reporter on the afternoon of May 7, Ms. Pham Khanh Phong Lan, Director of the Department of Food Safety of Ho Chi Minh City, said that the Department's Inspectorate is conducting a series of inspections and taking samples for testing at establishments that sell and process pig intestines, after the above clip appeared.

According to the reporter's source, at noon of the same day, Food Safety Management Team No. 6 (in charge of Tan Binh, Tan Phu, Binh Tan districts) and related authorities inspected Long Chat restaurant on Hong Lac street, Tan Binh district, Ho Chi Minh City. The inspection is still being conducted according to the procedure, and there is no final conclusion yet.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/du-lich/quan-long-xe-dieu-noi-tieng-tphcm-vang-khach-ba-chu-noi-mat-an-mat-ngu-20250507211417941.htm