Hanoi pho cuon restaurant honored by Michelin, the owner did not know because he was busy

(Dan Tri) - The pho cuon restaurant on Mac Dinh Chi Street (Hanoi) was honored in the Michelin Selected category. After the award ceremony, the restaurant owner was still unaware.

As usual, early in the morning, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Khanh (Mrs. Chinh's son, owner of the Chinh Thang pho cuon restaurant) arranged for each employee to do a different task to prepare for the opening time at 10am.

The restaurant has 4 chefs but the workload is heavy. Everyone is busy because from 11:30-13:00 and 18:30-20:30 every day, the tables are always full of customers.

But after the evening of June 5, things were a bit different from usual. The shop had not opened yet at 8am, but many people were already waiting, which surprised Mr. Khanh.

Also in the morning, many phone calls came in to congratulate the owner, who just learned that his pho cuon restaurant had just been honored in the Michelin Selected category.

Foreign guests enjoy pho cuon at the restaurant (Photo: Provided by the character).

In this year's ceremony, Michelin Guide has just announced a list of 181 restaurants and eateries in Vietnam. Of these, 109 locations were selected in the Michelin Selected category.

This is considered one of the important input criteria for the journey to conquer Michelin stars. Notably, Chinh Thang pho cuon restaurant became the first pho cuon restaurant in Hanoi to be included in this category.

"I was completely surprised but also very happy and proud because my long-standing efforts have been recognized," Mr. Khanh shared with Dan Tri reporter.

However, the interesting thing is that the owner of the restaurant had no idea that his business was called by name. It was only when he received many phone calls and congratulations that he burst into happiness.

After searching through old information, the restaurant owner discovered that the Michelin Guide Organizing Committee had sent an invitation in May, but he had not noticed it. He also did not attend the award ceremony partly because he did not know, and partly because he was too busy with his daily business.

He said that up until now, the pho cuon restaurant has mainly focused on the dining experience of customers, improving the quality of food and has never thought about promoting the brand.

This is also the first pho cuon restaurant in Hanoi to be honored by Michelin (Photo: Character provided).

"I don't know when the Michelin experts came to taste and evaluate the restaurant, or who they are. However, this recognition is definitely a memorable milestone in the restaurant's business journey," Khanh confided.

More than 20 years ago, the restaurant started selling pho cuon. This address is known as one of the first places in Hanoi to create pho cuon in Ngu Xa village.

Initially, the shop was run and managed by Ms. Vu Thi Chinh. In 2017, because he wanted to develop his mother's beloved shop, Mr. Khanh decided to quit his design job to focus on building the shop.

He wants to synchronize everything, focusing on product quality, for example, when serving 100 dishes of spices to customers, the taste must be the same. He personally processes the quantity of dipping sauce and food to set standards from the smallest step.

The restaurant's signature dishes include pho rolls, fried pho, and egg pho.

To ensure the quality of the dishes, fresh ingredients are a prerequisite. The restaurant imports beef from a familiar source in Dong Anh, usually delivered in the morning. In the summer, the restaurant imports meat in the morning and afternoon to keep the food fresh.

With the beef tenderloin, the chef must cut it into large pieces so that when stir-fried and rolled with rice noodles, the ingredients will have a perfect adhesion. The dipping sauce is the soul of the dish, and is also completely standardized.

"What we care most about is the quality of the food, so we often discuss with customers to see their feedback. If a customer complains that the beef is a bit tough, the chef needs to know this information to improve," the owner of the establishment confided.

Currently, the restaurant attracts about 30% of its customers as foreigners, with a high proportion of Japanese and Korean customers. The prices of dishes range from 40,000 VND to 80,000 VND, in the affordable segment.

When the reporter mentioned the future development plans when the restaurant was honored by Michelin, the owner said he had never thought about promoting to upgrade the model to a luxury restaurant, welcoming more high-class customers.

“I plan to keep the price at a reasonable level and expand my services to make it easier for more customers to access,” he shared.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/du-lich/quan-pho-cuon-ha-noi-duoc-michelin-vinh-danh-chu-quan-khong-he-biet-vi-ban-20250608003740111.htm