A snail shop with a variety of dishes right in the center of District 1, priced at 35,000 VND, was once featured on Netflix. It opened at 9am but was sold out in a few hours.

Tiệm ốc đủ món ngay giữa trung tâm Quận 1 đồng giá 35.000VNĐ từng được lên sóng trên Netflix, mở từ 9 giờ sáng nhưng vài tiếng đã hết hàng - Ảnh 1.

At around 10am, Aunt Truoc's snail shop located at the beginning of alley 171 Co Bac Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City was already crowded with people. Right on the shop's table placed next to the alley, all kinds of snails were piled high on stainless steel bowls and pots.

Sitting right in front of the snail table is Aunt Truoc, the owner of the snail shop. Aunt Truoc constantly checks the customers' orders and then quickly takes the snails, puts them on the grill, adds sauce... or transfers the snails to the pan to season and stir-fry. The other employees in the shop take orders, stir-fry noodles, and serve food to customers.

Everything seemed a bit messy and unscientific , but delicious dishes of snails were continuously brought to the table.

Tiệm ốc đủ món ngay giữa trung tâm Quận 1 đồng giá 35.000VNĐ từng được lên sóng trên Netflix, mở từ 9 giờ sáng nhưng vài tiếng đã hết hàng - Ảnh 2.

The snail shop opens at 9am but by 12pm it's almost sold out. If customers come late, there's nothing left to eat.

Luckily, we stopped by Aunt Truoc's snail shop at around 10:30 so there were still all kinds of snails on the counter such as spoon snails, fragrant snails, canarium snails, fingernail snails, flower snails, len snails, clams, blood cockles, scallops, crab claws... Standing at the counter for a while, we decided to order about 6 different dishes, but while we were ordering, the girl at the shop immediately gave me a piece of paper and a pen and said: "Please write down what you want to eat here, I'll go stir-fry noodles first".

Tiệm ốc đủ món ngay giữa trung tâm Quận 1 đồng giá 35.000VNĐ từng được lên sóng trên Netflix, mở từ 9 giờ sáng nhưng vài tiếng đã hết hàng - Ảnh 3. — Aunt Truoc and her snail shop.

Bowls of snails stacked on top of each other.

I handed over the order and sat down at the table, a little worried that since the restaurant was so crowded, someone might make a mistake or forget my order. However, after a while, the dishes I ordered were brought out one by one without any mistakes.

The pan stir-frys "the whole world " of snails

I thought snails were an afternoon or evening dish, but in the morning, people were already bustling to eat snails. It is known that Aunt Truoc's snail shop opens from 9am but it only opens until around 1pm at most. Indeed, when I finished eating at around 12pm, when I returned to Aunt Truoc's counter, the number of snails on the table was almost gone, from more than ten types of snails to only about 4 types, customers who come late to eat do not have many choices. Not to mention that Aunt Truoc's snail shop is only open from Monday to Friday, closed on weekends and holidays, so if you want to eat snails here, customers will only be able to go in the morning or noon during the week.

Here, customers can choose the type of snail and how to prepare it according to their preferences.

Grilled dishes with scallion oil are also very popular at Aunt Truoc's snail shop.

Aunt Truoc confided: "Every day at midnight, I have to go get snails at Binh Dien wholesale market, and when I get the snails, I come back around 3am. Then early in the morning, everyone works together to prepare the snails. Cleaning the snails is also very hard, because there are types of snails that have a lot of sand, a lot of grit, or like scallops, you have to scrub them very carefully." Because I go get the snails at night and prepare them early in the morning, I open the shop around 8:30 or 9am so that customers can eat the freshest snails.

Aunt Truoc almost just sits here to prepare food for the guests.

All are priced at 35,000 VND, charged per disc, and were once aired on Netflix, so Westerners also flocked to visit.

Aunt Truoc's snail shop has been in business for about 30 years. The last time she sold it for 25,000 VND/plate, then she increased the price to 30,000 VND and now the ingredients have increased, she sells it for 35,000 VND. However, this can be considered a very reasonable price for quite full and quality snail plates, especially right in the center of District 1.

Plates of snails, clams, crab legs, scallops... all priced at 35,000 VND.

Every day, Aunt Truoc takes about a few dozen kilos of snails to sell, a few kilos of each type to have enough to sell, but not too much. Besides the basic snail dishes such as snails, fragrant snails, clams, jackfruit snails, blood cockles, scallops... depending on what snails are available at the market that day, Aunt Truoc will buy them. Therefore, the menu at the shop is not the same and is fixed by day. Usually, every day Aunt Truoc will sell about 15 different types of snails, clams, and mussels.

The snails and clams here are very fresh and firm when eaten.

The way to prepare dishes is usually steamed, stir-fried with tamarind, stir-fried with garlic butter, grilled with scallion oil, grilled with satay, roasted with salt... depending on the type of snail. Especially here, stir-fried snails with coconut is one of the most favorite dishes of customers. Stir-fried snails with coconut have a fragrant and rich taste, the snails are boiled thoroughly, soaked in the fatty taste of coconut milk and seasoned to taste, everyone who eats will have to exclaim.

Grilled spoon snails with satay sauce are also loved by many customers. The snail meat is chewy and firm, soaked in spicy sauce, very stimulating to the taste buds.

Aunt Truoc's snail shop once appeared on the TV show Street Food Asian produced by Netflix. Because of that, more people know about Aunt Truoc's snails, many people even call the shop "Netflix Snails", even foreign visitors come here to enjoy delicious snails.

Balut stir-fried with tamarind and stir-fried noodles with cockles and water spinach.

Tiệm ốc đủ món ngay giữa trung tâm Quận 1 đồng giá 35.000VNĐ từng được lên sóng trên Netflix, mở từ 9 giờ sáng nhưng vài tiếng đã hết hàng - Ảnh 14. — Two types of dipping sauces are used at this snail shop.

I ordered a few dishes such as grilled scallops with scallion oil, grilled spoon snails with satay, stir-fried noodles with cockles and water spinach, stir-fried flower snails with butter and garlic... each dish was hot and when I ate it, I felt the ingredients were very fresh. Each dish has a moderate amount, so it is suitable for those who like to experience eating many different types of snails.

After just over 12 hours, the snail trays on Aunt Truoc's table had significantly reduced, with only about 4-5 types of snails left.

Ms. Ngoc Anh, who visited Aunt Truoc's snail shop with her mother, shared: "I've been eating snails here for almost ten years. Before, the price was only 25,000 - 30,000 VND/plate. Every time my mother and I come here to eat, we have to order about 10 plates to be satisfied."

Everyone at the restaurant is busy helping with cooking, taking orders and delivering food to customers.

It is because of such customers that Aunt Truoc is always dedicated to her small snail shop, because that is the main source of income for the family. During peak hours, Aunt Truoc's family members also help to serve customers who come to eat snails. Although she says "Selling snails is very hard, my child!" , despite the hardship, Aunt Truoc always smiles at customers, as if it is her love for the job.