Roast pork pizza, salted egg meatballs
The small pizza shop is nestled in Ly Thuong Kiet residential area (District 10, HCMC), with only four tables, two indoors and two on the porch.
At the restaurant, only the couple Huynh Tran Que Phuong (born in 1990) and Chau Hoan Cuong (born in 1989) take care of everything from cooking, baking, cooking pasta to serving and cleaning.
The space is small but neat, tidy, neat, and clean, making customers sitting and eating in a small space still feel comfortable and close.
The restaurant space is quite small but cozy (Photo: Cam Tien).
Ms. Phuong is in charge of all the pizza, while Mr. Cuong prepares ingredients for his wife and cooks the pasta dishes.
What makes the shop special is the way the couple maintains the artisan spirit - that is, meticulously handcrafting each cake.
Each pizza dough is naturally fermented by Ms. Phuong herself for at least 30 hours, following the modern Napoli technique. Thanks to that, when baked, the crust is light and spongy, the edges of the pizza puff up naturally thanks to the fermentation gas, not because of the thick dough like regular pizzas.
Ms. Phuong meticulously divided each portion of the fermented dough into separate small boxes, each portion just enough for a 30cm cake. While his wife was quickly shaping the cake, Mr. Cuong revealed: “People often think that the toppings make the pizza taste good, but in fact, the crust is the soul of the cake. If the dough is not up to par, the cake will be difficult to eat right away.”
According to Ms. Phuong, with this technique, the cake will be light when eaten, less likely to cause bloating, and diners can eat a whole portion and still feel comfortable.
The baking time for each pizza is also precisely timed, only 2 minutes in an electric oven. The pizza is crispy, fragrant, the edges are spongy, and the inside is hollow, a typical sign of Italian pizza made with the right handmade technique.
The pizza here is handmade with not too long waiting time (Photo: Cam Tien).
The filling is the “land” for Phuong and her husband to freely create. Besides familiar pizzas such as Margherita, Four Cheese or Capricciosa, the restaurant also has two “exclusive” dishes that are very popular with customers: roast pork pizza and salted egg meatball pizza.
This is a bold combination of Vietnamese ingredients with Italian style, creating a strange but surprisingly harmonious flavor.
“I came up with the salted egg meatball dish to suit Vietnamese tastes. Everyone who eats it says it’s new but pleasant, and not boring,” Ms. Phuong said.
According to the reporter's observation, on the thin, crispy base are small, slightly chewy meatballs, mixed with the characteristic salted egg flavor. Melted mozzarella cheese on top helps balance the saltiness of the salted egg.
Pizza with the right half being roasted pork, the left half being salted egg meatballs (Photo: Cam Tien).
The roasted pork pizza impresses with its distinctive aroma of roasted pork, a thin, crispy crust, and a naturally spongy edge thanks to long-term fermentation. The meat has a moderate layer of fat, the skin is slightly crispy, mixed with the restaurant's homemade BBQ sauce and fatty mozzarella cheese, creating a harmonious East-West combination.
According to the records, these two special “hybrid” flavors are the most favorite among Vietnamese diners when visiting the restaurant. Vietnamese customers like the innovation and novelty but still remember the familiar flavors of home cuisine .
On the contrary, foreign tourists when coming here often choose traditional pizzas to enjoy the original pizza. This difference, according to Ms. Phuong, is also an interesting point that helps the shop serve many customers with different tastes.
Restaurant owner ranked high in international pizza competition
Sharing with Dan Tri reporter, Ms. Que Phuong said that both husband and wife do not consider this small pizza shop as their main source of income. Her husband is in the business of industrial kitchen equipment, and she is a freelancer (freelance) and both have stable sources of income.
This shop is simply a "brainchild" for both of them to satisfy their passion for food and maintain their culinary career after many years of working together.
The shop only operates for two hours a day, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. Although it is a “just for fun” shop, every step of the preparation process is meticulously taken care of. Almost all the ingredients are made by the couple themselves to ensure quality and control the price for customers.
The pizza toppings are all prepared by the owner himself (Photo: Cam Tien).
“My husband and I know our limits and don’t dare to advertise too much because we’re afraid that if there are too many customers, we won’t be able to serve them all. I also don’t want to hire more people because I want to personally control every step, from preparation to the final product,” said Ms. Phuong.
The idea of opening a shop started after the Covid-19 pandemic, when the restaurant where she and her husband used to work had to close, leaving them both unemployed. It was Mr. Cuong who suggested opening a pizza shop together.
In the early days, the shop was so empty that the couple thought they were not suited to the business. They began testing their skills in large and small pizza competitions at home and abroad.
In 2023, Mr. Cuong won a high prize at a domestic pizza competition and was selected to compete in the US in the professional category and entered the top 4 finalists.
Not long after, Ms. Phuong also brought "pizza khot" - inspired by banh khot - to compete at the World Pizza Champion Games 2025 and entered the top 10 finalists.
Ms. Phuong and the "khot" pizza (Photo: Character provided).
She revealed that the crust is mixed with fresh Vietnamese turmeric, topped with stir-fried shrimp and crispy fried shrimp heads, combining the flavors of home and international presentation techniques. The Italian judges expressed their delight when they recognized the flavor of turmeric in the crust and gave many compliments to this combination.
From those competitions, both husband and wife affirmed their skills and learned many new techniques, helping to improve the quality of the cakes in their small shop.
As a gourmet with many culinary experiences, Mr. Tan Nhan - founder of the Saigon Dining Guide community - once visited this special pizza shop and gave many compliments.
“The first impression is neatness and cleanliness. There are only two people in the shop, but everything is very neat. Customers just need to scan the QR code to order. I especially like the salted egg meatball pizza with a light, crispy crust, the meatballs and salted egg on top are very tasty, fatty, salty and fragrant. An interesting, strange but not forced combination of Western and Eastern cuisine,” he said.
That night, he went with a friend, ordered a pizza and a pasta dish, plus drinks for about 400,000 VND - a price he considered quite "affordable" compared to the quality of the food and the meticulousness of the young couple.
Address: 91K Ly Thuong Kiet Residential Area, District 10, HCMC
Opening hours: 17:30-19:45
Reference price: 110,000-240,000 VND
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/du-lich/tiem-pizza-chi-ban-2-tieng-moi-ngay-o-tphcm-chu-quan-so-dong-khach-20250614094547108.htm
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