From street sticky rice and sweet soup vendors to 4 Vietnamese restaurants attracting Japanese and Chinese customers in Tokyo

The first person to sell Vietnamese sticky rice and sweet soup in Tokyo

Mr. Mac Manh Duc (born in 1989, from Hai Duong) is currently the owner of 4 Vietnamese restaurants in Tokyo. Mr. Manh shared: “In 2013, I went to Japan to study and work until 2015 when I came up with the idea of selling Hanoi dishes in Japan. At first, I planned to make famous dishes such as: grilled pork vermicelli, vermicelli with grilled pork, but my relatives advised me that if I made food, when I sent it to be delivered, the dishes would get cold and would no longer be delicious, while sweet soup can be preserved for 2-3 days and still retain its original flavor.”

The Hai Duong native decided to start a business with Vietnamese sweet soup. In May 2015, he and his wife cooked sweet soup and posted pictures on Facebook groups of the Vietnamese community in Japan to try selling it.

8 years ago in Tokyo, no one sold Vietnamese sweet soup, only 1 or 2 pho shops, so the post introducing the sweet soups that he just posted has received quite a lot of interactions.

Mr. Mac Duc Manh started his business in Japan by selling sticky rice and sweet soup on the street.

Since then, every day, the couple cooked sweet soup, then rode their electric bicycles to the train station about 2km from home to sell to customers. In the early days of starting the business, the couple went to school from 7am to 12pm, came home to eat, then prepared sweet soup to sell.

*The electric bike has been with Mr. Manh for 2 years starting a business with Vietnamese sticky rice and sweet soup.*

Mr. Manh shared: “At that time, I sold mixed sweet soup, purple sticky rice yogurt, and jackfruit yogurt. Many customers ordered them. There were people who took the subway from other provinces to Tokyo just to enjoy the taste of Vietnamese sweet soup. So regardless of rain or shine, I still went to the station to deliver sweet soup to customers from 2pm to 11pm. Sometimes, customers ordered so much that I didn’t have time to charge my car. Because we were so busy, my wife and I only cooked once a day to eat all three meals. At that time, my wife was pregnant but still went to school and helped her husband make sweet soup.”

Later, to make his work more convenient, Mr. Manh decided to transport the tea to the train station to sell instead of just shipping it to customers who ordered in advance. “I saw an empty lot near the train station, where people often meet. This is the biggest and most famous station in Tokyo, so most people who go out, go to work or go to school have to go there, so I will have more customers. When I first started selling here, I choked on cigarette smoke because there were too many people smoking, so I had to go back to my house to rest for 10 or 15 minutes and then take my car back,” Mr. Manh said about his memories of the first day he sold at the station.

*Regardless of sun or rain, Mr. Manh still brings sticky rice and sweet soup to customers.*

Since then, every 4:30 p.m. he has been carrying the sweet soup to the train station to sell regardless of the weather. Because it is the first Vietnamese sweet soup shop in Tokyo, many people come to support him. When he is almost out of sweet soup, he goes back home to get more. Vietnamese students in the dormitory also invite each other to eat, so there are days when he sells 70 cups of sweet soup in just 15 minutes. In the summer, there are days when he sells out 500 cups of sweet soup by 9 p.m.

Mr. Manh confided: “After selling sweet soup for more than half a year, my wife gave birth to a baby. We had to send our child to his grandmother when he was only 4 months old. During that time, my wife and I only saw our child through the phone screen because of our busy work and we could not return to Vietnam often. Because I loved my child, I just tried to stabilize the business early and then pick him up. And it was not until he was 3 years old that I was able to do that."

From a street vendor to 4 stores in Tokyo

After selling sweet soup at the station for 6 months, Manh and his wife started selling sticky rice and sweet soup. After two years of diligently cycling to sell sticky rice and sweet soup at the station, in 2017, he opened his first shop in Tokyo.

At first, he only sold sticky rice, sweet soup, snacks, grilled tripe, grilled chicken feet, grilled pork vermicelli, fried spring rolls, then expanded the menu to include pho, hot pot, and drinking dishes.

Even now, with four Vietnamese restaurants in Tokyo, Mr. Manh still remembers the difficulties of opening the restaurant: “During the holidays, when there were many customers, my wife and I washed the dishes until 4am, and then got up at 7am to go to the market. There were many days when the restaurant ran out of food, so my wife and I had to buy boxed lunches because we were so tired.”

*From selling sticky rice and sweet soup, Mr. Manh has 4 Vietnamese food shops in Tokyo. Photo: Mac Duc Manh*

After a year and a half of business, Mr. Manh sponsored a Vietnamese chef to come to Japan. In the third year, he opened two more restaurants. By 2022, he had four Vietnamese restaurants in Tokyo. “At first, the customers coming to his store were mainly Vietnamese, but now Chinese and Japanese customers come to buy sticky rice, sweet soup, and bread, accounting for 60%,” Mr. Manh shared.

*One of Mr. Manh's Vietnamese restaurants in Tokyo. Photo: Mac Duc Manh*

As a regular customer of Mr. Manh since the first days he sold chè, Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh, 28 years old, currently living and working in Tokyo, shared: “When I went to Japan to study for half a year, Mr. Manh started selling chè. My house is right near the station, where Mr. Manh sells chè, so when I don’t have to go to work at night, I go there to buy it, and when I go to school during the day, I ask him to ship it to my house. As far as I know, Mr. Manh was the first person to sell Vietnamese chè in Japan. The sticky rice, chè, and banh mi are very delicious, with the true taste of Vietnam. Since then, I have been a regular customer of the shop. Many of my friends have returned to their home countries but still miss Mr. Manh’s chè.”

*Vietnamese restaurant in Tokyo attracts many tourists to enjoy. Photo: Mac Duc Manh*

Tran Thi Hong Thuy, born in 1997, currently living in Tokyo, said: “While surfing Facebook, I saw the restaurant staff posting a picture. Since it was close by, I stopped by to try the restaurant and have been a regular customer ever since. The dishes at Mr. Manh’s restaurant are delicious, the taste is no different from that in Vietnam. My favorite dish is sweet soup because the coconut milk is rich and fragrant, and the jelly is crunchy and chewy.”

Some dishes that Hong Thuy enjoyed at Mac Duc Manh's Vietnamese restaurant. Photo: Hong Thuy

Photo: Hong Thuy

Sharing his upcoming plans, Mr. Manh said he wants to focus on developing the sticky rice and sweet soup brand to bring the flavors and images of Vietnamese dishes to many international guests and those who love Vietnamese cuisine.

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