Located in a small alley in Binh Thanh District (Ho Chi Minh City), Ms. Xuan’s western clothing store is popular with customers because of its low price compared to the common ground of today’s European shops.
I went to Le Petit Resto ‘, mid-summer midday in early April. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Xuan’s European restaurant (57 years old) is nestled in Le Van Duyet alley, Binh Thanh district. Diners to the restaurant can go from the direction of Bong Bridge or along the bank of Truong Sa embankment. The space of the restaurant is quite narrow and not too special. However, what impresses me the most is that European dishes are quite affordable, even 50% lower than the Western stores I have tried. “The shop sells mainly for profit, the customer is happy and delicious,” Ms. Xuan smiled when I asked about the “chestnut” price here. Serving Western dishes from 30,000 VND The shop does not have a parking space. I have to keep the car about 10 meters away. Opening the order menu, I understood why European dishes here are so popular with young people. The Western menu is quite rich, from salad dishes, chicken with sauce, chips … to full stomach like pizza, pasta, steak … The price ranges from 29,000 to 179,000 VND / piece, which is a plus point. for the restaurant to hide in the alley. For a rather sultry day, I ordered a plate of tuna salad and homemade aloe vera juice. Try the first salad, the cool feeling of vegetables, tomatoes, corn hits the tip of the tongue, followed by the rich, sour taste of tuna with vinegar sauce. “The vinegar oil at the shop makes special than many other places,” the owner confidently introduced me. According to the owner, diners come here often like pasta dishes with cream sauce, baked pasta … because the taste is easy to eat and the price is “chestnut”, only about 45,000 VND. Middle-aged people prefer more premium foods like beefsteak, pizza, and grilled salmon. In addition to salty food, the shop also sells desserts including mango pudding and cream brulle, priced at 30,000 VND. Seafood spaghetti is the restaurant’s favorite dish. Photo: Hai Nhi. Many customers of the restaurant also share their feelings with me. A gourmet named Huy (Phu Nhuan district) was surprised when he received the bill. His family’s 6-course meal costs approximately 500,000 VND. The owner shared that the children’s hobby of Western food was the inspiration to open the restaurant. “I hope everyone can try Western clothes at affordable prices, especially young people who don’t have too much money,” said Ms. Xuan. According to my observations, the restaurant not only attracts young people, some middle-aged customers or families also come here to enjoy European food. The space is quite narrow, about 10 m2, including 7-8 dining tables. I arrived at more than 11am, when the shop just opened, but the number of customers was quite crowded, only 2-3 tables were empty. The space of the restaurant is quite narrow, but there are still large groups and families coming to eat. Photo: Hai Nhi. Ms. Xuan’s restaurant was opened more than 5 months ago. Initially, the shop was just a narrow place with few tables and chairs, with low rental costs to do business. Later, the shop moved to a new location a few units away from the old place, to have more space. The owner said the cost of premises per month is about 20 million VND. The staff quickly decorates to deliver the food to the guests. Photo: Hai Nhi. The vitality inside the narrow kitchen Storing culinary quintessence, kitchen is considered the soul of every restaurant and restaurant. Entering Le Petit Resto’s kitchen, the aroma of sauces and roasted meat immediately aroused my sense of smell. The special feature of the restaurant is that the staff is quite few, most of the employees are family members. In addition to Ms. Xuan, she also has 2 younger sisters who are in charge of the kitchen, and 1 person is washing dishes. Recently, because customers are crowded, she has hired a kitchen assistant and 2-3 service staff. Her two daughters take turns serving, concocting, billing and closing the books at the end of each month after school and work. The cooking space is quite small, including 4 kitchen people and 2 waitresses in and out to receive food and bring it to guests. Ms. Xuan is considered the “captain” here, directing the kitchen assistants to prepare ingredients and decorate dishes. Each person in the kitchen undertakes a different task, but almost everyone is in a tight limb, urging each other to work to make food quickly. When I went in, apart from Ms. Hoa main cooking and 1 chicken fry, the other two kitchen assistants were preparing vegetables and setting the dishes on a plate to decorate. Bustling atmosphere inside the small kitchen. Photo: Hai Nhi. “There are times when customers are crowded, not in time, everyone in the kitchen has to do many tasks at the same time such as cooking, washing dishes …”, Ms. Hoa said while preparing beefsteak. When talking to me outside, she appeared to be a gentle, gentle woman. By the time she entered the kitchen, she became energetic, resourceful, focusing on cooking and guiding the work for the staff. That was when I learned that the owner had more than 20 years of culinary experience, and used to be the chef of a famous hotel in Ho Chi Minh City. However, Ms. Xuan is not a “race child” in the culinary industry. “I came from an accountant background, I did not have a job, and was introduced to a tour company to try out. At first, I just thought of cooking for fun. Who expected the chef and the cook. Deputy sure sees that I am gifted, so he always has a career. Since then, the profession of kitchen has followed me until now, “she said. Perhaps more than 20 years of cooking experience has made Ms. Xuan’s kitchen operation quite flexible and professional. On the hot fire, she quickly turned the steak, adding a little butter to increase the creaminess. “Beefsteak is very difficult to cook. Depending on whether you want to eat medium or rare, you have a different cooking time,” Ms. Xuan said. Ms. Xuan is preparing the beefsteak for the guests. Photo: Hai Nhi. Thanks to old relationships, the shop has a familiar source to import seafood, beef, and salmon ingredients … and sell them all during the day, absolutely not to leave them overnight. This ingredient is processed from 8:00 am to 11:00 am, not ready to be refrigerated. Therefore, the sauce is hot and fragrant, keeping the original flavor when delivered to diners. Normally, Ms. Xuan will get up early from around 4:00 am to 5:00 am to do housework, then go to the market to buy snacks, then go to the shop to prepare sauces and preliminary processing of ingredients. An employee of the restaurant is frying chicken. Photo: Hai Nhi. The average cooking time for each dish is about 15-20 minutes. “Sometimes customers keep remorseful, so we have to try to manipulate quickly. The shop doesn’t pre-process before,” said Ms. Xuan. Therefore, guests may have to wait a bit longer than other restaurants. After beefsteak finished, she began to cook crab noodles again. The bustling atmosphere is evident in the small kitchen. People not only pay attention to their part but also remind each other to create the perfect dish. The conversation between me and Ms. Xuan was continuously interrupted by the staff’s urging. Ms. Xuan spoke while quickly stirring the spices over the fiery red pans. “Sometimes the customers are too crowded, do not make up the dishes in time, Xuan skips the decor step,” the owner of the shop turned to tell me. Kitchen space is hot, narrow, but no one employee complains. Photo: Hai Nhi. A special feature of the restaurant is that it does not use monosodium glutamate. The pure European dishes are seasoned with rich flavors, slightly modified to suit Vietnamese tastes. According to Ms. Xuan, if cooked as the restaurant, the taste is quite faint, Vietnamese customers are not used to eating. “Working as a European kitchen is very hard. My two daughters do not follow their mother’s career”, Ms. Xuan said. She said that her oldest daughter is a doctor, the other is studying pharmacist in the third year. All the accounting jobs of the restaurant are also done by the two daughters, so there is no need to hire more people. The shop is open from 11am to 2pm, then has a lunch break. In the afternoon, from 17:00, the shop started to sell again until the stock was out. “There are days when guests come from 16:30. I also let them in but have to wait until the right time to have food”, Ms. Xuan shared. Tran Vu: “Small and beautiful restaurant. Delicious food, cheap price is the advantage of the restaurant”. Thuy Trang: “The restaurant has a small and cozy space. Two people should order a combo to eat many dishes. Beefsteak, tuna salad, baked seafood pasta with cream sauce, pizza, pasta are the must-try dishes”. Minh Hien: “The shop is in an easy-to-find location, wide alley. The space is a bit small, not suitable for large groups of people. Nice presentation is a plus point”. Mai Thy: “Fast food, no need to wait”. Pm Food Travel: “Although European food has had a variation, I find the taste is still a bit pale”. Let’s eat pizza for 400,000 VND in Ho Chi Minh City Zing compared two high-priced cheese pizzas. With a difference of over VND 30,000, 4P’s Burrata Parma Ham pizza impresses more than Logic Baked Prosciutto and Burrata Salad.
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