The Nguyen Thu Nga "bun rieu" restaurant, named after its owner, stands busy on Nguyen Huu Hao Street, District 4, Ho Chi Minh City.

The Nguyen Thu Nga "bun rieu" restaurant, named after its owner, stands busy on Nguyen Huu Hao Street, District 4, Ho Chi Minh City. Nga serves the popular southern soup which is rice vermicelli going with crab paste and pork knuckles in the tomato-based broth.

“It was initially just a small business on the sidewalk in 1988. Then I changed the location and made it bigger in 2011,” said Nga, who does most of the cooking herself.

The kitchen is an open space therefore customers can see everything, including the huge boiling pot.

The customers enjoy their meal on a low, stainless steel dining table. “I want to keep the rustic vibe. To eat a delicious meal doesn’t mean you have to go to a high-end restaurant,” Nga said.

Nga prepares the ingredients from 7 a.m. The restaurant opens every day from noon until 6 p.m. “I often have to go to the market early to get fresh and quality ingredients,” she said.

The eye-catching bowl,.

Nga sells about 500 bowls of the crab soup a day. The eye-catching bowl, with half a tomato and additional pig's blood pudding and fried tofu, goes perfectly with a side dish of poached water spinach and mung bean sprouts.

This dish will not be the same without the strong flavor of fermented shrimp paste, a signature Vietnamese sauce. Each bowl costs VND50,000 ($2.18).

Source: VnExpress