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Located in a small alley at 194 Vo Van Tan Street, Ward 6, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Aunt Ut's Beef Stew restaurant is a familiar destination for food lovers. The restaurant has been around for over 30 years, passed down through three generations. The beef stew here is unique because of its combination of Vietnamese and Indian flavors – familiar yet novel – making it a favorite among diners.
As soon as you step into the small alley, you can immediately sense the distinctive and incredibly enticing aroma emanating from the steaming pot of broth. Without a flashy storefront or bright sign, Aunt Ut's Beef Stew restaurant attracts and draws customers from near and far with its unique flavor unlike any other beef stew restaurant.
The beef stew here is unique because of the combination of two flavors, Vietnamese and Indian, which is both familiar and novel.
This Vietnamese-Indian beef stew restaurant, with over 30 years of history, is a familiar destination for many diners.
Diners eat at small plastic tables and chairs set up by the owner in front of the house. On the small tables are various condiments such as lemon, chili, pepper, fish sauce, chili salt, and herbs… to adjust to their taste. The front of the house serves as the kitchen, where the broth pot, heated over charcoal, is kept, along with various spices and other ingredients. The back is the family's living area.
The restaurant's ambiance evokes a nostalgic feeling of bygone days, with its green walls stained by time and the walls of the broth-making area turning a grayish-brown due to the smoke rising from the kitchen.
During Saigon's rainy season, sitting on a small plastic chair and enjoying a steaming, delicious bowl of beef stew is a wonderful experience. My initial impression of this beef stew is the incredibly eye-catching, deep orange-red broth with its glistening layer of fat—a color often seen in Indian cuisine.
Beef stew captivates diners with its delicious, rich broth and tender, juicy beef.
The ingredients are still the usual components of Vietnamese beef stew: beef, onions, scallions, and carrots, but when you taste it, you'll experience a unique flavor that's both familiar and new, a perfect blend of Vietnamese and Indian tastes. The way of enjoying this dish also reflects Vietnamese culture with the addition of lime, chili, and herbs, a common feature of dishes like pho, hu tieu, and bun rieu.
Diners are captivated by the rich, flavorful broth, the sweet, tender beef, and the tranquil atmosphere of a small alleyway in the heart of the bustling city, with the faint sound of the radio transporting them back to bygone days.
Mr. Nguyen Khac Hieu, 52 years old, from District 7, shared: “I’ve been eating at this beef stew restaurant for about 15-20 years. I usually stop by at lunchtime because many days they sell out by 3 PM. The beef stew here has a uniquely delicious flavor and a richer color compared to other places.”
Mr. Nguyen Khac Hieu has been a regular customer of the restaurant for many years.
Sharing a similar sentiment, Mr. Tran Hanh Nam, 40 years old, from Binh Thanh district, said: “I’ve been eating beef stew at this restaurant for about 7 or 8 years. The flavor of the beef stew here is very palatable, not overpowering because the owner adjusts the seasoning to suit Vietnamese tastes. I stop by every day on my way to work because I’m not used to eating it elsewhere.”
Anh Tay, the son of Aunt Ut, shared: “The beef stew restaurant opened in 1993 during my maternal grandparents' time. My maternal grandfather was Indian, and my maternal grandmother was Vietnamese. Later, the restaurant was passed down to my mother. Initially, this dish was cooked for family members to enjoy. Then, the family noticed that there were many types of beef stew in Saigon, both Chinese and Vietnamese, but few Indian ones, so they came up with the idea of starting a business selling this dish. That's how the Vietnamese-Indian beef stew flavor was born.”
The beef stew restaurant opened in 1993.
The beef is carefully selected, and the cook also needs to pay attention to the grain of the meat when slicing it to ensure the best taste.
During the cooking process, to suit Vietnamese tastes, the family adjusted the seasonings somewhat. The foreigner explained that if they followed Indian standards, Vietnamese people would find it difficult to eat, as the beef stew would be very flavorful and spicy.
The whole family spends the morning preparing the ingredients and making the broth… From 4 or 5 in the morning, Mr. Tay goes to the slaughterhouse to select the best cuts of beef, not too tough and not too soft. Then the beef is cleaned, sliced, stir-fried with spices and ingredients until browned, and then simmered in the broth.
According to the Westerner, the broth is the most important and time-consuming part because it gives the dish its soul. His family doesn't use bones for simmering, but mainly beef and various other ingredients and spices. He shared that to make a truly delicious broth, you need more than a dozen different spices.
For over 30 years, that flavor has continued to captivate and entice diners year after year.
The restaurant opens around 12 noon until everything is sold out. Customers can choose from a variety of side dishes to accompany the beef stew, such as rice noodles, pho, banh mi, and regular noodles, all priced at 50,000 VND per serving.
More than just a dish, diners enjoying Vietnamese-Indian beef stew will experience a fusion of culture, cuisine, and family traditions, where flavors are preserved from generation to generation. For over 30 years, that flavor has continued to captivate and entice diners year after year.
