Preserving the sweet and bitter essence of more than 40 years of Muoi Sau Che shop
Amidst the constant changes of Hanoi's streets, when modern milk tea shops and elaborate Korean-Japanese desserts spring up like mushrooms, in a small, peaceful corner on Lo Duc Street, there is still a traditional sweet soup shop standing firm like a low note in the middle of a modern culinary symphony.
Che Muoi Sau Shop - a name that sounds both familiar and old, is a place where generations of Hanoians return when they want to taste the sweetness of their childhood, an old Hanoi with its own unique charm.
Mr. Pham Xuan Thanh - the shop owner shared: "His biggest wish is that in the future, the next generations in the family will continue to run the chè shop to preserve the quintessence of Hanoi cuisine, and above all, to prevent traditional dishes from being lost over time."
Mr. Xuan Thanh manages a small sweet soup shop that holds many memories.
In 1978, Muoi Sau Che shop officially opened at 16 Ngo Thi Nham Street, starting with the skillful hands of an old lady from Hanoi - Mr. Pham Xuan Thanh's mother. In those years, Che was not a trendy dish or had a complicated recipe. It was simply a bowl of sweet black bean Che, rich lotus seed Che or a bowl of soft sticky rice, cooked from pure Vietnamese ingredients, for dessert, to entertain guests, or to burn incense on holidays.
Later, when his mother passed away, Mr. Thanh took over the restaurant, bringing with him the memories, recipes, and a “Hanoi-origin” spirit that his mother passed on. “As the second generation, I don’t want to incorporate modernity, it’s just tradition. Anything that belongs to tradition will always last,” Mr. Thanh shared.
Owner of Muoi Sau Sweet Soup Shop - Pham Xuan Thanh
Taste of Time
From a small house in Ngo Thi Nham, the shop moved to 21A Lo Duc, which is more spacious and brighter, but the flavor remains intact. The menu here is not elaborate or changes seasonally to follow the tastes, but persistently revolves around traditional desserts such as black bean dessert, green bean dessert, lotus seed dessert, nine-layer cloud cake, vo xoi, com xoi... For regular customers, each dish evokes a slice of memory.
The desserts at Muoi Sau are not too sweet, and do not use preservatives or industrial flavors. Mr. Thanh is always meticulous in choosing the ingredients: the green beans must be even and unbroken, the sticky rice must be fragrant golden sticky rice, and the lotus seeds must be old lotus seeds that have been carefully separated from the core. “I choose good ingredients, and the cooking technique remains the same, there is nothing special, it is just a matter of doing it right and doing it evenly,” he said simply.
Visitors flock to the place on hot summer days.
For him, a good sweet soup must not be too “showy”. A bowl of black bean sweet soup simply needs to be soft but not mushy, the soup is shimmering, has a natural brown color, a light sweetness, and is refreshing to the stomach after eating. Like lotus sweet soup, it must be cooked so that the lotus seeds are intact, not broken, but when bitten, they are soft and slightly sweet. No need for toppings, no need to add grass jelly, no need to change the tapioca pearls, because “in the old days, Hanoi was like that, but everyone loved to eat it”.
A space of memory
Although it has moved to a new location, the space of Muoi Sau sweet soup shop still retains its familiarity. Simple plastic tables and chairs, a handwritten menu hanging on the wall, the shop owner serving and chatting intimately - all create a close atmosphere, like coming home. During peak hours, customers stand in long lines to buy take-out, or sit in a small corner sipping a bowl of cool sweet soup under the hot summer sun, everyone is patient and does not complain.
The grapefruit dessert is cooked until smooth and chewy.
In the summer, the shop is most crowded with cool bean desserts served with crushed ice. In the winter, customers look for banh troi tau, sweet potato dessert, and hot desserts to dispel the chill of Hanoi weather. Each season, each dessert, like a slice of the weather, is also a feature imbued with the capital's culinary culture.
What makes people love Muoi Sau sweet soup shop is not only the sweet taste, but also the owner's passion for preserving the profession. For more than 40 years of working with sweet soup, Mr. Thanh still prepares the ingredients himself every day with his wife and children, still keeping the old-fashioned way of cooking sweet soup. He does not follow trends, does not expand the chain, does not make new dishes. "Many people ask why we don't make coconut jelly sweet soup, white jelly sweet soup... but I don't want to. My family keeps the tradition, only selling dishes that old Hanoians used to eat," he said.
Soft, sweet sticky rice dish
The prices of sweet soups here are also very "soft", ranging from 10,000 to 25,000 VND, suitable for students, workers and even tourists. "Che is something deeply ingrained in the subconscious of Hanoians", Mr. Thanh said. And indeed, this rustic dish is not only to satisfy the taste buds. It is a part of memories, a snack for children after school, a bowl of lotus seed sweet soup cooked by mother on the first day of summer, a bowl of banh troi tau on monsoon nights. Cuisine is not only about taste, but also about culture and emotions.
Amidst the waves of modernization rolling through Hanoi, the Muoi Sau sweet soup shop is quietly like a life buoy for nostalgic souls. People come here not only to eat, but also to touch a part of old Hanoi, to hear stories from the old shop owner who has cooked sweet soup for more than half his life, to see that amidst the whirl of change, there are still things that are not faded by time.
"Today we have grapefruit tea"
That small corner on Lo Duc street, no flashy signs, no digital menus, no noisy media. But every day, there are still people lining up, some bringing boxes home for their grandparents, parents, and curious foreigners stopping by to try a “Hanoi sweet dish”. And when diners take the first bite, many people fall silent. Because it is not just a spoonful of black bean sweet soup, but a part of the soul of the old street, gently melting on the tip of the tongue.
