VI
EN
Over time, will breakfast in Cholon still be as appealing as it once was?
An old-fashioned teapot in Cholon in the 1960s - Photo: LIFE
One Sunday morning at the end of the year, following Mr. Tu, nearly 80 years old and living in District 11, to "dẩm chà" (meaning drinking tea in Cantonese, but also meaning having breakfast) at Thuan Kieu fish hotpot restaurant (190 Hong Bang, District 5), we went from one surprise to another.
Without even looking at the menu, she could still order the best dishes here, even advising us not to order chrysanthemum Pu-erh tea, as many people often order, but to choose Tie Guan Yin tea instead because it's the best tea the shop offers. It turns out she's had a habit of frequenting tea shops since she was young, a habit that hasn't changed in decades. She goes to any newly opened shop or any shop that's crowded. Because she's a regular customer of many tea shops, she used to be given special bowls of tea.
"The baby carrying the adult" goes to the muddy area.
She recounted that the "chà thoi" eatery was a simple, affordable place, accessible to almost everyone. She recalled a rickshaw driver who came in and ordered only a small cup of black coffee. It turned out he had brought a packet of sticky rice with him, and when he left, the sugar jar on the table was half empty because he had secretly added some sugar to the sticky rice.
In the old days, many Chinese people would meet early in the morning and ask, "Have you had your tea yet?" (Dẩm chà mì?). Back then, only men and children would go to dẩm chà; women were rarely seen.
In the old days, tea houses always served free tea. Whenever a customer arrived, a waiter would cheerfully bring a teapot and pour tea. Another waiter would carry a large bamboo steamer and place dim sum dishes such as dumplings, dry and wet siu mai, steamed buns, and fried dough sticks on the table. Therefore, the person pouring the tea was nicknamed "the teapot," while the person carrying the large steamer was called "the lion's head."
According to Mr. Tu, perhaps because the restaurant staff were illiterate, they would loudly announce their orders to the cooks. When customers finished eating and were about to pay, they would describe each customer's characteristics and the amount to be paid to the cashier so the customers could settle the bill themselves. A couple eating together was often referred to by the staff as a "lovebirds," and when an old man carried his grandchild on his shoulders, it was reversed to "a child carrying an adult." In general, the comparisons were all interesting and rhyming.
When he was young and first heard the street vendors shouting like that, Mr. Tu scolded them, "These people are all talking nonsense!", but they told him it was slang used by the local people.
When asked about his memories of coffee shops, Mr. Quoc from District 11 said that his favorite thing back then was being carried on his grandfather's shoulders to the coffee shop. His grandfather also had a habit of pouring a little coffee into a saucer before drinking it, explaining that this helped the coffee cool down faster and made it easier to drink.
Preserving the soul of the old restaurant through its food.
Through years of ups and downs, coupled with the competition from Hong Kong dim sum that was introduced in the 1990s, these old, cramped dim sum stalls, steeped in history, hold the memories of countless people from a bygone era, yet they endure through the years. One of the oldest surviving dim sum stalls is Tuong Hung Long (190 Hau Giang Street, District 6, next to Co.op Mart Hau Giang supermarket), with over 60 years of history.
This shop was run by the Tran family, of Teochew Chinese descent. The children of the deceased worked together, some cooking noodle soup, others preparing breakfast, and still others making tea and coffee. The whole family worked together, opening the shop at 5 am every day. After the husband passed away, the shop was temporarily leased to Hong Phat beverage shop (currently located opposite Binh Tay Market).
After Hong Phat moved away, Mr. Tran's descendants continued the business until today. The shop is still open from 5 am to 11 am, with the same menu as before, featuring noodle soup, dumplings, shumai, and steamed buns. Although the shop is no longer as crowded as before, it still has quite a few regular customers, such as Ms. Ngoc, a Chinese woman of Teochew origin living on Cao Van Lau Street, District 6, who frequently comes to buy steamed buns.
She loves the steamed buns with thin crusts and delicious fillings that her father used to take her to eat when she was a child. Ms. Ngoc also added that Mr. Ta, whom she called her uncle when he was alive, was also a long-time customer of this shop. He passed away more than 20 years ago, but on the anniversary of his death, his children and grandchildren still come to the shop to buy his favorite snacks and noodle soup to offer as a sacrifice.
The shop's layout remains unchanged; the noodle-making area, located right by the entrance, is made of cement and tiled with ceramic tiles. The broth is usually simmered from the previous evening. The only difference is that the old wooden round tables have been replaced with a row of stainless steel tables, and the walls are tiled to prevent smoke stains and make cleaning easier. Notably, the shop still uses a bamboo steamer instead of an aluminum pot for steaming, just like in the old days.
Young people enjoy Hong Kong-style breakfast like the one at Tien Phat restaurant, 18 Ky Hoa Street, District 5 - Photo: Quang Dinh
Diverse and varied
As society constantly evolves, the Chinese people's preferences for tea and snacks have gradually changed, resulting in a wide variety of tea and snacks available in Cholon to cater to different tastes. Interestingly, these later establishments often display signs indicating "breakfast shop," "breakfast restaurant," or "tim sam" (meaning "breakfast" in Cantonese), rather than simply "tea shop."
For example, at restaurant 259 Hong Bang (corner of Trieu Quang Phuc street), they still serve dishes in small plates like some old-fashioned Vietnamese sausages, at a fairly affordable price of 27,000 VND per plate. Another affordable breakfast spot that attracts many elderly Chinese people is Trung Mai restaurant, located deep in an alley on Phu Dinh street (also known as the lantern street, District 5). It is known that the chef here previously worked at Ngoc Lan Dinh restaurant, so the breakfast dishes are prepared in a traditional style.
Young Chinese people prefer going to Hong Kong-style dim sum restaurants because the dim sum is prepared fresh after ordering, unlike the pre-made versions found in traditional dim sum bars. Some argue that the practice of displaying pre-made dim sum on the table, then removing it and offering it to other customers later, seems unhygienic.
Many Hong Kong-style dim sum restaurants boast dozens of dishes, staff dressed in traditional dark clothing, wooden tables, and antique interiors, attracting a large number of customers. For example, Tien Phat restaurant (18 Ky Hoa Street, District 5) requires customers to park their vehicles in the nearby Minh Dao School courtyard on Sundays. With nearly 50 delicious Hong Kong-style dim sum dishes featuring fresh ingredients, complimentary tea, and a particularly tasty pork rib noodle soup, the prices are comparable to other dim sum restaurants.
To fully experience Chinese culture, according to Mr. Vĩ from District 5, you should visit breakfast restaurants that feature live Chinese folk music, such as Thuận Kiều or Cát Tường (located within the District 5 Cultural Center) every weekend. Alternatively, if you want to relive the memories of old breakfast restaurants like Ngọc Lan Đình, Đại La Thiên, Đồng Khánh, Soái Kình Lâm, etc., then you should go to Tân Lạc Viên (1195 - 1197 Ba Tháng Hai Street, Ward 6, District 11).
This restaurant has been selling breakfast for over 20 years, and its unique feature is that it still uses a trolley to bring out the food, as is often seen in Hong Kong films. Customers are free to choose their food, and after eating, they leave the bamboo steamers on the table for the waiter to count and calculate the bill.
Businesspeople often enjoy breakfast at the Silver Pavilion restaurant in the Windsor Hotel. One Hong Kong businessman, in particular, would come here for breakfast whenever he had free time; all the staff knew his preferred tea and breakfast dishes. He also came here to meet business partners, socialize with friends, and even conduct on-the-spot job interviews.
Traditional Chinese tea houses are becoming less common, but the habit of enjoying tea among the Chinese remains unchanged. However, it's no longer the exclusive domain of men and children. During holidays and festivals, it's common to see large Chinese families, young and old, enjoying tea together. Therefore, it's no surprise that during the Lunar New Year, tea houses like Phong Lan, Thuan Kieu, Tan Lac Vien, Bay Ky Quan, Cat Tuong, etc., are bustling with customers. For example, Mr. Vy spent six out of his seven-day Lunar New Year holiday enjoying tea, only observing a vegetarian diet on the first day of the new year.
The image of elderly people sitting with one foot on the ground and the other on a chair, sipping coffee from a saucer at wooden tables, surrounded by the cheerful calls of street vendors ordering food or settling bills, the clinking of dishes and chopsticks, and the lively conversations of diners, creates a unique atmosphere of the old-fashioned "chà thoi" (a type of Vietnamese street food stall) in Cholon that is gradually fading into the past. Will the next generation still know what "chà thoi" is a decade from now?
"People from Hainan in China mainly worked as fishermen. After migrating to Vietnam, they became traders and opened tea shops. Therefore, in the past, most tea shops in Saigon were opened by people of Hainanese Chinese origin, located right at intersections and crossroads. However, nowadays, there are hardly any tea shops owned by people of Hainanese origin left."
"The street vendors in the old market area are characterized by selling noodle soup, coffee, and various pastries such as pâtés, sponge cakes, and egg tarts, but they don't sell dumplings or steamed buns like the street vendors in Cholon Market," said Mr. Thiet from the Hainanese Association.
According to Chinese documents, the Hainanese were the first Chinese to migrate to Vietnam.
http://www.360doc.com/content/13/0129/16/9090133_263065217.shtml
