VI
EN
Text and photos:Duong Thuy
From street-side tea stalls
Many believe that Saigon's sticky rice and sweet soup specialty was created 37 years ago by a woman of Northern origin. That woman is Ms. Hoang Thi Hoa, the owner of the Bui Thi Xuan sticky rice and sweet soup brand. Ms. Hoa's business in selling sticky rice and sweet soup began in 1977. At that time, when business was slow, with a knack for cooking, she came up with the idea of making mung bean, red bean, and white bean sweet soup to sell near a primary school in District 4 to supplement her income.
Being a kind and meticulous person in the kitchen, when choosing ingredients for her dessert, Mrs. Hoa spared no effort, scouring markets to find fresh and delicious ingredients such as authentic Long Xuyen mung beans, Bao Loc red beans, and only the finest Da Lat white beans, in order to make a fragrant, sweet, and flavorful bowl of dessert.
With her refreshing and uniquely flavored sweet soups, Mrs. Hoa initially sold only about 0.5kg of beans a day, but now she sells dozens of kilograms of each type. Not stopping there, when Thai, American, and Khuc Bach sweet soups entered Saigon, this woman personally visited every sweet soup shop to taste them, then refined her recipe into her own unique product, unlike any other, yet still enthusiastically enjoyed by everyone.
Sweet soup and sticky rice combination
After the success of her dessert, with her quick wit and keen observation, Mrs. Hoa realized that selling sweets was mainly for cooling down in hot weather, but Saigon's weather was divided into two distinct seasons: rainy and dry. During the rainy season, sales of cold desserts slowed down significantly compared to the dry season. Therefore, she decided to add sticky rice to give customers more choices.
It all started with two main dishes: sticky rice with gac fruit and plain sticky rice, served with Chinese sausage, shredded roasted chicken, quail eggs, and pork sausage – what Saigonese people call "savory sticky rice." Like the sweet soups, Mrs. Hoa has carefully crafted her sticky rice dishes, which have now evolved into many variations such as: sticky rice with char siu pork, sticky rice with shredded chicken, sticky rice with braised pork tongue, sticky rice with braised chicken offal, sticky rice with dried shrimp… All are delicious, each with its own unique flavor, and anyone who has tried them once will surely want to return.
Over time, when mentioning Xôi Chè Bùi Thị Xuân, almost every resident of the city gives a perfect 10 to the dishes, which the owner has given a very unique Saigon flavor. Her customers include children who were brought there by their parents in the early days, now middle-aged adults who still frequent the shop weekly. Her shop is located near the press area, so lunchtime is often a gathering time for reporters.
Today, the gentle woman who has made a unique mark on Xôi Chè Sài Gòn is over 76 years old. She has handed over all the management of the shop to her children so she can focus on her pilgrimage and travel. After her trips, she still stays up late cooking sweet soups or steaming sticky rice with her children, as if it were an indispensable part of her life. Sitting and listening to the story of "Grandma Xôi Chè Sài Gòn" on a rainy early summer afternoon, enjoying her products, one feels a sense of peace and tranquility.
Enjoy Saigon-style sticky rice and sweet soup at:
Address of Bui Thi Xuan Sticky Rice and Sweet Soup Shop
- Branch 1: 111 Bui Thi Xuan Street, Pham Ngu Lao Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. Tel. 08.3833 2748
- Branch 2: 33 Dinh Tien Hoang Street, Ward 3, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City. Tel. 08 3517 8333
- Branch 3: 160 Nguyen Oanh Street, Go Vap District. Tel. 08.6675 3882
