Which Noodles Dare to Be Better

Noodles cuisine has reached the climax of kitchen art and it already became a popular choice of food of Vietnamese.

In the book Sai Gon nam xua (The Old Saigon), Mr. Vuong Hong Sen wrote that Cho Lon had been established by Chinese immigrants since 1778, within the area of Tan Da street to Kim Bien market and from Nguyen Trai street to Tau Hu channel. It belongs to district 5, 6, 10, and a part of 11, HCMC. When the French took over the Southern Viet Nam, Cho Lon city was created on June 6th 1865.

Looking at Cho Lon map before 1975, we would see that the center of Cho Lon is district 5, where all the best Chinese restaurants have gathered. Nowadays, Chinese cuisine has spread in other districts, from district 1 and 3 to Binh Thanh district.

If we have to choose a typical dish of Cho Lon area, fresh noodles of Chinese immigrants must win. There are numerous choices of noodles, listed as ribs, char siu, stewed duck, kidneys, or dumplings. The best fresh noodles in Cho Lon should be found at bistro called House of Noodles and gourmets already know the noodle threads are the prerequisite to decide quality of a House of Noodles.

Good noodle threads must be handmade, shiningly yellow, and elastic until diners finish their bowl. People believe that lye water is the secret ingredient of best noodles but of course no one is willing to share their secret recipes. Noodles broth is the second element of a great bowl and its recipes, just as secret as noodles’, just run around within each House of Noodles.

Char siu noodles.

Following some Saigon gourmets’ instruction, the writer spent his time on the top Noodles Houses in Cho Lon. First was pork ribs noodle in a famous bistro at 105 Lo Sieu, ward 16, dist. 11, HCMC. It was tricky to look for this place because there are 2 streets names Lo Sieu in 2 different wards within district 11. The easiest way to reach that place is from Hong Bang street, making right turn to Nguyen Thi Nho street then left turning to Tan Thanh. At the end of Tan Thanh street is Lo Sieu street, where a giant pot of broth is boisterous. The noodles house owner, who always worn a white sleeveless T-shirt – a very much familiar image of the old Saigon – was rushing for blanching and displaying his noodles as doing artwork.

Pork ribs noodles.

The giant pot of broth, clear and aromatic, was always boisterously boiling with flowing pork ribs. The cook just needed a pair of chopsticks to split them up since they were already so tender. Pork rib noodles are so good with or without broth. A Chinese cook revealed that they always used one or two chickens to enrich noodle broth. That’s why besides pork ribs that place also serves chicken noodles. Other ingredients of noodle broth are dried daikon, dried shrimps, or dried squid but of course, their potions are also secret.

Stewed-duck noodle is one of outstanding dishes of Cho Lon because most of Noodles Houses in the world only serve roasted duck with noodles. According to Mr. Duong Tri An - a descendant of famous Hai Ky Noodles House on La Cai street (now called Nguyen Tri Phuong), stewed duck noodle was born right here, in Cho Lon area, and even China - the original birthplace of noodles – did not have this type of noodles.

It’s likely a variation of the old stewed chicken in herbal soup from China. However, herbs and spices used for stewed duck are slightly different. They’ve used chan-pei (dried tangerine peel), anise, and Eucommia ulmoides seeds (but not other sweet herbs) mostly to de-odor duck meat.

Stewed duck is a little too tender so cooks just medium-stew duck meat then deep-fry them to create nice texture of the meat. Original bowls must have vegetables and shitake mushroom and sour shred papaya pickle. How suitable duck meat and sour papaya are! After 2975, Hai Ky Noodles House moved to 349 Nguyen Trai till now and the bistro has enlarged its business lately under management of Mrs. Phung Nu – the descendant of Mr. Duong Tri An’ grand.

Stewed duck noodles.

On the alley 66 of Le Dai Hanh street (district 11) is a 70 years old noodle cart. The owner of this senior “Noodle cart” is Mr. Tu Ky, who came to Saigon around the 1930s and he has lived as a street vendor ever since. The elderlies who know Mr. Tu Ky and his noodles too well said that his grandson did not carry on the best of original noodles but Thieu Ky Noodles Cart has been serving the best char siu and hoisin sauce noodles. Having a bite of noodles without broth here, diners could tell that his flavorful noodle threads have no competitors. Hoisin sauce noodles are relished by greaves; a picky snack is able to wonderfully enrich a bowl; fresh shaomai noodles are another point of Thieu Ky Noodle cart.

Dumpling in Thieu Ky Noodles cart.

There are a lot more popular names in Sai Gon – Cho Lon area, such as kidney noodles on Hoa Hao street (dist. 11) and on Truong Dinh street (dist. 1), dumpling noodles on Ha Ton Quyen street (dist. 11), or dumpling noodles on Vo Van Tan (dist. 3).

The busiest time of Noodle Houses is during Tet holiday because Chinese people believe that dumpling noodles will bring lucks to the whole new year.

By Huong Mai/DNSGCT

Translator: Thu Pham