Located right near the gate of Thanh Cong Secondary School (Hanoi), Nem Ba Cung Nuom restaurant welcomes customers every day. The owner of the restaurant is an old lady with white hair and a hunched back named Nguyen Thi Thanh, nearly 80 years old this year.
The cold weather at the beginning of the season makes the taste of fried spring rolls even more attractive to diners. The old lady’s spring roll shop. It’s called a shop, but this place only has a few small chairs on the sidewalk, no awning, no tables.
Mrs. Thanh’s thin hands quickly fried the spring rolls as she shared: “I have experienced this before. All sorts of jobs, from selling porridge to popular pork belly vermicelli to rice… After getting old, I chose to sell spring rolls on the sidewalk to ease the hardship. God loves you so fried spring rolls are always very popular.
She said it took 20 years of experience to make delicious spring rolls like today. When she first started selling spring rolls, she often got burned because boiling oil splashed on her hands. Some of the spring rolls were burned and some were crushed, not looking good. Having been in the profession for many years, she figured out how to add shrimp powder to spring rolls and use pia cake shells to wrap the spring rolls to make them more delicious without oil splashing.
Thinking back to the days when she first sat here selling her goods said: “In the past, when customers didn’t know each other all day, she could only sell 50 pieces. At that time, each spring roll was only 1,000 VND/piece. The calculated profit is not much.”
Currently, every day, Ms. Thanh sells about 300 – 400 fried spring rolls, on crowded days, nearly 500 pieces.
Mrs. Thanh confided that she still remembers each face. Students came to the shop even though she didn’t know their names. Every day she sits here not only to make a living, she also hears many stories from her students. Just like that, her burden grew and matured with them. For that reason, she considers each customer as a member of the family.
The image of the old lady with white hair and white hair selling spring rolls in front of the school gate has become the memory of many generations of school students. Thanh Cong Secondary School. Mrs. Thanh calls the customers “you” and explains that because the restaurant is next to a school, she calls them “you” to be closer.
The hunched back has a small body but Mr. Thanh has strength Good health and agility at the age of 80. He said: “If I’m still healthy, I’m still working.” Sometimes, thanks to the hard work of selling and talking to my children every day, I become even more lucid. I will sell until I have no strength left.”
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