“I visit Ms. Loan’s eatery around three times a week to eat delicious meat skewers before going home in rush hours,” Ms. Ha Linh, an office worker in Hoan Kiem, Hanoi, said.

“I have gone to this eatery since I was a high school student. Even now, when I have job, I still visit Ms. Loan eatery. In this time of the year, I can enjoy my meat skewers while viewing Ham Long Church. Sometimes, I could hear the church bell. This is a perfect place for dating,” Mr. Quoc Tung (Hang Bot Ward, Hanoi) said.

From 4:0pm to 6pm, the oven in the eatery owned by Mr. Thang and Ms. Loan works continuously to serve purchasers.

“Today, there are many customers, so please wait!”

“As usual, right? But can you wait for me, I still have many orders! I will compensate next time for you.”

As there are many customers, those who come late may have to wait for 20 minutes at most.

“People call this ‘an eatery with a church view’, but I usually call it a waiting eatery. However, I am used to waiting. The husband and wife are hospitable, so no one gets angry,” Ms. Ha Linh said.

The owners have been working for 15 years. “I sell from 25 to 30 kilograms of pork a day, equivalent to about 1000 meat skewers. After the pandemic, there were fewer customers than before, but I still sell at least 700 meat skewers a day,” Ms. Loan said.

In 2007, Ms. Loan opened the eatery. She gradually improved her recipe to suit customers’ demand. At first, most of the purchases were from students, so they called her eatery “childhood meat skewer eatery”. At that time, a meat skewer cost 4000 VND. In 2018, she raised the price to 5000 VND per meat skewer.

“As most of my customers are young people, I do not want to raise the price too much. Meat skewers vary in size depending on the price of pork,” she said.

Ms. Loan has to choose the pork carefully. She and her husband wash fresh pork, chop it into pieces, season, and then put it through skewers. The more skewers the customer’s order, the more she grills.

Ms. Loan also sells bread, so that people can eat meat with the bread. A piece costs 2000 VND, as she sells it to break even. “If they order a large number of meat skewers, we will give them bread as a gift for waiting,” Mr. Thang said.

Ms. Loan’s eatery sells dishes such as spicy beef salad, sea snails. Many young adults consider her place as a perfect dating site. At the price of 5000 VND per skewers, the meat is not big, and customers also have to wait for a while, but the eatery only has two employees – Ms. Loan and her husband.

“The alley has many eateries, so the place is quite small. Besides, as they do not open on Sundays, many buyers can miss an opportunity to try their skewers,” Ms. Ha Linh said.

The pavement is full of customers waiting for their meat skewers.

Ms. Loan grills meat while chatting with customers.

The hospitality of the owners makes the customers feel happy.

Buyers are impressed with the sweet and tasty meat skewers.

Due to their seasoning technique, the meat skewers are fragrant and delicious when served with a special spicy sauce.

Many customers have been going to this eatery for years.

Quang Minh

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