Phở Hà Nội is the breakfast cafe run by Duyen, her husband Han and their friend Loi in Tinh Gia. Its name means that the meal they make is made, as it would be in the capital of Vietnam, Ha Noi. All three people are trained chefs, Loi having worked for some time in one of Ha Noi's top restaurants - Bobby Chinn's (You can go to that restaurant's home page by clicking here ). Having retreated from the metropolis for the sake of their young families they now run a successful business that caters for local people who want to start the day with an excellent meal. Breakfast cafes are common in Vietnam, ranging from chains like Pho24 (a sort of Vietnamese MacDonalds) to the high quality old family businesses in Ha Noi.

Breakfast underway - the cleanliness at table level contrasts with the Vietnamese habit of rubbish disposal

Pho Ha Noi comes in at the top end of this range which is how it draws in some two or three hundred customers a day, although it is well tucked away from the main thoroughfares. The reason for this specialisation is held to be that a good meal of any sort is a skilled creation, and is best left to the experts, and experts in Vietnam are not Jack of all trades.

This single-mindedness is described more fully in the article on Pho which, if you would like to read first, you can jump to from here. The morning starts at 4.30am with attention to the broth, this has been simmering for 16 hours already and now has spices added.

How to present a carrot - the contrast with litter below the tables could not be stronger

The meat and freshly picked vegetables are collected from the market and prepared. By 6am the first customers are sitting down and being served - somewhat earlier in the heat of the summer, when in the day all the fans do is blow hot air at you. No air conditioning here as the cafe, which is thatched in a traditional manner (See page on Thatching), has no walls, this allows what air movement there is to reach the diners.

The art of conversation lives here - oiled in this case by a little beer

Fourteen tables have some 90 seats and most people stay less than 20 minutes: a bowl of Pho and away, well at least away as far as the tea table; which offers breakfasters a pause on their exit for a cup of green tea, and the men may have a puff at the communal water pipe.

While 'most people' keep moving on their way to work or social engagements there are always a core who feel no such demands, and not necessarily for any lack of work, but simply because the pleasures of talking and drinking win out. Beer and vodka are drunk in large quantities from first thing in the morning.

The kitchen underway - notice the masks and gloves worn

Women will sometimes drink a little beer or a token glass of vodka, but the heavy drinking is left to the men - who more than make up for any hesitancy on the part of their counterparts. A couple of nips of vodka often leads to a morning spent in the happy company of friends... How can work be more important than socialising? While Phở is synonymous with breakfast, it is not the only food served for the first meal. The same liquid and meat can equally well come with 'bún' another rice noodle which is rounder and firmer, or with 'mì tôm' (pronounced a bit like 'me tomb') and which is made from manioc.

The main vat is used to simmer over 40 kilos of bones in 180 litres of water

And having started out on the choices, it should be added, as a warning if nothing else, that most parts of animals are cooked and available: brains, eyes, mouth flesh and tongues are all held as special foods, and more expensive delicacies: more expensive than the fillet steak that is used for the standard meal. This penchant for the unexpected parts of animals knows no bounds, but the fact that the best bit of the chicken is usually held to be the feet probably says enough.The work day spans some 8 or 9 hours, the hectic serving period is followed by clearing and cleaning up, and preparing the following days stock. Then there are the trips to the market to keep up the stock of some 40 kilos of beef bones that are needed each day, and the preparation of all the condiments and peripherals that accompany the meal.

Every leaf of the herbs that are bought each morning are washed and cut

Typically this involves a team of four family members who do the cooking, problem solving and shopping, and four employed helpers who serve and clean. As in any tropical country cleaning is a major part of the work. Everything must be washed thoroughly every day as, naturally, the smell of food is a great magnet to every animal. Chop sticks are disposable, not re-used, but as always in Vietnam they are not wasted, they are rinsed and then become the kindling for the charcoal fires which keep the vats simmering for those long hours.

Several trips to the market are made each day to bring the 50 or so kilos of bones needed

To us it seems odd that the cafe and all its equipment are actually only used for a couple of hours a day: non-drinking customers and the stock are usually finished by 9am. Tables of those devoted to conversation be occupied well into the day while the preparation and clearing up goes on around them. The whole team lunches when the work is done and then with the heat, (and the French influence) is mostly given over to sleep. With dusk come the final trips to the market, the setting of the tables for the next day, and a leisurely evening meal.

Chicken for a special meal where it can be presented whole

While walk-in main meals are not on offer - being cooks who enjoy their work - there is willingness to prepare specially ordered feasts provided there is forward notice. Vietnam has a long list of special holidays for workers, teachers, children, Ho Chi Minh, liberation, victory over the French, victory over the Americans... On these days social and work groups will seek to have a meal prepared at Pho Ha Noi by the cooks who serve them so well the rest of the year. Being three miles from the sea such meals are weighted towards sea-food - every bit of which arrives live! (There is more on a special sea-food restaurant at New Year Lunch.)

The cafe is less than 18 months old and going strong, now they are turning their thoughts to expanding the business. New floors are being added to the house behind the cafe where customers will be able to sit and enjoy the view of the open country beyond the town. But the serving there of coffee, tea and drinks will be kept well separated from the art of Pho practiced in the main kitchen.

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