The taste of Vietnam in Taiwan
Last April Ngoc Thuy and her sister opened a Vietnamese restaurant called “Yue Hao Chi” on Wanda Road in Taipei. Unlike the impression many people have of small Vietnamese eateries, “Yue Hao Chi” is clean and comfortable, and strongly Vietnamese in style. On the walls, which are papered with a red brick pattern, are oil paintings that Ngoc Thuy commissioned from Vietnam. One shows a scene of Vietnam in olden times, with a haziness suggestive of damp air after rain. The other shows the Ben Thanh market, a century-old landmark in Ho Chi Minh City. The painter packed into the work the market building from the French colonial era, women wearing ao dai (Vietnamese national dress) and conical farmers’ hats, and the hoang mai flowers (Ochna integerrima) that symbolize the atmosphere of new year in southern Vietnam.
Ngoc Thuy’s thoughtful approach appears everywhere in the restaurant’s decor, which includes stunning handmade lanterns from the historic city of Hoi An. Colorfully painted conical farmers’ hats, the rambutan trees that flourish in her native land, and the hoang mai and peach blossoms that every household must have for the New Year holiday show differences in customs between southern and northern Vietnam. Immigrant customers feel right at home, while Taiwanese patrons can surround themselves with the exotic atmosphere of a foreign land.
Tran Ngoc Thuy, who is today still studying in the Graduate Institute of Curriculum and Instruction at National Taiwan Normal University, is student, teacher, wife, mother, interpreter, volunteer, radio program host…. Despite these many roles, Ngoc Thuy still persists in compiling one or two legal terms per day, because she believes, “Even if I only do a little bit every day, slowly accumulating terms is still better than doing nothing at all.”
When asked how she finds the time for all her activities, Ngoc Thuy laughs and says, “The busier a person is, the better they are able to manage their time.” Watching Ngoc Thuy as she moves industriously around the restaurant, her face always bears a smile, and her eyes are bright with self-confidence.
Ngoc Thuy uses a variety of methods, including cuisine, lectures, and teaching, to share Vietnamese culture and build a bridge of friendship between Taiwan and Vietnam. (courtesy of Tran Ngoc Thuy)
Ngoc Thuy’s restaurant has downhome Vietnamese dishes on the menu. One example is soup with stuffed bitter melon. Green bitter melon is stuffed with minced meat, mung bean noodles, and wood ears fungus, then flavored with Vietnamese pepper and cooked into a soup. In Vietnam the dish is served only at New Year, and symbolizes “leaving bitterness [hard times] behind.”
The “Yue Hao Chi” restaurant is redolent with Vietnamese style, just waiting for the public to come in and have a taste.