It is not a common sight: dozens of customers lined up in front of a shop in the capital city of Hanoi to buy food, as if the city had returned to the pre-market economy era. For renowned Quoc Huong shop on Hang Bong Street, Hoan Kiem district, these are simply happy days. As one of the most famous shops with generations selling pork pies, sausages and square glutinous rice cake in Hanoi, Quoc Huong shop is packed with customers when Tet comes. Tet (Lunar New Year festival) is the biggest holiday in Vietnam, and these foods are a dispensable part of the holiday (Photo: Vietnam+) 
Quoc Huong shop, which started its business some 200 years ago, is famous for making banh chung (square glutinous rice cakes) and other holiday delicacies such as pork pies and sausages, using traditional recipes and cooking methods. The shop doesn’t take orders in advance. One week before the Lunar New Year Festival, or Tet, people begin to queue up in front of the shop to wait for their turns. It becomes especially crowded during the last lunar day. The shop’s sales staff, numbered at over 50 during the days before Tet, are as busy as bees from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM to serve customers (Photo: Vietnam+) 
Lan, a customer in Bao Khanh street, Hanoi said she buys square glutinous rice cake, a traditional dish for Tet, at this shop every year since this is an age-old trademark. She is a loyal customer of the shop. The products here are delicious and safe, she said. This year, she queues up since 5:00 AM to avoid long queue (Photo: Vietnam+) 
Quoc Huong shop is now run by 81-year-old woman Nguyen Thi Chan, whose relatives were natives of Uoc Le Village, Hanoi. The village has been known for making gio cha (pork pies) and banh chung (square glutinous rice cake) for more than five centuries. The shop owner says during the last day of the lunar year, there are only around 500 square glutinous rice cakes sold at 70,000 VND/each. Prices of other products such as pork trotter, beef jerky, ham… remain the same as on a normal day. Stable price is also a reason for customers to buy the Tet dishes from this shop. (Photo: Vietnam+) 
Quoc Huong a favourable shop of Hanoians thanks to its efforts to keep the authentic tastes of Vietnamese traditional cuisine, especially Tet dishes such as chung cake, gio and cha. The shop’s cakes are famous for their thin skin, full of rice flavor, savoury toppings, and unique taste. Wrapping leaves must be carefully washed and green, sticky must be of the best quality; mung beans are carefully peeled; fresh belly pork... all packed into square cakes, hard-boiled. (Photo: Vietnam+) 
Long queues of people creates an interesting view on Hang Bong street. From the 25th day of the last lunar month onwards, customers coming to Quoc Huong shop must queue in line to buy their products. Those who are in line first can go to buy cakes first. They prepare money when standing in line. It seems that this has become a routine for customers here, so no one is surprised or annoyed. Therefore, even if it takes a few hours to stand in line, customers are still happy to bring home green banh chung and delicious pork pies and sausages. For Quoc Huong shop, these are simply happy days. (Photo: Vietnam+) 
People in the capital city of Hanoi often come to Quoc Huong shop to buy square glutinous rice cakes to offer to their ancestors when Tet comes. Inside the store was full of customers, but the queue is still long. Most of the customers line up and wait for their turns. The reason they defy the crowd, lining up for an hour to hold a pair of square glutinous rice cake or braised on a pork pie is because the quality and price of the product here are quite reasonable. Many customers regret because the cake was sold out, they have to move to another shop. (Photo: Vietnam+) 
The shop’s cakes are famous for their thin skin, full of rice flavor, savoury toppings, and unique taste. Wrapping leaves must be carefully washed and green, sticky must be of the best quality; mung beans are carefully peeled; fresh belly pork... all packed into square cakes, hard-boiled. That’s why the cake is very soft and sticky, full of stuffing and tasty. The cakes are sold out every day, so each cake sold is newly cooked and delicious. (Photo: Vietnam+) 
Coming here, most of shoppers buy at least two square glutinous rice cakes. According to Ms. Chan, shop owner, banh chung at her shop sells mainly to local people. Some people buy them to eat, some buy them as gifts, others buy them back home as a "specialty" gift of Hanoi. Ms. Chan recalled: ‘There were also orders from the company that placed thousands of cakes as gifts for employees and partners’. (Photo: Vietnam+) 
Shop owner Nguyen Thi Chan serves her customers tirelessly. Although Chan is over 80 years old, she and her family start their working day at 4 AM every day to prepare for the food. She still seasons the food herself with the traditional family recipe by looking at the discoloration of the meat. This formula is kept secret by her and will be passed on to her son following the family succession. (Photo: Vietnam+) 
After just over one hour of opening the counter, the mountain of goods is completely gone, and some dishes are gone after half an hour. In the small stall, a specialist on the phone answers orders, advises customers, one person quickly packages the goods for customers waiting in line, another in and out to move more goods, another group sits labeling product... (Photo: Vietnam+) 
People have to make their way through the crowd to buy a pair of cakes. Each batch of goods include hundreds of banh chung, but in only one hour, all were sold out. After an hour in line, those who bought it in time would happily take out the ‘spoils’ to leave, those who could not buy in time had to wait eagerly for the next batch of goods which may come in a few hours later. It was hard, but many people still queue around at the store until they can buy products. Perhaps, the harder the work is, the greater the joy of buying a pair of famous banh chung, good and famous pork pies, ad the more delicious Tet meal. (Photo: Vietnam+) 
The bustling atmosphere is a daily thing in Quoc Huong shop. During the last days of the lunar year, from the Kitchen God Day onwards, the store staff do not have time to eat, drink water, work tirelessly to cook, pack, answer the phone, arrange orders ... Hundreds of square glutinous rice cakes come out in each batch. Quoc Huong shop does not set a rate for customers to buy only a certain quantity of product, but sells as many as they want. However, not all customers can buy all the things they need in one queue, because goods are often sold out very quickly. (Photo: Vietnam+) 
After wrapping, the pork pies are put in the pot to boil immediately. After the pies are cooked in one hour, they must be washed immediately with cold water. Open the banana leaves to see fragrant, cut with a sharp knife. The pie is pink inside, soft and the surface is dotted with air holes. Eating a piece of pork pie you can feel the taste of Tet right in the mouth, not far away. (Photo: Vietnam+) 
Square glutinous rice cake, pork pies and sausages of all kinds given to customers are still hot. No fancy packaging, no sophisticated labels, the cakes, wrapped in the “dong” leaves and the fragrant banana leaves still leave a deep impression for generations of Hanoi people. Some years, customers had to queue for 1 km on Hang Bong Street to buy Quoc Huong shop’s products. (Photo: Vietnam+) VNA
