Commoner’s Cuisine in NYC

Thanh Huong, which located deep inside an alley on Canal Street of New York Chinatown, reminds me of com binh dan (commoner’s cuisine or food for workers) in Viet Nam. The place is extremely small and only wide enough for a few tables, but the food is amazing. Thanh Huong is a kind of place that doesn’t need to find its customers, but the customers will find it through words of mouth, and that is how I learned about it. My first dish was Bun Bo Hue (Hue’s Style Vermicelli Soup), which was highly recommended to me, and it was delicious. The broth was spicy and savory, just like the one I had in Hue couple years ago. It was so hot that I needed a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice to cool down my system. I was sweating while slurping. After finishing up my bowl, I noticed a guy next to me ordered a gigantic plate of rice with Thit Kho (Pork Simmered in Caramel Sauce), Dua Gia (Pickled Bean Sprouts) and Tom Rim (Shrimp Simmered in Fish Sauce), which also made my mouth watery, but had to save it for next time.