Serving up che (Chinese sweet soup) at Ha Ky in District 5

It would be remiss not to mention che (sweet soup) when talking about Chinese cuisine, and a pity not to visit the Chinese quarter of Ho Chi Minh City and sample the servings at Che Ha Ky.

Unsurprisingly, the owner and her employees are Chinese, as are most of their customers.

The eatery with a 26-year history has increased the number of its sweet soups from six at the beginning to nearly 40 now.

At Che Ha Ky, a bowl of hot or cold sweet soup costs from VND8,000-13,000 (US$0.5-0.73).

The Guangzhou-style soup is well worth trying. The main ingredient is phuc linh, a species of mushroom that grows on pine roots and looks like algae but is entirely black. With a bitter taste and the smell of oriental traditional medicine, it is best imbibed with honey or milk.

A recent addition to the menu is stewed papaw and seaweed. As befitting a sweet soup, the papaw tastes slightly sweet. Some of the waitresses recommend it for summertime as they say it removes heat from the body.

A popular staple is a sweet soup with chicken eggs and tea. They make it by boiling the eggs first then poaching them in tea with sugar thrown in. The whites turn brown and become stiffer as they absorb the tea. The tea also makes the soup easier to digest.

The diverse assortment of che also includes sweet potato soup, lotus seed soup, and tofu and almond soup. To make the most of these selections, eat them with some ice.

The owner says she uses rock sugar in the soup for its pleasant sweetness and boasts that she only uses the freshest ingredients so that her che is delicious and good for the health.

Besides sweet soup, Che Ha Ky also serves three Vietnamese dishes based on rice flour. Of course, they are made in the Chinese fashion so they taste a bit different from the authentic Vietnamese dishes.

Reported by Diem Thu