TRADITIONAL WOODEN NOODLE CART

Traditional Wooden Noodle Cart, Saigon, Vietnam (HA 28513a) by H.A Studio

Designer and Builder: David Huynh (vboihuynh)

Location: Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam

Year: 2021

Scale: 1: 13

Width: 9in / 228.6mm

Depth: 3.8in / 96.52mm

Height: 6.1in / 154.94mm

Lego Ideas: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/345e9121-731b-48f3-871c-1273425ec40e

H.A Studio @huynh_arch_studio

Traditional Wooden Noodle Cart is a noodle cart of Chinese that became more popular in Saigon after 1990. They are independent street vendors operating on the roadside and in housing complexes estates the Chinese community districts, using carts. I was born at that time and deeply attached to that culture.

It's my first time to break down the frame of the architecture for opening the new design concept which is called the taste of the Chinese traditional wooden noodle cart. Chinese-style noodles in wooden drawers of street vendors living in Saigon are seen as a sign of authenticity, an attraction for local people and travelers. 

Before I pick up the Lego bricks to build the model, I sketched an idea for patterning visualization of the object. In my design, I scaled down the model with Lego bricks and used the same technique as the real traditional wooden noodle cart with mainly dark brown Lego bricks. Some part of the model, I did with my creation but I still maintain the horizontal line of the traditional design concept. There are so many details I did such as foods, glass mirrors with red, blue, and yellow; and Chinese lanterns, drawers, and so on. I built three drawers that could open. Besides, I have two tiny winsome carter counter stools with wood color bricks. 

Well, my model is presented as very friendly, very neat, very simple, and very taste of the traditional noodle cart in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh city). I grew up with it and witness it has been gradually changing in today's social community. It also became a small part of my memory and culture. 

Here, I tried to bring the noodle cart back to life in Lego bricks for achieving “Play and Learn.” I believe that this would make a great Lego set in the future. Actually, it took me the time no longer than I thought to design and build the model but I really enjoyed every moment in the process of building. 

In fact, typical Chinese-style noodle carts in Saigon are painted red or dark brown and made of wood. They are decorated with glass mirrors with Chinese characters painted on their surface. A row of drawers stores fresh batches of noodles. Nowadays, ​many traditional wooden noodle carts have vanished, they changed into steel inox carts more convenient and lighter, yet the name and style of noodles endure as a cultural icon. 

On the other hand, many old noodle restaurants in Saigon have built spacious eateries but they still retain their traditional wooden noodle vendor carts to serve as kitchens. I believe that Chinese-style noodle vendor carts in Saigon, Vietnam whether sophisticated or simple, have been doing their job for at least a lifetime. 

Well, my favorite part of the model is glass mirrors with Chinese characters painted on its surface which showing and telling to you about the Chinese culture and interesting stories. I would say I did learn so much. Here, I used glass elements with red, blue, and yellow to represent the model more clearly. I love my model as well.

Article of  Saigon giai phong online: Traditional Wooden Noodle Cart and Taste of Noodle in Chinese Communities in Saigon

西貢解放日報: “堤岸粉麵” 吃出華人傳統文化風味 VS 平民美食故事

By 趣兒

胡志明市不只是經濟和金融中心城市，它還是雲集各種美食的城市。在胡志明市，西餐、日、韓、中餐廳等料理以及傳統的越南各地美食都匯聚於此，可謂是應有盡有。由於歷史的原因，華人同胞選擇在這塊土地“落地生根”，而隨之也帶著他們的美食來到這個繁華的城市，久而久之成了這城市的“飲食特色”，其中有華人粉麵店。

如果是西貢堤岸區的居民，想必每天都會看到各家老字號粉麵店門庭若市的情景並且存在了數十年。這些店面也是他們的房子，有的面街，有的位於三岔路、四岔路口。西貢堤岸的華人非常重視店面的有利位置，因此才會在這次爆發疫情期間挺過來，雖然生意有所下滑，但不至於要轉讓或退還店面。

昔日從中國南下到越南生活時，他們帶著一技之長，其中就包括煮粉麵來謀生並養活全家，就這樣代代相傳。所以說，想吃上美味的粉麵，必須來到華人的粉麵店，以前都是集中在堤岸一帶，如今由於人口遷居而分佈在全市各郡。

在胡志明市尤其是第五、六、十一郡等華人居住較多的地方，大街小巷都有賣粉麵店舖或攤檔。食客隨著自己的口味來選擇廣東、潮州、福建、客家等風味的粉麵進食。所謂的粉麵店（麵家）只是個通稱，並非只純賣粉和麵。在粉麵店食客還可以選用粗、細麵條、米線、粉絲、粿條等。

去粉麵店大多數的食客都不用看食譜，而直喊出自己要吃的，要湯底還是“乾撈”，要什麼配料或多少份量都簡單概括了下來，如：淨雲吞、雞絲麵、單麵排骨汁、孖麵米雜（什錦）、麵包牛腩等。為了服務廣大食客，粉麵店還加賣幾道廣式點心，主要是蝦餃、燒賣、大包等。同時，各大小華人餐飲店，就算食譜裡有多豐富的早市點心，還是不能缺少“粉麵”這個大眾化的食品。值得一提的是，有許多粉麵店只因專賣一種而聞名，如：鴨腿麵、水餃麵、排骨麵、豬腳粉、沙薑雞麵等。

想吃水餃麵除了一直以來馳名的麵店以外，食客的第一個念頭就是第十一郡何宗權“水餃一條街”的麵店。在何宗權街上有許多家專賣水餃麵，每到晚上這裡都“車水馬龍”，很是熱鬧。久而久之，這條街與水餃麵店無形中連在一起，讓越華食客想吃水餃都會先想起這一條街。另外，具有廣西華人（海防人）特色的沙薑雞麵店也給食客有更多的選擇。據悉，在富平區的雒龍君街某小巷內隨著沙薑雞麵越來越吸引食客，如今已出現20家專賣沙薑雞麵店。

這裡賣的全是白切雞，食客可以選擇一整隻雞或雞的某一部分。食客通常都想點雞腿麵，但麵家總是“供不應求”，因為他們所使用的是一整隻“走地雞”來烹飪，並非是工業雞腿，所以遲到的都只能選擇其他部分。這些店不只是賣雞粉麵，而且兼賣整隻煮熟了的雞，讓顧客買回家去。農曆每月初二、十六或逢年過節，很多熟客都預訂，買雞回家拜祭祖先後食用，價錢也相當合理。

隨著我國經濟的發展，人民的生活得到極大的改善，各類速食也隨之充斥市場，但具有華人傳統文化美食特色的粉麵仍然佔有一席很重要的地位。儘管是以“吃得飽”、“吃得美味”還是“吃得健康”為主，品嚐一碗熱騰騰、新鮮美味的粉麵還是現代人的最佳選擇。