Financial freedom begins in Vietnam

We arrived at our destination quickly by car from Zhangtian Street.

This is a restaurant in Hue, located in Ba Dinh District.

The restaurant is decorated in a very Vietnamese style, with the walls in the characteristic earthy yellow color of Vietnam, but the decorations are very exquisite.

The kitchen here is an open-plan, rustic kitchen with a very homey feel.

Diners can watch the chefs working in the kitchen, and the feeling of food being served fresh out of the pot really stimulates one's appetite.

But Chen Junhe and his group didn't have the chance to sit in the living room and watch how the food was cooked in the kitchen.

Because they sat in the private room.

Chen Junhe brought Pei Shirong and Nguyen Hoang Minh Ngoc here for dinner.

It's because we know that this restaurant has invited a direct descendant of the royal chefs of Hue to prepare a royal banquet, limited to 8 tables.

The fee is charged per person, at 55 Vietnamese Dong per person, which is approximately 150 Chinese Yuan.

Based on this gimmick, the total cost of the meal for several people, less than 500 Chinese Yuan, doesn't seem too expensive.

Tran Tuan Ha did not have high expectations for the so-called Hue royal banquet.

Just like the so-called state banquet held by the Koreans, it's just a bunch of kimchi having a meeting.

As a former vassal state, Vietnam is not much better off. After all, the so-called royal court and palace are the result of downgraded standards. However, the ingredients used may be a bit more substantial than those used by South Korea.

To put it simply, at least you can get enough protein when you eat it, instead of seeing a bunch of bowls served and then just crunchy kimchi stems when you bite into them.

However, Chen Junhe had been in Vietnam for so long that he knew that everything here was either fried or grilled.

People come here to eat mainly for the novelty.

As for the news of this palace banquet, Chen Junhe learned about it from Citibank's private banking department.

In Vietnam, the minimum investment threshold for Citibank's private banking program is US$110 million, the same as in Singapore.

As a private banking user, you naturally have access to various information and channels from the bank.

Chen Junhe simply told the private bank's customer service that he wanted some information about food, drinks, and entertainment to share.

The customer service representative sent Chen Junhe the news that the royal banquet, prepared by the descendants of the royal chefs of Hue, was being served, and reserved a spot for him to taste the Hue royal banquet as requested.

She led Bui Thi Dung and Nguyen Hoang Minh Ngoc into the restaurant's private room.

The private room was decorated in a classic style, with wooden tables, chairs, and various furnishings that exuded a sense of history.

But Chen Junhe always felt that it was an upgraded version of a farmhouse inn.

After entering the private room, the restaurant staff specially introduced the relevant rules and contents of this imperial banquet to Chen Junhe and his group.

According to the waiter, Hue royal cuisine originated from the Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam and emphasizes the three realms of "taste, sight, and heart," focusing not only on flavor but also on the fusion of visual appeal and dining atmosphere.

The menu will consist of nine dishes meticulously prepared by the descendants of the royal chefs. After the dishes are served, performers will come in to play Hue court music.

To achieve a fusion of taste, visual appeal, and emotional connection.

The waiter first served Chen Junhe and his group iced green tea before the meal.

After the waiter left, Pei Shirong breathed a sigh of relief and spoke softly.

"Brother, I only realized today that Vietnamese cuisine also has such a sophisticated process."

The most upscale restaurant this girl from a fishing village in Haiphong had ever eaten at was the French restaurant at the Sofitel Legend Hotel, which Chen Junhe had taken them to last time.

"I've heard that it's very difficult to find a successor to the imperial chefs."

Nguyen Hoang Minh Ngoc, who was standing to the side, nodded in agreement.

Despite living in the suburbs, Nguyen Hoang Minh Ngoc, a girl from Hanoi, had a much broader perspective than Bui Thi Dung.

Although the last Nguyen Dynasty has been a very long time in the hearts of Vietnamese people, it has almost become a cultural symbol.

However, regardless of nationality, people always perceive their country's past royal banquets as having a sense of high-end elegance.

Therefore, the royal chefs of the Nguyen Dynasty held a relatively high position in the hearts of the Vietnamese people.

Especially after years of war, Vietnam began to develop.

As the economy improves, these historical and cultural symbols are naturally unearthed.

The descendants of the royal chefs of Hue have gradually made their mark in various parts of Vietnam.

For those with exceptional skills, enjoying a meal prepared by them is not something an ordinary person can easily do.

Therefore, Nguyen Hoang Minh Ngoc knew that it was not easy for Tran Tuan Ha to reserve a spot for the royal banquet through Citibank.

For Nguyen Hoang Minh Ngoc, it was a joyful experience to taste the foods that he didn't usually have the chance to try, along with Tran Tuan Ha.

"Brother, have you ever heard of Vietnamese court music?"

Pei Shirong chatted with Chen Junhe in a soft voice.

After chatting for a while, Chen Junhe discovered that Pei Shirong had given him a pleasant surprise.

It turns out that there was an old lady in her village who was said to be a daughter of a wealthy family who had married into the village. She would often sit at her doorstep and play a moon lute when she had nothing to do.

As a child, Pei Shirong loved listening to the music she played.

As a result, after a while, the old lady began to teach Pei Shirong to play the moon lute.

Pei Shirong studied until she graduated from high school, which means she studied for seven or eight years.

However, because Pei Shirong had always been a good student, she only treated this as a hobby and did not specifically study music.

The waiter told me today that during meals, people come over to perform court music.

Once she got excited, Bui Thi Dung started talking non-stop, introducing Tran Tuan Ha to many traditional Vietnamese musical instruments.

"Ah Rong, I never knew you were such a musical prodigy."

Ruan Huangmingyu, standing to the side, also jokingly teased Pei Shirong.

As the three were chatting and laughing, the waiter knocked on the door and came in, carrying a cart full of dishes. Following behind him was a girl dressed in a Jing ethnic aodai and holding a two-stringed lute.

As the waiter served the dishes, he introduced the names of the dishes to Chen Junhe and his group.

The nine dishes on the table are peacock spring rolls, phoenix meat pies, glutinous rice lotus cake, rouge cake, Hue beef rice noodles, lemongrass roasted chicken, Hue fried rice cake, basil leaf rolled beef, and longan and lotus seed soup.

As Chen Junhe had basically expected, the food was either grilled or fried.

It was just that a large table was decorated with colorful dishes, and the overall presentation looked much more refined than what you get on the street.

Both kinds of pastries look very nice.

The girl with the two-stringed lute came in, greeted Chen Junhe and the others, and then sat down on a chair next to them and began to play.

Although the voice wasn't particularly amazing, it still made Chen Junhe secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

He had seen videos online of Koreans playing instruments that were described as extremely noisy, but he had never heard Vietnamese instruments, so he didn't know how effective they were.

He was even prepared to have the waiter ask the girl to leave if she played poorly.