Words by Fabiola Büchele ● Edited by Rose Arnold ● Photos by Thủy Tiên Nguyễn
“Good women drink,” says Bùi Thị Đông Thành, or Te as she’s known, the owner of Ray Quan. And to be sure, Te is an exceptionally good one. One who let her vision run free, develop a life of its own and settle as a snug bar, right next to the railroad tracks on Lê Duẩn.
There is a hint of reduced inhibitions that those accustomed to prolonged evenings of drinking recognise. It’s faint but it’s there, growing stronger as the early evening turns into the wee hours of the morning. The potent home brewed wines keep flowing as the trains roll by on their way to Lào Cai. First class, second class, extra special orient express class, and the trunk compartment.
Travel and drink. For a long time that is what life has been about for Te. “When I was small, my father drank wine. It was difficult to buy beer and expensive. So my father cooked yellow sticky rice and put wine on it. Two months later I would see my father drinking a little cup with every meal. I wanted to try it, so ok, I tried a little. After that I always drank even though I was very young.” Years later as she travelled around the country, she would learn about different wines, ones made from fruit, yellow and purple sticky rice, even a kumquat and pink lemon wine.
Immense jars filled with fruit, sticky rice, maggots and poppy seeds line the little room of the restaurant. Each load soaking away in some heavy rice wine. All of the flavours accompany one food or another on the menu beautifully. Or on occasion the other way around.
From the huge jars, the wine is poured into china bottles and from there into deceptively tiny cups, their size always an invitation for just one more. Drinkers need to be fearless, to be willing to dedicate a Sunday to the task, unafraid of headaches. They ask for cinnamon, kumquat, porcupine. They ask to sample the liquid engulfing the seal penis but are perhaps glad to hear that it is not ready yet. It still needs more time to ferment and fester, despite its advanced age – clear from the faded handwritten label which identifies the thin, grey, sickly looking animal genitalia.
Te herself just laughs when the talk turns to throbbing heads. “Just drink lemon with honey before you go to bed. Or come back for another shot the next morning.” Another train passes and she ponders the success of the restaurant that celebrates its first birthday this October.
”I’m a woman and I like to drink and that is unusual,” she says. “Yes, the success of my business depends on my drinking. Sometimes I drink with customers until 5 o’clock in the morning. But only the good women drink. Women can drink without getting drunk. They don’t start acting out.”
The quality of drinking owes a lot to the patrons and the lovingly simple surroundings she has created, with the help of her friends. Together they have designed lampshades, built tables and brought back souvenir money from across the continent. It is personal and intimate and full of character. And so drinking at Te’s Ray Quan is like popping over to an old friend’s for a bottle or two of red. But there is more to the experience than just boozing, it’s got soul, it satisfies. It’s the art of life.
●●
Ray Quan – 8A Nguyễn Khuyến, Đống Đa. 0913578588
