Gia Trinh Bakery is located in the yard of a military dormitory. Only one store but there are two signs. The sea runs throughout the façade named Gia Trinh. The sea is as small as a lamp with the words Moka. “Moka is a famous cake brand throughout Hai Phong, my mother-in-law left behind. Gia Trinh is the main brand of the store, ”said Ms. Ha.

Working day in the army, Ms. Ha took over the store. At that time, her family's bakery made miserable. The Moka brand under the Hai Phong dining room should do so, but when it comes to the capital, it will be a few hundred million. The cake is still so delicious, only the consumption habits of Hanoi people are different. If Moka Hai Phong sells wedding cakes and mid-autumn cakes all year round because Hai Phong people use these two kinds of cakes in every wedding ceremony, in Hanoi, people eat bread sometimes and have seasons. But her family continues to want to sell well, so there is no money left.

"My husband only said I tried to let Gia Trinh not have to close. So I started doing it, "she recalls. “There is something I tell people that my family should not compete with Western cakes anymore. At that time, no one in Hanoi made the traditional cakes of Hanoi, so I thought this would be my main product.

Then the first batch of cakes was born, according to the formula that her mother had taught since she was a young girl in Hang But Street, Hanoi. She still remembers the first gac cake I made when I was ten years old when I had a house. First, the girl must then pound rice and gac puree. At the new time, it was clear in the stone mortar, white and red. The time came when the two merged into a new color. "I remember that I only retired at the beginning, and then I had to ask my brother to retire because it was too heavy," she said.

Then, to repay his brother, Chu Van An School girl made a wedding cake for her brother. “In 1972, I was fifteen. Everything is lacking in subsidy. I kept diligently winning the road, the island made all kinds of candies in his wedding. My mother taught me that the housewife does not waste ”.

“Safety hygiene is one thing. But for me, the most important thing is that the leaves must always be fresh and have no chemical odor. Yes, new cakes are delicious, ”she said.

It is also because I want to have delicious cakes like that so even though there are dozens of workers at the bakery, she is always on duty. Ms. Ha had to check every step because just the other weather, steamed bread, the amount of steamed water, the powdered water must change. This is purely based on intuitive perception.

As a result, her workers must also ensure more stringent procedures. Determined not to use preservatives to make jam, the time of the store's bread stirring is much longer (just need a little more chemicals, the time to dry jam will be shortened from twelve to three hours). Or to pack the cake, she does not allow workers to use a lubricating oil with nylon, because it is only a matter of negligence, it will drown the aroma of all kinds of leaf cakes.

But also, the baker in her workshop calculated everything very well. They know when big coal should steam the cake flour, when the coal is small, why is the first fire, and when the coal is about to die, stir-fry the final stage. “So, they know what to cook, when it is reasonable. That is what old Hanoi girls are taught. Thanks to it, I still do many old-fashioned meals like the old days, but cooking alone does not support maids. All must be kept like the old days my mother taught.

Her shop now tucked away the wooden cabinets that showed little cakes. Any one is as small as a matchbox so everyone can eat a lot. Red gac cake au. Plate cake is green. Black ramie cake. White radish pie. Mugwort is black and green. The donut, while shaking, sounded like a light knock. The quintessence of Hanoi cake remains intact here, just like any old primary school student.

Doing business but love cake, remember old, so customers who are Hanoi people are also touched. Someone came to the store, stood still for a long time, and said, "Oh, my dear, I remember the sound of rice pounding." When I was young, my mother still asked me to pound rice every day.

The first wave collapsed, the next wave fell, and Ha's children are now willing to follow her mother's career. “I am happy but also try to wait for my children to finish their studies. I think it is better to sell bread without learning. Like me, thanks to the inference, I guessed why the pressed powder is greener than the summer day. This is because the summer season of flour is sour, so if you don't squeeze it quickly, the cake will be pale. After that, I bought a huge pressure machine to solve the problem, ”she said.

"My children also said that, after completing a PhD in a foreign country, the two of them will work together to expand the store."