“On Sunday morning, instead of sleeping in, we all got up at 5 a.m. to start working. Tired, yes, but everyone was happy. The restaurant felt like Tet—because we were doing something truly meaningful…”
That was the heartfelt post of Nguyễn Đức Nhật Thuận, affectionately known as Thuận Cà Mèn, on his personal Facebook page, after preparing more than 200 lunch boxes to deliver to frontline forces battling Covid-19.
For the past week, Ho Chi Minh City had been under strict social distancing. Life was difficult for many, especially frontline workers fighting day and night in the pandemic. During this time, Thuận and his friends—who usually ran Cà Mèn, a small restaurant serving rustic Quảng Trị dishes on Hoa Sứ Street, Phú Nhuận District—decided to scale down business as customers dwindled.
Instead of standing still, Thuận suggested redecorating the restaurant and, more importantly, finding ways to support frontline forces. He spent hours gathering information about where medical staff, police, and volunteers were stationed, so he and his team could prepare and deliver meals and drinks within their means.
“It was a bit challenging since it was our first time doing this. My strength is so small that everything had to be carefully calculated. Each meal and bottle of water had to be safe, tasty, and prepared with genuine respect—so that when delivered, our gratitude could be truly felt by the doctors, nurses, and frontline workers,” Thuận shared.
Two days later, more than 100 carefully cooked meals and drinks were prepared, packaged, and hand-delivered by Thuận and his team to frontline workers at the Children’s Hospital. The following Sunday, June 6, over 200 hot meals were sent to frontline staff at Trưng Vương Hospital and security forces on duty in Sơn Kỳ Ward, Tân Phú District.
The plan was to continue this effort, preparing around 350–400 meals per week (each costing about 40,000 VND) to support both frontline workers and struggling families under quarantine across the city. “We’ll keep going as long as we can—until we run out of strength,” Thuận laughed. Then, more seriously, he added:
“We know that the simple joys we enjoy—family dinners, restful sleep, fresh morning air—are only possible thanks to the thousands of doctors, health workers, police, soldiers, and volunteers who sacrifice day and night to keep us safe. That’s something we deeply respect and are grateful for.”
Thuận grew up in poor Quảng Trị Province. After graduating from Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry 4, he worked for various companies like many young people. But nostalgia for his hometown, especially its food, grew stronger every day. He quit his job and started his own restaurant—Cà Mèn, named after the tin lunchboxes common in Central Vietnam—serving rustic dishes like bánh ướt, bánh canh, cơm, ruốc, and gà kho ném.
Starting with nothing, Cà Mèn moved around Tân Phú District before finally settling three years ago on Hoa Sứ Street, where today 6–7 young friends work alongside Thuận.
When asked about his “resources” to support the anti-Covid effort, Thuận replied humbly:
“I’m just a speck of dust in life—I have nothing but my heart. We do this purely from respect and gratitude for those fighting on the frontline. Our contribution is so small compared to the sacrifices they make every single day.”
