“It is more than a restaurant” is the business idea of Ms. Hoang Quyen, 36, the owner of a restaurant with a rather strange name: “A Year Has 12 Months”. With a fairly small area located on Phan Boi Street, Son Tra District, Da Nang, the venue looks like a house, rather than a restaurant.

An attractive meal served at the ‘A Year Has 12 Months’ restaurant. Photo: H.L

According to Ms. Quyen, the idea of opening this restaurant comes from the desire to preserve traditional family meals, where people can sit together and eat intimately like at home. Here, diners will not find overly sophisticated dishes, instead there are simple rice and soups such as sour soup, braised fish in a clay pot, stir-fried morning glory with garlic, braised pork and eggplant with shrimp paste.

“The Year Has 12 Months” looks no different from the houses in Phan Boi alley from the outside, except for the sign with small letters hanging in front of the porch. The space inside is quite rustic with lime walls, old door frames and simple tables and chairs.

Small decorative items such as radios and vases of flowers from the countryside or bowls that have faded over the years all remind us of family and loved ones. Many times, customers have been told to come to the restaurant, but when they arrive, they hesitate to enter because they are afraid of... entering someone else’s house. After finishing their meal, customers can go upstairs to read books, and rest until 10:00pm.

The joy of the young owner is that, in addition to serving customers in Da Nang city, she also receives many Japanese, South Korean, Singaporean, and Malaysian customers.

Not to mention, there is a mother who, because she is too busy with work to cook every day, has chosen the restaurant's dishes as a perfect solution. Whatever the customer's children like to eat, they order it and Ms. Quyen takes the time to prepare a delicious meal.

For Quyen, ‘A Year Has 12 Months’ is not just a name, but a reminder of the value of time, of cozy family meals throughout the year. In addition to familiar dishes, the restaurant also serves drinks and desserts with many delicious flavours.

Reporting by HUYNH LE - Translating by A.THU