Hanoi tycoon's hundred million-dollar 'sea monster' party on the Da River

All kinds of natural river fish, from big fish to small fish or even so-called sea monsters,... are hunted and bought by the rich people of Hanoi to enjoy. Some rich people even spend billions of dong every year just to buy river fish to entertain guests.

Hundred million river fish party

Having just finished a call with a real estate tycoon to discuss bringing a nearly 20kg catfish caught by a local in the Da River (Hoa Binh) for slaughter, Mr. Nguyen Minh Tue, a Da River fish dealer at Quoc Tu Giam (Dong Da, Hanoi) said that tycoons are now less interested in sturgeon eggs, fresh salmon or things like lobster, king crab, etc., but have changed their culinary taste to river fish - a rare natural specialty in Vietnam.

Mr. Tue cited that at the end of March, when he learned that he had bought a monster catfish from the Da River, a financial tycoon called him directly to order it to treat a distinguished guest. After that, he told him to go directly to Hoa Binh, put an oxygen tank in the tank to transport the fish back to Hanoi, ensuring that the fish was still alive.

The Da River monster is being lined up by tycoons to buy.

“This giant catfish weighs up to 25kg, a lucky local caught it in the Da River area. It is a type of fish with a strange and strange shape. The fish skin has a mottled black and moss green color, and an extremely large head. This is a type of fish belonging to the group of five precious water fish that nature has bestowed on the Da River,” he shared.

Mr. Tue said that the tycoon paid nearly 60 million VND to buy the fried fish. However, to have a sumptuous party to entertain his guests, he spent more than ten million VND to hire a group of men to slaughter and process it at his villa.

“It takes my team 2-3 hours to butcher, cut, and classify the meat to prepare dishes to serve guests,” he said.

Many tycoons even spend up to 200 million VND to make river fish parties to entertain guests.

In addition, Mr. Tue also revealed that when paying, the tycoon confided that he had enjoyed fried fish in the Da River area several times. Each time, he was attracted by its special delicious flavor. Therefore, this time, he decided to buy a huge, rare fish to entertain his guests.

Specifically, the cost of fish, transportation, and slaughtering costs 70 million VND; the cost of hiring chefs to prepare 5 dishes such as grilled, stir-fried, steamed,... marinated with spices taken from the mountains and forests, according to the flavors prepared by ethnic people; the cost of hiring waiters for the home party, the cost of ingredients and side dishes costs 30 million VND. Plus the cost of drinks and Western wine amounts to tens of millions more, Mr. Tue said.

The rich spend 1 billion each year eating fish.

Mr. Tue said that the rich now enjoy enjoying specialty river fish, especially those that are classified as monsters. The bigger the fish, the more they like it, even though the price is extremely expensive, up to tens of millions, even hundreds of millions of VND per fish.

“Most of the river fish I buy from people fishing on the Da River are for the enjoyment of the rich. They are VIP customers, never thinking about the price. Whenever there is river fish, I call and deliver it to the rich people’s homes so they can entertain guests or give it to business partners,” he said.

The giant fried fish is being butchered to prepare for a feast for guests.

There are tycoons who have been his regular customers for many years, transferring 70-100 million VND to him every month to pay for river fish. During the holidays, the amount of money ordered for fish increases by one and a half times.

"It turns out that each of these VIP guests regularly spends billions of dong to buy river fish to eat every year, not a small amount," said Mr. Tue.

Acknowledging this, Mr. Dinh Van Tuan, a contact with over 15 years of experience in buying and selling river fish in the North for consumption in the Hanoi market and some neighboring provinces, added that in addition to rare mountain specialties, the tycoons are also actively looking to buy natural river fish.

Mr. Tuan said that customers prefer high-end, naturally caught river fish, such as catfish, Phu Tho Anh Vu fish, Da River catfish, Da River catfish. There are usually two customer segments. The first segment is restaurants, but restaurants often import small river fish, priced at a few hundred thousand VND/kg for easy consumption. The second segment is the wealthy customers, who like to buy super rare fish priced from 1-3 million VND/kg, depending on the type.

Unlike farmed fish sold in the market, wild river fish are often delivered directly to customers' homes. Mr. Tuan said that in his notebook, he kept a long list of names of tycoons who ordered river fish, in which he noted down the preferences of each tycoon so that when a suitable type of fish was available, he would deliver it directly to them, and they would buy it immediately without ever refusing, he shared.

Mr. Tuan also revealed that among river fish, sea monsters are always the most popular with the rich because they can only catch a few fish a year. Therefore, many rich people are willing to line up to buy, even having to pay a deposit in advance.

According to vietnamnet