A humble alleyway stall in Ho Chi Minh City — known to regulars as "Banh Canh Cua Alley 360" — has found itself at the centre of a price controversy after a food reviewer's video showed a custom bowl of banh canh cua costing 350,000–400,000 VND (roughly $14–16). The owner, Ms. Loan, known to loyal customers as Auntie Gai, has an unbothered response: if you find it expensive, don't eat it.

Here's the context the viral clip left out. The stall has traded in the same alley for over thirty years, and most of its menu is genuinely affordable — bowls run from about 50,000 VND up to 150,000 or 200,000 VND, all ladled from the same pot of broth. The eye-watering 400,000 VND figure only applies to made-to-order premium bowls, priced in advance, piled with giant crab claws, hand-picked crab meat and large prawns. The noodle portion is identical to a standard bowl; you're paying purely for the seafood.

The quality claims are worth taking seriously. Ms. Loan sources live Grade-1 sea crabs from Ca Mau and Nam Can, inspecting each one, and starts her day at 3–4 AM at the wholesale market. Crab is boiled and hand-shredded on site during service — no frozen meat, no overnight leftovers. The broth simmers for hours with pork marrow bones, chicken, pork hock, fish and prawns, thickened naturally with crab tomalley rather than starch. The premium bowl also comes with peeled black tiger prawns, crab patties and fried featherback fish cake, plus lime-pepper-chili salt on the side.

The stall's fame got a serious boost in late 2022 when entertainer Tran Thanh, a regular, bought bowls from the stall to promote his film The House of No Man, whose heroine is a crab noodle vendor. Crowds have since evened out: weekdays are calm, while Friday evenings and weekends get busy. It opens around 3:30 PM and sells out early — often by 8 PM — and latecomers usually miss out on the prized crab claws.

For travellers, this is a genuinely rewarding stop, but order smart. Ask the price before you order and start with a standard bowl under 100,000 VND; you'll still get the celebrated broth and classic toppings like pork and blood pudding. If you want the full seafood spectacle, the premium bowl is big enough to share between two or three people. Reviews online remain split between "best crab broth in the city" and "too pricey for plastic stools" — but with a three-decade track record and children of original customers now lining up, the stall clearly isn't relying on hype alone.