The women stand by their pots haranguing anyone passing by, stretching out a hand and flicking down the wrist in a gesture that means 'come in, sit down.'

After getting this treatment several times myself, I finally took them up on it and had an excellent multi-course meal including seafood spring rolls and fried noodles. Though I spoke almost no Vietnamese, they kept up a constant one-sided conversation as they prepared the meal, served it and laughingly watched me eat.