HANOI: The owner of a pho restaurant in Vietnam has gone viral for bearing an uncanny resemblance to lauded Hong Kong singer Faye Wong.
Nicknamed the Goddess, Wong is widely regarded as a legend in the Asian music scene and rose to stardom in the 1990s.
Photos of the Wishing We Last Forever singer’s newly discovered lookalike first sprouted on Chinese social media platform RedNote in February.
The images were shared by a tourist from Shanghai, who was visiting the pho eatery in Hanoi when she noticed the owner’s striking resemblance to the iconic singer.
She said in the Feb 1 post: “I met ‘Faye Wong’ in Hanoi; She really looks like her! What do you think?”
The owner was photographed while hard at work preparing food for her customers. She dons a black turtle neck layered under a checkered puffer vest, and has short silver-grey hair.
The post has since amassed more than 5,700 likes and almost 2,000 comments, in which many netizens expressed their disbelief at the situation.
One user said: “Even Faye Wong’s mother couldn’t have given birth to someone who looks so similar.”
According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the pho seller’s name is Nguyen Cat Le and is somewhat of a local figure herself, known for her philanthropic spirit.
She took over the family business more than 20 years ago, which has since become a popular tourist joint and a lively haunt for local low-income workers.
This is because it offers 30 free bowls of pho each day to those in need, a scheme mooted by Ms Nguyen to help the underprivileged.
It is known as the “suspended noodles” scheme, and customers here can “pay it forward” by buying an additional bowl of pho to be kept at the eatery before being given to the needy.
Despite being free, these bowls tend to have more generous portions of noodles and beef than standard servings.
SCMP quoted Ms Nguyen explaining the idea: “During the pandemic, I watched a television programme about the ‘suspended coffee’ model in Italy, and that is when I conceived the idea for ‘suspended pho’.
“However, due to various reasons, it is only now that I have been able to realise this long-cherished idea.” - The Straits Times/ANN
