Four months after US President Barack Obama plonked down on a plastic stool at Bun Cha Huong Lien for a bowl of Hanoi's signature pork noodles, along with Anthony Bourdain, the restaurant is cashing in on customers eager to taste what all the fuss is about. Previously a mainstay among a mostly local customer base, hungry foreigners are now coming in droves to the restaurant dubbed "Obama bun cha" for the Hanoi lunch staple: grilled pork patty and bacon in a sweet broth with rice noodles.Eager to tap the star power of her recent VIP diner, owner Nguyen Thi Lien, who has been running the eatery for 23 years, has introduced a $4 "Combo Obama" lunch special of noodles, a side of deep fried spring rolls and a Hanoi beer -- but swears she has kept her prices the same.
Obama and Bourdain stopped by during Obama's May trip to Vietnam -- the third by a sitting president since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 -- to film a scene for Bourdain's CNN show "Parts Unknown".
