The City of the Mille will never be tucked by the forgetting of time, imposed in certain times on political-historical and/or generational calculations. Will always be, and always, in its alleys and districts, the promising places of yesterday and markers of the now. Where only to sit there, discuss it, make it aware of what formidable possible the Tananarivians, their city, even the whole country have the right to aspire. Discreet heritage of Tananarivo, the restaurant “Doan Van Bien” is one of them. Global by his history, that of a Viet-Namian patriarch then of his Malagasy family. Local by the illustrious neighbors, customers and accomplices who improved it with their legend, their unique aura. Today, this establishment nestled in Besarety is run by Doan Van Thanh Andriamanantena. Loquace character, sixties and dust, cigarette and coffee man, infallible memory of fabulous anecdotes on the big island. He alone, of a lightness exceeded and of a bookish precision, he can reinvent the capital. Of these urban “thinkers” which give primacy to ideas, dreams, roots, modernity and restore patriotism without hearing from its romanticism. Through his words, Tananarivo today with increasingly country seam has the “city-world”, urban, liberated, alive and eternal fabric.
My father, Doan Van Bien, left the northern Vietnam, in the province of Nam įnh in 1938. He was about twenty years old. In order to avoid “forced labor” during colonization, compulsory work, it was preferable to engage in the French army because the treatment conditions were more bearable. If you were a simple civilian, or a farmer, you had to perform tasks imposed by the colonial administration such as the construction of roads, agriculture … perfectly legal at the time, it was possible to take a native to take care of the fields, and this became compulsory work for the latter. My father preferred the French army. He landed in France in garrisons, in Carcassonne and Valenciennes with his friends, Vietnamese incorporated into the colonial infantry regiment, to the status of Indochinese tirailleurs.
The Germans arrived in 39-40, the regiment was automatically found under the command of the Vichy forces. Which controlled the majority of the colonial army therefore controlled by the German army, and opposed to the somewhat scattered free French force. It thus makes a passage through North Africa. Then his regiment, with several officers, was captured by English forces in Durban in South Africa. Considered prisoners of war, I do not know what the officers managed to negotiate, they were reinstated in the free French force.
Of course, he lost several compatriots from his regiment. In the time of the unity of the French force, before the stranglehold of the forces of Vichy. During the clashes against the Germans, he lost many Vietnamese friends. Lots of losses. He told me that, on the battlefield, it was necessary to pretend to be dead. However, the Germans are still stabbing the dead with their bayonets. When they no longer found any food, they took their bowl and boil their belts to eat it.
In 1942, there was Operation Ironclad, thanks to which they were able to rally Madagascar. They were assigned to the Vakinankaratra region: Ambatolampy and Antsirabe. There begins the story. He had the rank of corporal, my mother joined the household school in the boarding school of the FJKM Ambatolampy. The two met, my mother was 16, my father may be 22 years old. My father couldn’t align a single Malagasy sentence. I don’t know what they said but they got married. After marriage, he was assigned to Antsirabe. Two or three years later, they had our eldest sister and then our elder. If you remember “Soloprix”, my big sister was the wife of Rakotomavo “Soloprix”.
Madagascar who became French territory, my father being still a soldier, worked in the state – the French army in Andohalo. During this period, I do not know exactly in what year, the king of Morocco Mohamed V was exiled here, my father was among the “guard” of the monarch. Mohamed V having gone, he returned to his post to the State – Major. Then, he was assigned as a camp assistant Colonel Bordes at the Colonial Hospital Girard and Robic. He and his Vietnamese compatriots were very united. In addition, most of the French soldiers present here came from Indochina. So, they said, “Why not revive our way of eating in Vietnam here?” ».
Razilinah and dox
I will tell you an anecdote of the time he was still a military. In the “Mascar” district, as they had several children, my father managed to open a grocery store: “North bar”, also wine store. My mother was holding the barracks. There was a customer, everyone knew him. When he was short of money, he took his guitar and sang. Razilinah! My mother was called Joséphine (Zô – Zôphine in the song). From then on, when he was a little in the Dèche, he coined him: “Come on, I’m going to create a song for you, pour-m’ne a little”. Thus was born the song “Madame la Gitara”. It seems that when the graphophone was “out” or that people were fed up, it was called Razilinah. He created songs at TAC at TAC, at the moment. Alas, one day, on the side of Isotry … He did not wake up. Razilinah and Dox are similar. Jean Verdi, of his first name, was a descendant of Ramogetrika. They were not fundamentally poor. Dox liked to be asked by young men, they wanted to declare their love to girls. These boys then asked him to write poems in exchange for a few pieces. Afterwards, he went to the bistro.
In 1950, my father was released from his military commitment. The French are clever, they did not give him nationality. What the French have done to him will forever remain his resentment towards France. Because he never received a pension. He said to me: with my savings and the money that I have already invested, I will open a restaurant. He and his compatriots also supported. He prospected here in Besarety, found a room in the rue du 12th Malagasy battalion whose owner was Razafindrangita. He opened his first restaurant, near the famous “Dadà Mpanao Môtô”. Not far from “Rajery the hairdresser”, the former “Andriamampandrison” insurance. Our neighbors were a film developer, family of Jérôme Randria and a painter, a certain Raparivo.
His Vietnamese friends helped him set up his restaurant, and worked with him. When they managed to earn enough money, one of them opened his own business. And so on for everyone, a mutual aid system. Their ultimate advantage: they constantly sought to integrate, they were based. They have never sought, like other communities, to create associations or something like.
So, the business was walking with the restaurant, they found a house in Behoririka. He opened the deemed “guard pharmacy”. You want to drink rum or buy a watch at one o’clock in the morning, you will find it at the “Doan Van well” grocery store.
You know the “look’s”, it is one of his friends who launched it and offered for the first time to Tananarive. Then it became democratic. In Vietnam, pork is a popular food. The beef is more expensive. The opposite of here.
Last stone at the building
Many French soldiers attended at this time the Girard and Robic Hospital and the Pasteur Institute. He decided to contact them. In 1959, he managed to acquire this land (current location of the Doan Van well restaurant). Before, it was a marshy area. In 1960, he inaugurated this restaurant and we are here so far. On September 11, 1975, my father died. President Ratsiraka ordered a stake of honor and sent a letter, I still have this letter.
The leader was no longer there, there was a shock. We have experienced an empty passage, the old energy dissipated. In addition, we (here he evokes Madagascar) have experienced several crises. The water then sank under the bridge, the family kept the grocery store in Behoririka, we closed the first restaurant in Besarety since there we praised it. We have kept this restaurant here, because it is our property. After my late brother, my sister, I decided to take over. It was necessary to take measures, sometimes painful, in order to restore our quality of service. And we are still currently maintaining our efforts. One day, customers in his fifty years came. They told us that their parents had once taken them to our restaurant.
This is the reason why I often tell our children that this restaurant is no longer a heritage, it is a heritage to manage. I folded the measures despite some virulent reserves received on both sides. It was also necessary to evolve with your time, I said “OK but I do not change the chairs”. My dad bought them in the “Cachet de Paris” store on the avenue de l’Indendance. Baumann chairs. In Paris, all cafes use this type of chair.
Return to our quality of culinary service, old notes are kept somewhere. And in a way, it is in us, in our way of life. I explain to you. For example, if you teach a stranger to cook “Romazava”, you give him all the ingredients. The one prepared by a Malagasy will always be special. My father loved the “romazava”.
In Vietnam, cooking is not reserved for women, men also cook. As soon as they are small, they learn. There are a lot in common, the Vietnamese eat rice. The difference was in the food. In Vietnamese, rice is omnipresent. Vegetables or brothers were compulsory. Depending on the possibilities, seas products: fish, crustaceans, it is also compulsory. Question to balance the meal, yin and yang. The Yang is all that is aquatic, the cold. Hot is yin, beef, chicken, pig, poultry … The main base of Vietnamese cuisine, the essential, is the fish sauce, the nuoc – cham.
Gourmet you “Romazava”
He and his Vietnamese friends were inveterate players of Mahjong, my mother because of his Protestant culture did not play them. He kept his gains in the game in a wicker tack. One day, my mother threw the basket into the fire. Since then, he has stopped playing the Majong. Because he was far from the land of his ancestors, he wanted to integrate so much. When we go by train to Tamatave, a night train, to recover goods because it imported some from Vietnam, he bought oranges. Then shared them with everyone in the wagon. A “Famadihana” took place in my mother’s family in the “south”, he attended, respecting the rites. Besides, almost all Vietnamese have integrated. Their descendants are mostly in the Anjanahary district today.
During general demobilization, two choices were given to them. Stay or return home. My father preferred to stay in Madagascar, stating that his children are already great. Others preferred to return to Vietnam, the day of departure, their boat exploded at sea fifty kilometers from Tamatave.
There were many communities in Tananarivo at the time. The Greeks were numerous. You know, my father’s friend in Betongolo was a Syrian named “Tadjer”, the Syrians had the distinction of singing in Malagasy. Such “Henri Lebanon” (with his “Neny” tube) and Tadjer, a famous seller of sandwich, mortadelle … who has become the owner of the “beach” hotel in Tamatave.
When problems arise in the “community”, everyone took responsibility. One day, a friend of my father held the post of chief accountant at the hospital of Diego Suarez. The chief doctor diverted medication and money. There was a financial control, suspicions fell on this friend. Not having supported these erroneous charges, he ended up committing suicide. The Vietnamese managed to repatriate his body, bring his wife and children back to Tananarivo by plane. Afterwards, they paid the rent of the widow and her children for four years. While funding it to launch its own business activity.
In 2005 I believe, the child of my sister worked in Laos in the field of the environment. My sister went there for the holidays. She took the opportunity to go to Vietnam. She found my father’s sister. His family erected a commemorative stone in his village, thinking that for all this time he died in combat. My sister told them that he lived well and that he has descendants in Madagascar. In fact, we still have a big family in Vietnam. You should also know that there was war there in 1975.
If one day I go there, I will probably feel a bit of bitterness. However, especially pride. Pride.
Nam Dinh : Land of history and resistance
Located south of the Red River Delta, Nam ịnh, also a province of more than 1,380,000 inhabitants, is one of the oldest cities in North Vietnam. The province is subdivided into nine administrative units (a city and eight districts): Nam ịnh, Vụ Bản, Mỹ Lộc, ý Yên, Nam Trực, Trực Ninh, Xuân Trường, Giao Thủy, Nghĩa Hưng and Hải Hậu. Tonkin’s cultural heart, the city was, from the XIth century, a high place of Confucianism under the LY dynasty, then a textile center renowned in colonial times. Its historical prestige is embodied in the Imperial City of Tran, residence of the Tran emperors (1225-1400), winners of the Mongolian invasions. During French colonization, Nam Dinh became a restless worker home. Its large textile factory, built in 1898, was the epicenter of many strikes in the 1920s. These struggles fed the rise of the independence movement. Among the emblematic figures, Nguyen Duke Canh, native of Nam Dinh, co -founder of the Indochinese Communist Party in 1930, played a decisive role. Executed in 1932, there remains an icon of Vietnamese revolutionary activism. During the Indochina War and then that of Vietnam, Nam ịnh was a strategic logistics base for North Vietnam. Bombed several times by American aviation, it still embodies the living memory of resistance today. Province of scholarship, historic and industrial crossroads, Nam ịnh remains a strong symbol of Vietnamese identity: rooted in millennial traditions, forged by struggle and always turned towards the future.
Ironclad operation: Madagascar at the heart of the strategic Indian ocean
On May 5, 1942, British troops sparked Operation Ironclad, the first allied offensive against a colony under Vichyst control: Madagascar. The objective is clear-preventing the Japanese army from using the port of Diego-Suarez as a naval base. The expedition, led by Admiral Edward Syfret and General Robert Sturges, mobilizes 10,000 men, supported by the HMS illustrious and indomitable aircraft carriers. Opposite, Governor Armand Annet defends the island with around 8,000 soldiers. After violent fights, the city of Diego fell on May 7. On May 30, a surprise attack by Japanese submarines seriously damaged the battleship ramillies. The operation is extended by the landing of troops in Majunga in September, then in Tamatave and Tananarive. On November 6, 1942, Annet capitula. Assessment: The island goes under the control of free French forces, securing a vital maritime route for allies in the Indian Ocean.
Mohammed V in exile in Madagascar: a key step towards the independence of Morocco
On August 20, 1953, Sultan Mohammed V was deposited by the French colonial authorities, with the support of the resident General Guillaume, for refusing to condemn nationalist demands. Escorted by special services, he is exiled with his family to Ajaccio, then transferred on September 7 to Antsirabe, in the central land of Madagascar. The objective: to remove them from the Moroccan people and to stifle the independence impulses. During his exile (1953–1955), Mohammed V remains a central figure of resistance. Clandestine messages continue to circulate, and riots in Morocco intensifies. Under pressure, France ends up repatriating it to Morocco via Madagascar and Paris. He returned triumphantly to Rabat on November 16, 1955, starting the process of independence, obtained in March 1956.
Razilinah, PIONnier de la guitare ba gasy to Madagascar
Born under the name of Razilinah Randrianarivelo (1919-1967), he emerged in the 1940s as one of the first to adapt the Valiha game technique to the guitar, forging the Ba Gasy style on the highlands of Madagascar. Alongside Rasamy Gitara and Paul Ratianarivo, he shapes a unique sound that sustainably influences Malagasy music. Nocturnal serenades in Faravohitra in 1942, hoods, elegant outfits and bewitching melodies: his guitar vogue with young people – a major cultural current of time. His reputation crosses the generations: in 1992, the guitarist Erick Manana, musical heir, recorded a tribute album entitled Razilinah, retracing his songs “Afindrafindrao” and “Bonjour Chérie”. Central personalities: Razilinah himself, his successor Erick Manana, and the solorazaf producer, who, with his Musikela label, contributes to perpetuating this heritage in the 1990s. Inheritance: it is the spine of Ba Gasy, transmitted orally and revisited by young musicians, weaving a living link between Valiha tradition. His technique influenced a whole generation and is based today at the heart of the renewal of traditional Malagasy music.
Syrian community in Madagascar: a commercial heritage born under colonization
The Syrian community arrived in Madagascar mainly at the beginning of the 20th century, attracted by commercial opportunities under French colonization. Originally from the Damascus and Aleppo region, these migrants borrowed sea routes via East Africa. Installed mainly in Tananarivo and Tamatave, they specialized in trade and crafts, contributing to economic development while keeping their cultural traditions alive. The most Malagasy of the Syrians is undoubtedly Henri Lebanon, a charming singer. His recognized tubes are ” Sound », « My message » et « Mother ». His music is worth a detour and was very successful among the Tananarivians.
Le Lokisa, Délice incontournable d’Andavalangay
The Vietnamese culinary influence in Tananarivo results in techniques such as steam cooking, the preparation of clear broths and the use of rice noodles. Fresh herbs, such as coriander, Vietnamese mint and Thai basil, are integrated into Malagasy dishes, bringing freshness and aromatic complexity to local culinary mixing. But “Lokisa” holds a major place in the urban culture of the capital, including the Andravoahangy district, close to Besarety, holds a central place. The “Lokisa”, emblematic dish based on pork head. Lokisa is not only a meal: it embodies a moment of cultural sharing and identity, reflecting the Malagasy gastronomic wealth in a popular and authentic setting.
Collected by Maminirina Rado
The Tananarivo article and its heritage: the “doan van well” journey appeared first in Midi Madagasikara.