Eating my way through vietnam

[TonyT]

Spending two weeks touring north, central and south Vietnam. Thought you guys might get a kickout of some of the sghts and food on the trip.

Day 1

After spending 27 hours on a plane, in an airport, and held up by immigration for a bribe, I get to meet the family I'm touring with. We head to a cool little place in the capital. Its actually a bunch of small carts\mini restaurants called Ngon 138. Basically all street food. Im avoiding tap water and anything not cooked (including fresh veggies). Having problems with uploading videos from my tablet, but will put up pics when I figure it out. Not a good start to this post, but the next meal might make up for it


Day 2
Up early to drive out to a special restaurant. It specializes in super fresh, straight from the boat seafood that you pick out and the restaurant across the street cooks it up. Not a big seafood eater outside of sushi, but the seafood here is so sweet and fresh, it's fantastic.
Hard tell, but those shrimps are almost the length of my forearm.

]

Beautiful view of the boats

And met two new friends. They collect empty cans for money. When I asked what they were doing, they said "just swimming". We gave them all the cans at the table, still had tons of food. Made each of them a bowl and they were voracious eaters. Made them promise to stay close and give back the bowls and utensils. Found out thre were even more kids, but they have a code to not mess with each other while eating, or begging. Made a big bowl for the other kids, who shared it water side

 

[gtr]

I'm jealous! I occasionally work with some Vietnamese folks and I very much hope to go there one day. If you get the hankering, a brethren has opened a BBQ restaurant there called Big Al's: https://www.facebook.com/thebigalbbq but if you want to stick to the local food give him a holler anyway - he's a cool dude.

 

[deepsouth]

Awesome. Thanks for posting. I want to visit Vietnam some day.

 

[cowgirl]

Very cool!! I'd love to see Vietnam someday. Thanks for posting!

 

[ajmcedar]

Many years ago, my nephew and a friend did a walking tour there, staying in small villages with the local folks. He said it was the best time ever, people and food were great.

 

[TonyT]

I'm jealous! I occasionally work with some Vietnamese folks and I very much hope to go there one day. If you get the hankering, a brethren has opened a BBQ restaurant there called Big Al's: https://www.facebook.com/thebigalbbq but if you want to stick to the local food give him a holler anyway - he's a cool dude.

I'll see if I can fit it into the schedule, but I know it's tight. I was only in the Capitol for 2 days (including the day I landed). I'm there for a day towards the end of my stay before I fly back, would def give it a go if I can!

Takes a while to get things posted using this tablet, but got some cool stuff to share with the brethren

 

[TonyT]

Day 2 snacks

Vanilla/caramel/fortune cookie flavored hot cakes to order

Very sweet lychee

Dinner

In the city and my first bad meal. Should have read the writting on the wall (not making fun of politics, just the situation). This was hidden in the back of an American style coffee place, up a few flights of stairs that exited into a bathroom on one side and this restaurant on the other

Remedied with a walk around the local food carts and shops

 

[Garyclaw]

Very cool Tony! I hear it's a beautiful country. Thanks for the posts!

 

[NickTheGreat]

WOw. Thanks for posting

 

[landarc]

What an experience!

 

[Gore]

Thanks for the thread! I would love to do what you're doing.

 

[TonyT]

The rest of day 2

We drove through an area known for their dragon fruit farms. Stopped in this little garage of a place with one room, where the family lives in the back. When we got there the whole family came out to see the tourists lol. Grandma, mom and dad, along with 7 kids that sleep in this warehouse and single room.

After we had some dragon fruit, we arrived at one of the beach resorts for lunch.

Uds anyone?

 

[cowgirl]

Very cool Tony! The food looks delicious!
Thanks for posting. :-D

 

[landarc]

I shouldn't have come back here to look, now I want Asian food of some kind.

 

[TonyT]

Oops, slight mistake. The dragon fruit and after was day 3 snack and lunch. Its in a beach resort town that was originally used for villas for the French, during their occupation. I have to say that the sand and water are as nice as my stay in waikiki (but cheaper). Its called nga trang. From what I'm told it means white houses, but the locals pronounce it in a slightly different manner than the literal translation. Its also home to one of the remaining temples of the early settlers, before Vietnam was named (over 1000 years ago). Its down town has major foreign investment and street after street looks like vegas

Day 3 dinner: noodle dish with fresh and pickled veggies, meat and deep fried egg roll wrappers. The other dish, spring rolls with grilled pork. The one wrapped in a banana leaf is called Nam, cured pork

Some late night coffee with vanilla ice cream and a coconut

 

[TonyT]

Day 4: free hotel breakfast buffet oddities

Yes, that's Vietnamese coffee, oolong tea, a fried egg, beef stew, French bread, roasted potatoes/sausage/onions, fried rice, two asian bread rolls and a flat rice noodle dish with pork and fish sauce. I'm staying at decent hotels with clean food, have to take advantage. Good morning 6am breakfast

And yes, this is essentially pho with penne pasta... no idea either

 

[TonyT]

Little update. Been away from any useful internet connection. At a little tea shop for a few minutes with wifi and wanted to show you this. Found this in the back of a store that sells tea, coffee and little tea time snacks.

I'm being fairly adventurous and said I'd be willing to try, but when a dirt worn local who I saw go to a squatting toilet, not wash his hands, then reach his fingers into his mouth to pull out bits of food stuck to his molars, who then sits down and massages his dirty feet tells me it made him sick... I'll pass.































M

 

[TonyT]

Day 4

As you've noticed, eating throughout Vietnam is about what they have available in that area. One of the really common dishes, Canh Cua the soup with veggies and seafood is at every family style meal, whether North, Central, or south Vietnam. I thought I'd get tired of it towards the end, but it's very interesting how each location seasons their broth, and the distinct tastes of their ingredients. What kind of fish do they use, why does this same vegetable taste different here than earlier in the south, etc. For me, I never really had the same soup twice. In this meal there was some salted beef, salt and curried squid that's lightly fried. One of my favorite squid dishes. This was also the first time I tried fish eyes, super tasty!

 

[TonyT]

Another thing I wanted to mention. I'm lucky to have had great guides, that really watched out for me. Not just to make sure I went to fun places, but my safety, health and even helping me not get ripped off. Because I was with such people, I could kind of adjust my perceptions of places I would/would not eat. It's amazing how many "gas station like" (they don't sell gas), 2 hours down the middle of a dirt road have some really fresh and great stuff. Loved dropping by places like this.









And meeting some of the local people who bike ride in the sweltering heat. Off the trees, into the bikes and straight to the markets.









I'm very lucky to have had a chance to try the fruit here. It's fresh, incredibly sweet and my guide told me the places we went only had one farming method, organic, without paying an arm and a leg for it.

 

[TonyT]

Day 4 Nice meal to end the day

This is a different version of spring rolls and noodles. The spring rolls here are made not only with the traditional thin, spring roll wrapper, but from what I can tell a localized thin rice noodle. It's accompanied with the usual pork and veggies, this time including some shredded banana (maybe plantain) peels for sweetness. Another thing unique to the chef and location, the dipping sauces. This area of Vietnam I noticed has the lighter fish sauce, nuoc mam, as well as this heavier and much stronger one. The noodle dish is a much heartier broth than something like Pho, more like a medium ramen broth. The fried, thin rice cake is added for flavor and to add some crunch.