There’s two ways to enjoy beer. Firstly, the late and sorely-missed Michael Jackson in his apophthegmatically-titled Beer suggests that for proper close examination, beer is best enjoyed in the privacy of one’s own home, lest the neighbouring drinkers think that he or she is the sort of person that would be pompous enough to sniff… Continue reading Drank in public
Category: Vietnamese Food
Cha Cha Cha
Putting the char into bun cha bun cha is a blunt instrument. For all the subtlety engendered by Vietnamese cuisine, bun cha acts as a counterpoint: blackened rissoles of pork teamed with charred slices of pork belly in a thin fish sauce, vinegar and sugar stock with sides of bun noodles and assorted greens. Depending… Continue reading Cha Cha Cha
Defeated in Hue
I generally don’t fail when I’m hunting for street food. I take wrong turns, missteps into blind alleys, but for the most part I find something worth eating. Hue in central Vietnam defeated me. My schooling in Vietnamese cuisine is more weighted towards the South than the North, due to the flow of southern refugees… Continue reading Defeated in Hue
Pimp my regional cuisine: Hoi An
Hội An in Vietnam openly pimps out its regional specialties with flagrant disregard to public taste, be it inferior tailoring, Vina-Franco-Sino-Japanese architecture or local food. The tourist-focussed restaurants that don’t offer bland facsimiles of hoanh thanh (wantons, generally fried), banh beo/banh vac (a steamed rice-flour wonton) and cao lau as an incongruous and brazen set… Continue reading Pimp my regional cuisine: Hoi An
Dalat Market (Chợ Đà Lạt)
Vietnam’s hill resort of Dalat is a horticultural wonderland. The cool tropical microclimate endows its market with the best of both worlds: tropical fruits from the lower hillsides combined with more European fare from the cooler climes. Fresh strawberries sit alongside avocadoes, artichokes, beetroot and dragonfruit; with vendors keen to foist strawberry jam, cashews and… Continue reading Dalat Market (Chợ Đà Lạt)
The pleasure of pork skin: Banh Mi Bi
Vietnam is one of the few places on earth that you can eat a sandwich whose prime ingredient is roasted pork skin and feel virtuous for doing so. Banh mi bi must rate as one of the world’s perfect sandwiches: crispy pork skin with a luscious hint of creamy fat, perfectly balanced with a tart… Continue reading The pleasure of pork skin: Banh Mi Bi
What Fruit is That?
Spotted at Binh Tay Market in Saigon, Vietnam. Any help would be much appreciated.
The Street Sausage of Saigon: Thit Nuong
It helps to be obsessed by a single dish when you arrive in Saigon. I usually hit up a few of my favourite restaurants (the upmarket street food specialist Quan An Ngon, commercial pho franchise Pho 24 anywhere about town) and then am lost in a sea of choice. There’s bun of almost limitless variety,… Continue reading The Street Sausage of Saigon: Thit Nuong