Bánh mì xiu mai is the ultimate culinary mashup: a strange interpretation of Cantonese food in a French baguette via Saigon. The banh mi is your average baguette filled with a slap of pate, pickled carrot and stalks of coriander. The xiu mai part is utterly bewildering. Picking the xiu mai from the sauce The… Continue reading Bánh Mì Xiu Mai
Category: Vietnamese Food
“The only reason to move to Sydney would be to kick Bill Granger in his white-panted balls”
Which was how my friend J summarized my decision to move back to Melbourne. I personally have nothing against Bill Granger and he has nothing at all to do with my decision to not move anywhere near him. The other reason to move to Sydney seems that in my absence, the rental property market in… Continue reading “The only reason to move to Sydney would be to kick Bill Granger in his white-panted balls”
Miming for Bun
When you wander into a restaurant and can’t speak the local language then there is a short moment when you steel yourself for the interaction with the waiter, who in most cases, will look as confused as you. Bun Bo Nam Bo in Hanoi circumvents this great moment to test out your miming skills by… Continue reading Miming for Bun
Banh Mi Doner Kebab
I’ve had many a conversation with family and friends whether it is possible to combine the two of the world’s perfect foods, laksa and souvlaki, into a single ideal entity – souvlaksa – but still have not worked out the mechanics of keeping a noodle soup/garlic sauce mixture contained within a pita without resorting to… Continue reading Banh Mi Doner Kebab
The Ribs of Sapa
My worthless superpower is the ability to step into any city in the world and find a joint that serves barbecued pork ribs. Sapa in Northern Vietnam is not a street food mecca but ribs were there to be unearthed, alongside the usual assortment of chicken parts and other innards prepped for the grill on… Continue reading The Ribs of Sapa
The Narrowest Karaoke Cafe in Hanoi
There is not much room for dancing but the acoustics kick ass. Hanoi, Vietnam.
Lao Cai Lager
The bugbear of all brewers is consistency. While most of Southeast Asia’s lagers are dull, watery and forgettable, they can’t be faulted on their brewing process. Every beer comes from the factory with a taste that is of invariable quality. For all the poor base ingredients and surplus of rice malt, Asia’s biggest breweries manage… Continue reading Lao Cai Lager
Let’s consume ethnicity!
Each Sunday in Bac Ha in mountainous Sapa, Vietnam, subsistence farmers from the surrounding hills descend on the normally sleepy market to watch tourists perform feats of amateur ethnography and find new ways to trivialise their culture. Local hilltribes get into their Sunday best to hit the market mostly for mod-cons and consumer durables: new… Continue reading Let’s consume ethnicity!