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Monday, April 01, 2013

Fried rice cake in Chinatown (Bột chiên)

Two days ago, my friend suggested to have a late night meal in Chinatown, he actually has in mind to find a better place for "fried rice cake" as the popular one in Vo Van Tan street (Dat Thanh ?) seems far from good. I agreed with him and that explained why until now I don't have any review on this Chinese speciality which used to be one of my childhood favorites.

              A night "bột chiên" stall in market "Xa Tay" - Chinatown

Talking about "bột chiên" the image of an old Chinese street vendor with his black wooden cart in my neighborhood in the old days seems revived in my mind - the way he cut, he fried small, long cubes of rice cake in huge black pan, at that time there was no egg as I remember and I just wonder since when we started adding eggs into many dishes: from beef noodles, rolled cake...to fried rice cake.      

                    Rice cake mixed with taro waiting for their turn... 


                     and now ready to fry in huge black pan 

                together with rice cake which has been marinated in black soya sauce, adding eggs...

To me, a good fried rice cake should meet two things: soft but strong cake, marinating sauce before frying and dipping sauce when it's served - all should be good. I don't think I need any egg, I probably prefer pure taste. Yeah, and one more thing - less oil, little crispy from the outside! That's the best!  

                    you may order only rice cake or together with taro cake

                    upside down...

                   add some green onion and ...

               ready to serve, with sweet and very light soya sauce... 

                 and here we go - fried rice cake, egg...crispy, tasty, typical Chinese flavor.

                 they are selling not only fried cake but also noodles, wonton and some other stuff. 

I didn't see my old "rice cake" street vendor anymore. It was almost 20 years ago, he would be very old or no longer alive by now. Living at the entrance of district 5, where we usually call "Chinatown", I met many Chinese street vendors in my neighborhood, they were selling from very cheap ice cream to famous sweet black sesame soup (xí mà phủ), popular blood porridge or this fried rice cake. I see none of them by now, probably long since gone, but the sound, the taste, the smell and especially the image of typical Chinese street vendors will stay in my mind for long.


               Imagine what we eat - comes from this huge "iceberg"!  

Where is the best place to have this very affordable dish (20,000 up to 25,000 VND/ plate) ? 
You may take a risk by trying the one in Vo Van Tan street, popular, but to many foodies, it's far from good. I would suggest a night stall in market Xã Tây in Chinatown (as this market is located in a short, small Phu Dong Thien Vuong street, between Tran Hung Dao and Nguyen Trai), you better take Tran Hung Dao street, when you reach Phu Dong Thien Vuong street, turn right and the stall - right on your right hand side. Original taste! Another friend of mine also suggests one more place in Nguyen Canh Chan, but I couldn't find it. Will check with him again, as he said that's the best in town(!?).


4 comments:

  1. Chào a, e rất thích blog này của a. E có một vài chuyện muốn trao đổi riêng với a. Nếu được a cho e địa chỉ email để liên lạc qua mail đc ko ạ? Em rất mong sớm nhận đc hồi đáp từ a. Cám ơn a!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Chào em, em có thể mail theo steveng312003@yahoo.com hoặc sms 0903727476! Cheers Nguien

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  2. Going to VN to visit my grandparents in July and I'm reading your blog for food ideas!! If only I can flash freeze and pack everything to take home with me. This is my favorite dish! My mom will occasionally make this but it's not the same as if I were to eat it on the side of the street on plastic furniture.

    My mouth is watering from the thoughts of eating.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Going to VN to visit my grandparents in July and I'm reading your blog for food ideas!! If only I can flash freeze and pack everything to take home with me. This is my favorite dish! My mom will occasionally make this but it's not the same as if I were to eat it on the side of the street on plastic furniture.

    My mouth is watering from the thoughts of eating.

    ReplyDelete

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