Love potion - ginseng drink at Le Hong Phong

It's not a love potion, so don't jump up to find out where is it!
It's just a simple natural sweet drink with different flavors. But to emphasize their magic sale I would love to compare it to love potion, I really don't know why at this specific place - they sell hundred and hundred glasses, if not thousand, per day! Just a simple natural beverage, but a good refreshment!

             Three most popular drinks at Nước sâm Hồng Phong!

I'm talking about "nước sâm Hồng Phong", literally means "ginseng drink at Hông Phong".
First thing first - this is not a ginseng but by somehow they keep calling it, probably because it's good to cool off our thirst during the heat, to quench ourselves! Hồng Phong is a shortened version of the street name where this beverage shop is located.
Most popular drinks here are (from left to right for the above picture) : nước sâm (beverage made of some plants, herbs...), nước rong biễn (sea weed drink) and trà cúc (chrysanthemum tea)!

Deep fried cake "Cóng" from Mekong Delta

I really had no idea why we call this deep fried savory cake "Cóng", also no glue about the name, the meaning, the origin...until one of my many trips to Cần Thơ, to try this speciality and to discover the name's origin! People probably named  the cake Cóng, after the cake's mold!

            Bánh cóng - a speciality from Mekong Delta

The cake's mold is quite unique, it looks like a ladle - big serving spoon for soup, but the handle has been designed specially long with a hook at the end ... for deep frying function!
By the way, in Vietnamese, to call this big serving spoon we have different words: in North - we call "môi" or "mui", in South - "vá" and it causes a big confusion between people from North and South when we talk to each other.

Coconut candy (kẹo dừa)

Coconut candy or kẹo dừa, one of the most popular candies in Vietnam, esp. in the South, along with banana candy! Both of them are purely traditional candies from Mekong Delta. Coconut candies are mostly from Bến Tre, the coconut's homeland!

          In small workshop in Cái Bè (Tiền Giang), the workers demonstrate how to make the candy!  

Kẹo dừa is simple but very tasty! Mainly with original coconut flavor, sweet, soft...sometime mixed with durian or pandan leave flavor or roasted peanut. I enjoy durian, but I don't like coconut candy with durian flavor, I prefer a combination of coconut and peanut! Long in the past I didn't like how to unwrap the paper from the candy as they sticked together : the paper and candy! Nowadays we have double wrapping: inside with edible rice paper and outside oil paper! The problem solved!  

             Coconut candy made of coconut cream mixed with malt sirup...

Coconut candies are very affordable, so affordable that's why kids in Saigon rarely request these candies as gift from anyone, but people from Mekong Delta keep buying it as presents to their relatives living in big cities like Saigon, Hanoi...and everyone always enjoy regardless of their value.

Eating coconut candy, I prefer taking not only one but two pieces...at once, in order to feel the rich and tasty coconut flavor, but at the same time my mouth can do exercise...because the coconut candy is not that soft, always pretty chewy!

              It could be added with durian flavor or roasted peanut to enrich the taste! 

The production line for coconut candies is quite simple, but to make a good quality candies is far from ease! We need to select a right coconut with super fresh flesh, then grate them, press them to extract the coconut cream and milk! The next step is how to mix with the good quality malt sirup...and this is the maker's secret how much to add the sirup or probably some other ingredients...we never know!

           Ready-to-pack candies! 

The coconut candies have been exported to some markets as US, Canada or Europe, to be sold in some grocery stores for overseas Vietnamese or other Asians who loves the flavor of this special candies, there was a time or maybe still now, the legal fight between a famous Vietnamese coconut candies manufacturer with Thai or Chinese ones as they produce candies somewhere else in China or Thailand, different flavor, different quality, but always label as "Product of Vietnam"!

          The final packaging with the maker's label! 

I regret that no one in Vietnam can build up a good brand for coconut candies from the Land of Coconut - "Bến Tre", with super quality, in rich collection, with eye-catching packaging so we can be proud of it as the Swiss - with their chocolate! Let's hope for one beautiful day!

 

Chicken rice (cơm gà)

Chicken rice - I just wonder is it purely Vietnamese or Chinese dish, probably from our big neighbor as most of good chicken rice places in Saigon, either run by Vietnamese with Chinese origin or Singaporean-Chinese! Anyway Vietnamese or Chinese - no matter if it's good! I love chicken rice esp. the flavorful steamed rice cooked with chicken broth...until now I still remember a small shop in Vo Van Tan - Shanghai chicken rice, but since they have a new big 2-3 story building, it seems that their chicken rice is no longer good as before and they start selling different dishes...and I never come back there!

Some people like the chicken rice in Chinatown, or Nguyen Tri Phuong street or even in Hai Ba Trung ... so I really have no idea which is the best now in town! I also tried a famous chicken rice in Singapore at a luxury hotel (recommended by my old colleagues in Singapore) or even at some food court with local friend - the popular Hainanese boneless tender chicken rice! So to me - the best and the most important from this dish are always good rice with good chicken (what's else?!)... and probably with the excellent dip sauce!

Today our dish is not from Singapore, no either from far-away Shanghai, it comes from our Central part! It would be another version of chicken rice - has been localized to the local taste! Chicken rice with fried fish-sauce chicken (cơm gà chiên nước mắm)! Very tasty!

For certain reason, most of chicken for this dish should be either "garden"chicken, definitely not chicken from those "industrial" farms, because the chicken meat should be specially tender . Either it's cooked or fried - the meat should be flavorful, tender and not powdery soft! The rice is soft not too dry and tasty thanks to the chicken broth. Here, you have a choice : either cooked chicken or roasted with fish sauce. I vote for the latter! More tasty!

       The thick sweet fish sauce with garlic and chili and a bit of ginger! 

Besides you still can order a chicken salad, it's good to have some veggies, quite tasty as it soaked in sour sweet spicy sauce! Good to try here, because if we go to the traditional chicken rice place - they don't serve this salad!
Ok, where to try this chicken rice with fried fish-sauce chicken ? At the same place where I had a noodles with jellyfish! 61 Le Thi Hong Gam, district 1!

Ice cream -from the street to the branded shops!

Many many Vietnamese love ice cream, probably because we are living in a tropical country, so to enjoy the cold, sweet, flavorful ice cream is almost everyone's favorite thing!

When I was a kid, I remember I bought not one but at least 2-3 ice cream bars, put all of them in a glass, crushed them...until they have melted and enjoyed the sweet, thick, cold melted ice cream liquid! Another very cheap ice cream - made from only ice and sirup. I bought and just few minutes later only ice left as I already sucked all the sweet sirup mixed together with the ice-melted water. This cheap ice cream used to have only orange flavor. These days this kind of simple cold snack seemed gone!

                The ice cream vendor near to the school

But one more favorite thing from the childhood: how much I loved to get it after the afternoon nap, the ice cream in a sweet soft bread! The vendor puts two or three scoops of ice cream, up to the order, into the bread as sandwich, top it with roasted peanut and condensed milk!

                                   The bell is almost a symbolic sign for ice cream cart in Saigon! 

The taste of the cold sweet and flavorful ice cream together with sweet soft bread, roasted peanut, condensed milk...always makes me happy!

Special edition: Sleepless nights in Bangkok (Part Two)

These days travelers mostly rely on the online booking, esp. those popular sites for hotels as Agoda or Air Asia for flights and we believe their offer is always the best! It's not always true!
Especially for  hotels in Thailand, there is so many choices! It's good to check with Agoda and at the same time directly with the hotel! Compare the price! Most of the time, the offer is almost the same! Exactly the same thing with Air Asia, if we don't book long in advance, no much difference compared with Thai Airways, plus the inflight meal!

           Late at night on the street in Bangkok

About the hotel, every time going back to Bangkok, I tried a new one. Location. Facilities. Price. To me - location is No 1. This time I stayed at Bally's serviced apartment in Sukhumvit, soi 20, it's a real long walk to Asok - a sky train station. It was my mistake as I booked in hurry but on the other hand, it would be good for me, an extra 15' to exercise!

                      and at the night market in Patpong - not crowded on weekdays!  

Rice noodles with jellyfish at Lạ (bún sứa)

Jellyfish or we call sứa in Vietnamese, to me it could be one of the most beautiful sea creatures that I have seen. Maybe not those red jellyfish in Vũng Tàu that hurt me in my childhood summer vacation but at least those that I saw in a special tank in a famous spa in Tokyo. There, in the relaxing top floor they keep extremely white, extremely beautiful jellyfish in a nice glass water tank with the ocean dark blue background, the special lighting. Just imagine sitting in a cold, dark room, hearing the sound of ocean waves and watching those white fluorescent jelly fish swimming as they perform an exotic belly dance in the water, all heavy feelings in my mind suddenly have gone! Only me, alone, bathing in the ocean with these miraculous creatures! That was in Japan.

Back to the reality, in Vietnam, we eat jellyfish, we do jellyfish salad and jellyfish rice noodles! Ok just think Japanese kill bigger fish for their sushi, and here we have jellyfish - much smaller for our noodles...in order not to feel uncomfortable!

I did try jellyfish salad, quite popular dish at certain seafood restaurant but my jellyfish noodles at Quán Lạ last night was my first time! It was good, very good!

          Jellyfish noodles but some tuna, fish cake are added and topped with roasted peanuts! 

          Here we go: chewy jellyfish in a dipping sauce - fermented fish sauce (mắm nêm) 

         I love the taste of the soup: a bit sweet, a bit of pineapple flavor, a bit sour, a bit spicy...

So if you want to try, here you go the address:

Quán Lạ - 61 Lê Thị Hồng Gấm! 35,000 VND/ bowl! Worth to try!