Sóc Trăng - the land of the mixed culture!

How much we wish to have shinkansen as in Japan or TGV as in Europe!
Not to shorten our travel time in Vietnam (!?) but to avoid all kinds of trouble with the Police on the road!!! Unluckily we got a trouble with them during our day trip to Sóc Trăng by car!
Ridiculous trouble!

We were stopped by the Police on our way to Sóc Trăng, the speed limit for car on that normal road, no hospital, no school, no construction site... near by - is funny 40km/h! Our speed was nearly 50! At the end we have to leave our documents with them for fine which we have to pay after one week in ...Cần Thơ!

Anyway not to spoil our day, we tried to leave it aside and continued our journey!
Our destination is Sóc Trăng, a small town in Mekong Delta, 240 km away from Saigon but we need nearly 4 hours to reach there!


Sóc Trăng is a special soil!

Special because here, the three biggest communities - Vietnamese, Chinese and Khmer survive together for hundreds of years! Despite the differences in living style, language, business, belief...people living here always shoulder to shoulder to flourish this land!

Sóc Trăng is a Viet version of original Khmer name Srok Kh'leang (literally means a silver treasury), it was also renamed "Moon River" (Nguyệt Giang) in the past, during Nguyễn dynasty, but finally the current name Sóc Trăng remained!

            A young boy of Khmer origin playing a traditional musical instrument 

                                                                                                    at Chùa Dơi (Bat's Pagoda) (*) 

Talking about Soc Trang, the first two dishes came to my mind are bún nước lèo Sóc Trăng (rice noodles soup in Soc Trang style and bánh pía or bánh lột da (peeling off skin cake!). 

If the noodles represent the Khmer flavor then "bánh pía" - the Chinese origin!   

            Bún nước lèo Sóc Trăng, rice noodles soup in Soc Trang style! 

The soup is similar to famous rice noodles with fermented fish soup (bún mắm), deep sweet, rich flavor of fermented fish! Simply topped by cooked snakehead fish, shrimp and roasted pork ! I would say it's another variation of bún mắm! But it's lighter! 

Originated from Cambodia, if our neighbor prepares the soup with their special fermented fish (mắm bò hóc - prahoc), here in Sóc Trăng the local Khmer community or other Vietnamese replace it with more locally favorite fermented fish. Prahoc could be too strong for Vietnamese taste!    

              Rice noodles bún gỏi già, personally I don't like it! Strange taste!  

We also tried another rice noodles called "bún gỏi già" (or và), but I personally don't like it. As a brown soy bean sauce and tamarind sauce has been added to the soup when it's served. Very strange taste, with some peanut! I was excited to try in the beginning but then a bit disappointed!

                 Bánh pía filled with sweetened green mung bean (or taro), salted egg yolk, durian flavor!  

Super hot sate noodles with deer meat!

I'm not a big fan of hot, spicy dishes. But I love to try! From time to time!
I remember when I was in New Delhi in my business trip, staying in the hotel, where the buffet was full of curries! I did try curried chili ! You can imagine how spicy is it from the look!
I mention that because what you are going to taste today is really hot!
Saté noodles with deer meat! 
Not far! Easy to find a stall! At 126  Công Chúa Ngọc Hân, district 11!
The small shop, as family business, simple and empty as when I arrived there, it was still early for business!
I did order my saté noodles with deer meat!

               Is it look spicy to you? 

In the beginning I didn't know it's hot! Very hot!
Different from another saté noodles I tried, it's purely saté without any peanut paste that they usually put in the soup to make it thick and tasty! According to the chef - saté should be hot, not hot - not saté!
I agree!

             The clay pot with saté sauce, very spicy but tasty!

After filling my bowl with soup, another big spoon of saté sauce is added on the top!
But before that some slices of deer meat will be slightly cooked in the boiling water (like medium rare!).
The deer meat is very tender, tasty! I like it! Better than beef!

Specialities from the seaside (bánh căn Phan Rang)

It took me almost two hours to reach this place where they serve specialities from Phan Rang.
And it's just in Saigon! Can you believe that? No traffic! No rain! No any accident! Two hours!

It's far but not that far to steal from me that much time!
Simple reason! In the middle of my way I found that I left my phone at home. No address of the eatery place. No idea about phone number of my friends who is waiting for me there! Damn!

Back home again on my bicycle! Got my phone! And continued my journey, this time on my super fast scooter, to 'bánh căn, bánh xèo Phan Rang" at 570 Lê Quang Định, Go Vap district in Ho Chi Minh City!

But at the end I'm happy with my new discovery!

Phan Rang is a town in South Central Coast of Vietnam, very near to our famous beach resort paradise Nha Trang, that's why it's easy to find these specialities in Nha Trang and I heard the best time to have bánh căn & bánh xèo is early in the morning, especially in the cold rainy days!  

           Very impressive clay mold for bánh căn! Look like a kitchen toy for girls! 
              Or jokingly as some remains in Qin Shi Huang's tomb (mộ Tần Thủy Hoàng) in Xian, China!

            Similar to bánh xèo, but Phan Rang's version it's much smaller, with cuttlefish, shrimp 
            and pork. No green mung bean!           

             At first glance, I thought that I'm going to have a tiny sunny side up! 

             Bánh căn looks similar to bánh khọt in South but different in color and ingredients! 
            White color, made from rice powder with either chicken egg or quail's egg! 

The taste of the national flower !

The idea for this post "The taste of the national flower..." came to my mind just by chance when I saw a street vendor of fresh lotus seeds this afternoon on the way to Chinatown.

One or two years ago, there was a big argument between the members of National Assembly, what would be our National items? Finally, after a long debate, lotus (water lilies) was selected as one of our national symbols! Same as India and Egypt!

               Lotus seeds is a must ingredient for many finest delicacies

The lotus's beauty has been recognized for centuries in the history!
Every one of us surely remember a famous folklore (or proverb) when we were still on the high school bench.

  " Trong đầm gì đẹp bằng sen,
     Lá xanh, hoa trắng lại chen nhị vàng 
     Nhị vàng, hoa trắng, lá xanh
     gần bùn mà chẳng hôi tanh mùi bùn"
 (literally means 
     "What could be pretty as lotus in the lagoon, 
      Green leaves, white flowers with golden stamen
      Golden stamen, white flowers with green leaves 
      Growing in mire, but not foul of mire") (*) 

I'm curious about the food culture related to this symbolic flower!
Bad thing that I'm not a master chef, so I'm not able to suggest what kind of dish can be created with the lotus!
Good thing that I'm a pretty good observer!

Let's start from what I bought this afternoon on the street!

               Lotus seedpod on the street! 

Fresh lotus seed...what I can do with this?

Street food buffet at a chic hotel in Saigon!

The first idea to gather all street foods at one place came from "Ngon"restaurant. It was more than 10 years ago! Huge success! I haven't been back there for long and since Ngon moved to their new location!
Now the restaurant looks better from outside, so from the inside the choice of street food should be more diversified, hopefully!

There was some other attempts to create the same concept eateries, but by somehow only Ngon survives till now, together with a mini street food buffet at a chic boutique hotel - Bong Sen on Dong Khoi street!

Here they call "Buffet Gánh", Gánh means those traditional carrying baskets for street hawkers as seen in the photo!  

I've been to this buffet long ago, even long before the hotel was reconstructed. It was on mezzanine at that time but now moved down to the lobby level. I came back there last week!

How we eat fruits in Viet Nam?

I wonder who was the inventor of those magical mixture of ingredients for eating fruits!
Not every fruits! But many!

I remember my student time! Sitting with some friends from Cuba in the train on the way back to our city, after one month working in the farm, we talked about many things, just to kill time and we ate green apple. With salt mixed with sugar !?

Cuban seemed surprised and asked why salt & sugar? I said "for better taste!"

              Ready-to-eat mango Keo stall near to Ben Thanh market. 
                 Do you notice two big pots of salt & chili and chili saté on the right hand side? 

That's true!  But I can't remember why salt & sugar. Usually no sugar!!!

Anyway it reminds me how we eat some fruits, even sweet but especially green, sour ones in Vietnam we always need special dips!

Sweets from Chinatown!

   Can you guess what's this? 

   Inside banana leaves? 

   I'm sure you can! If not continue reading...

   

Rice noodles with grilled pork in Southern style

Week ago I tried "bún chả Hà Nội", famous street food from North Việt Nam, I said that's very similar to Southern style rice noodles with grilled pork (bún thịt nướng)!

Similar but different! 

So what's similar and what's different?
Similar! Same concept: rice noodles, grilled pork, veggie and sweet fish sauce!

             Rice noodles with grilled pork in Southern style (bún thịt nướng)    

And different! 

In South we don't soak grilled pork in fish sauce! And we don't have "chả" ground pork cake!  

Fish sauce is not that light as in Hà Nội! I should say I prefer Southern taste! Richer! 

Veggie. We have additional bean sprout and cucumber as a must veggie for this dish. Hà Nội - no!  

Roasted peanut for topping! Hà Nội - no!    

Green onion stirred in the oil to spread on rice noodles! No for bún chả Hà Nội! 

Pickled carrot & white radish. Hà Nội version - green papaya! 

Bún thịt nướng super popular street food in Sài gòn. Easy to find around the city, esp. together with grilled pork you can always order deep fried spring rolls! 

This weekend as usual we prepare some good food at home, so I decided to have homemade version of bún thịt nướng! 

Here you go my big bowl of the rice noodles with grilled pork in Southern style! 

Late supper for night crawlers

Sài gòn at night probably is not that active as Bangkok or even Phnom Penh, but anyway we still have many night activities to offer! Those activities behind closed doors could be not for us, but I'm happy to recommend what Saigonese (or Saigonaise) love to eat at night. Late at night.

I know many people don't like rice porridge (congee), at least in my small circle of friends - more then 3 people hate this watery meal! I don't know why! Thousand people. Thousand taste!

The rice porridge or cháo in Vietnamese is very popular traditional dish eps. for breakfast or light meal at night - late supper! If in the old days cháo considered as a meal for the poor, but today is favorite by many trendy young people. Good for diet!

At the same time - Hot plain rice porridge with green onion, black pepper is a good medicine to get rid of the cold! Eat when it's still hot, you will sweat, trust me, a lot! Then the cold will be gone!

                   Black bean rice porridge served with coconut cream sauce and other side dish!

                     Plain rice porridge with pandan leaves flavor can go with any side dish! 

Congee or cháo has many variations. Plain rice porridge or with green mung bean, black bean, pandan leaves...it's  served with different side dish as salted duck egg, thousand-year duck egg (hột vịt bắc thảo), braised pork, braised tofu or braised snakehead fish, anchovy (cá cơm)!

           Thousand year duck egg, special preserved duck egg, originated from China. 
           Good side dish for rice porridge 

Last night with friend I went to one small stall on Nguyễn Thượng Hiền street - Cháo Bông, I was really surprised by a number of the side dishes that we can select for our rice porridge.

             Side dish to go with cháo - thin slice of fried snakehead fish, crispy and tasty!  

Best street food from Hà Nội! (Nem cua bể)

Deep fried spring roll with "sea crab" in Northern style! 

My first experience to taste this specialty from North Vitenam was long time ago but only when I had a dinner at Tuan Tu restaurant in Tran Cao Van street, I tried it again and realized it's very good!

Spring roll is our traditional dish, super popular!  Esp. for many celebrations as New Year party, birthday party, weeding, death anniversary to weekend family, friends gathering!

In South we have different recipes. With shrimp, pork, mixed with taro, green bean, glass noodle, wood-ear mushroom, vegetarian...Deep fried. Fresh rolls!

              Nem cua bể at Bún chả Hồ Gươm, near to Equatorial hotel on Trần Phú street! 

But spring roll from North is unique.
That's why no wonder "nem cua bể", in North we call "nem", i.e spring roll, is considered as one of  best street foods in Asia!

Dumpling noodles in Sài Gòn

I used to bake.
Sometime it was good!
Sometime it was just a disaster! I told to myself...learning process! No problem!
But. I'm quite good at making certain cakes. Banana cake is one of them!

I intended to have a post with only creative photos showing this preparation process.
I and my photographer friend spent almost a hard half-working day!
Finally we got some photos! But my intention is on hold due to my Photoshop skill!

Anyway today not about photos, but about our lunch after that photo session!
We went to Tân Tòng Lợi for dumpling noodles (mỳ sủi cảo).

 Dumpling! Sủi cảo!
 Even though living in China town, but I have no idea where in Sài gòn serve the best dumpling!
 Later I learn that Hà Tôn Quyền, a small street in China town is full of dumpling stalls.

Talking about sủi cảo I remember when I and my colleagues were in Xian (China) with our dealers,
we had a dumpling lunch. Big lunch!

 Oh dear! I still can't imagine how many kinds of dumplings they have in China!
 The restaurant kept serving and serving.
 First, different fillings. Then same fillings but in different shapes!
 It was very good in the beginning but ended with bore!

Ladder noodles ? or bún thang!

This review is one of my very first posts! I feel it should be rewritten, with new photos! And I did today with support from my friends who invited me to taste this speciality at their home! Thank you! 

I really don't know how to translate this noodles into English - Bún thang (literally ladder noodles???)

I have no idea where the word "thang" comes from ? In Vietnamese "thang" literally means "ladder" but if we call "ladder noodles" it would be very very funny and no Vietnamese could understand that!

So "ladder noodles" just between us!

Bún thang originally from North, but already found a new home in many places in South, esp. in Saigon where has been considered as the largest food hub (!). Easy to find bún thang around the city!

In Hà Nội in the old days bún thang traditionally prepared on the fourth day of our Lunar New Year (Tết), when we have a meal to see off our ancestor.  All the left-overs in the kitchen from ham, chicken, shrimp, pork to some veggie have been used for this bún thang! That's why everything has been cut into shreds!

Today bún thang seems simplified a lot, from the ingredients to the cooking process, esp. in South where is far away from the origin place!

Our today bún thang is neither from street vendor nor sidewalk stall but at my old friend's house!

We used to be classmates but lost contact for over 20 years. We met again only by chance when I worked for a mobile company and he - our distributor! From time to time we gather together for good food and good time! My friend's wife prepares an excellent bún thang!

Bún thang requires long preparation! How to keep the soup clear, how to make thin omelette, to cut it and Vietnamese pork ham into super thin shreds as you see from the photo!

And also how to tear the cooked chicken meat into small small strips, but we missed shrimp floss this time! Otherwise our color picture would look nicer with red shrimp floss, yellow egg shreds, pink pork ham strips, green Vietnamese mint and ivory chicken floss!

  

China town - "crossing the street" saté beef noodle!

We say - Chinese can do everything! That's true!
I'm writing about street food, but I never think that the stall on one side of the street and we are eating on the other side. The waiter keep serving customers by crossing the street! And the parking lot is inside a garden of some Chinese pagoda!

That's famous saté beef noodle I tried last night with an old friend in China town! At 117 Triệu Quang Phục, district 5!

Saté beef noodle seems only popular in district 5 or Chinatown (Chợ Lớn), I don't see it in some other areas as district 1 (Sài gòn center) or  district 3 (considered as an upscale area!).

Here they serve yellow noodle or white noodle (hủ tiếu) with saté sauce and beef! We ordered both and together with beef meat balls! The later is just so so! But saté noodle is good!

           My yellow noodle in saté sauce soup with tender beef, cucumber, tomato, culantro (not cilantro!)


Whenever we say "saté" we always associate with oily, spicy, lemon grass, chili, garlic, dried shrimp, peanut...a mix of many strong flavors!
I from time to time prepare saté sauce at home as the original saté  from the shop - quite spicy (as we say in Vietnamese - spice that tore your tongue!). I prefer less!

Chinese steamed bun (bánh bao)

Super popular Chinese steamed bun filled with pork meat, mushroom, Chinese sausage, salted egg...or something else! Here we call bánh bao. This name should come from tai pao in Cantonese!

Super popular street food! Everywhere! In every province! Different recipes! Different colors - green (with pandan leaves flavor!), light violet (with taro flavor)!

Bánh bao always associated with two images in my childhood!

             Famous bánh bao Bà Cả Cần 

First.
For those who live in Asia and martial art fan - probably know a famous novelist Jin Yong (Kim Dung or his real name Louis Cha), in many of his novels - bánh bao has been described as no filling (không nhân) and only for the poors or good knights (hảo hán!). 
I love Jin Yong's martial art novels and remember bánh bao in his stories!

By the way I heard the origin of bánh bao related to famous Chinese historical character - Zhuge Liang (Khổng Minh Gia Cát Lượng), he created small steamed buns filled with horse meat in the shape of human head in order to save his soldiers from the sacrifice to some angered river's spirits!

Second.
After 1975, i.e after the liberation, bánh bao was so unaffordable to me! Especially those big ones from famous stalls, filled with ground pork, egg, Chinese sausage...it was a dream for me - a little kid at that time!

            Bánh bao in steamer at Bánh bao Bà Cả Cần, Nguyễn Tri Phương street!  

But then one evening - during a week-end stay in Vũng Tàu (a seaside town - 120 km away from Sài gòn) with our family friends, I got a bánh bao! After that night I never dare touching bánh bao again for long!

"Big" noodle or Vietnamese "udon"!

Bánh canh! literally soup cake!? I really have no idea why we call like this!
To me it's special because the size of the noodle!
Like sumo size compared to other our thin noodles! And chewy! I always prefer chewy texture!
Extremely popular for breakfast, lunch or dinner!
Different variations with different recipes: crab, shrimp, flower crab, pork knuckle, snakehead fish...

I love to use a word "udon" to describe our "big"noodle!
May be Japanese can't not find any similarity between the two noodles, but anyway for me simply to say "udon" and it sounds lovely!

Let's start with the most popular!

Vietnamese "udon" with crab and pork knuckle (bánh canh cua giò heo)

               Vietnamese "udon" with crab at 48 Ngô Đức Kế, dist 1!  

Actually this is a combination of two dishes: with crab (bánh canh cua) and with pork knuckle (bánh canh giò heo)! You can add pork knuckle to crab dish but not the other way around!
 
I do prefer noodle with crab. I love the color of the dish.
Dark orange or red thick soup with strong crab flavor! Don't forget to add a little bit of chopped fresh chili
and squeeze some lemon juice! Spicy and sour flavors make your crab "udon"much more tasty!

Depends on the place, they may add crab meat, deep fried fish cake, or pork ham (chả), cooked shrimp!
Big noodle with crab probably comes from central, or Huế (our former feudal capital)!
Here, they love to create noodle by own recipe and for that reason we can't find it anywhere else in the market!

Vietnamese "udon" with pork knuckle (bánh canh giò heo) 

                Vietnamese udon with pork knuckle at Bánh canh Trảng Bàng!   


 I have to say I don't like this dish served at "bánh xèo Đinh Công Tráng" where is famous only for their
 pancake, not other dishes! Not good! Not good and not good! Better try only their bánh xèo!

 Even we say pork knuckle, but you can select some slices of cooked pork or a whole big
 knuckle as at Bánh canh Trảng Bàng! Here, the "udon" or big noodle made from special rice flour,
 different from other "udon" in town!

Pork meat from Tây Ninh is famous for their freshness, a tiny tiny bowl of fish sauce with black pepper is always served together. Deep pork meat, either knuckle or slices in the sauce before eating!

Vietnamese pancake (bánh xèo)

Pancake is not really good translation for Bánh xèo!

I think - the word "xèo" comes from the sound when we prepare this special dish! Just my guess!

Bánh xèo is one of many Vietnamese traditional delicacies that tourists esp. from Japan, Korea, Taiwan want to try during their stay in Vietnam. 

Probably originated from Mekong Delta, I heard many good bánh xèo from this area!
But at the same time we have many variations in each area.
In north some other ingredients has been added or in central, bánh xèo is smaller, especially in Huế - bánh xèo has another name, much smaller and served with different dipping sauce!

Made from rice flour mixed with water and coconut cream sauce, the yellow comes from turmeric powder! We add  later, when it's fried, shrimp, pork, green bean, onion, bean sprouts and egg!  

We can replace shrimp, pork with clams, cuttle fish...or just mushroom for vegetarian!
I did try bánh xèo with clams, quite good! 

The most famous place, where they serve one of the best bánh xèo (at least to me!) is on Đinh Công Tráng street! Crispy, tasty but dipping sauce a bit too light!
Wrap in mustard leaf, dip in sauce! Superb!
Popular spot not only for locals but also for tourists from overseas! Very crowded in the evening!  

                           Vietnamese pancake in central style, smaller, a bowl size!   

Bánh xèo bà Mười Xiềm (literally means Mrs Muoi Xiem's pancake) relatively new restaurant chain in Sài gòn, where they serve bánh xèo as main dish. In fact this is a name of a lady in Cần Thơ, famous for her bánh xèo. She was invited to US in 2007 to demonstrate how to prepare this traditional speciality at some cultural culinary event! 

Inside the original bánh xèo stall of Bà Mười Xiềm in Cần Thơ 

Forbidden fruit

It's not about the apple from the Garden of Eden!
It's about the exotic fruit which is been forbidden from many places, hotels, office buildings, public transportation, airports...in many countries in South East Asia!

It's about durian or Sầu Riêng in Vietnamese!

                                                                                                                         dressed up for a dinner! 

Durian would be the only fruit that keep people arguing, fighting with each other either to "destroy"or to place this fruit on a throne!

But the road to the glory seems difficult, despite the huge popularity that the durian gain over hundred years!

                                                                                                                Durian in Mekong Delta market

I'm curious to learn how people think about durian! And to my big surprise, I found so many cruel comments but at the same time a flood of love and emotion from fans who crave this forbidden fruit!
Ok, let's see what people say!

"According to those who eat it, it has a rich custard like texture, and is often called by the people who love the fruit, it is the fruit of heaven. For others it is the fruit of hell!" 

"Its odor is best described as pig-shit, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock. It can be smelled from yards away."

"The taste is exactly the way I imagine fermented garbage custard or dead person jello would taste like. It was truly a horrifying experience!"

I wrap a veggie garden in my roll! Speciality from Tây Ninh

It's not an April Fool joke!
That would be the only one fresh spring roll in Vietnam that requires over 20 kinds of veggie to wrap & to roll!

I'm talking about the most green dish from Trảng Bàng (Tây Ninh) and with the longest explanation & translation!

"Freshly cooked pork meat wrapped in special rice paper which has been lightly grilled and left  overnight in the open air to get slightly wet with dew!" 

Or shortened version in Vietnamese "thịt luộc cuốn bánh tráng phơi sương"!
I would name this rice paper "Night's Dew"!

Few years ago, on the way to Tây Ninh, we stopped by a small stall, serving this unique food and
for the first time I learnt why we need so many veggie to make this roll!

The owner - an old lady explained to us: "You need to put all these leaves in your roll, otherwise missing even one - and what you eat is no longer our speciality!"
She helped us to wrap a roll with every single veggie on the table.
The roll she make was very nice, thick, tidy and full of veggie.

I dipped it in sauce - lightly sweet fish sauce mixed with black pepper, chopped mint.

To my surprise, every flavor from each leaf in my roll was so well harmonized with each other, creating the best fresh spring roll that I never ever forget!

Super freshly cooked pork meat! Served warm! 

Unique rice paper with special preparation process! Unlike any other rice papers, it's soft but chewy with nice savory taste! 

Dipping sweet fish sauce with black pepper! 

And the garden of fresh veggie! 

Market in Mekong Delta in the eye of a foodie!

As a promise from a previous post "Day trip to Western capital"
I'd love to share not feelings but some captures in this traditional market in Cần Thơ!

My parents house is very close, less than 5' minute walk, to Chợ Bàu Sen - a small market but probably
over 60 year old in Nguyễn Trải street. Right in the center of the busiest fashion street!
I grew up with this market!

I love to go there. Every market wherever I've been!
Bali, Phuket, Taipei...up to Tokyo or even Helsinki, down to Melbourne, Tasmania.
To feel lively atmosphere. To mingle myself with the colorful, smelly picture.
To see how people communicate with each others. Bargain. Shout. Laugh.
To find something new. And to buy a lot of never used stuffs!

Colorful edible flowers. 
From red agati (bông so đũa đỏ) to yellow pumpkin flower.
Representing speciality in many class restaurants in Sài gòn.

I wish to list down all names here, but the color, the shape blurred together and confused me.