L'usine - a good cafe place with the shop-in-shop concept

The coffee-shop style in Saigon is something really incredible! Probably nowhere in the world has that much to offer like here. Everywhere - from right on the street, very cheap one, to those huge places, good and popular for the majority…up to the real classy for young trendsetters.
Whatever taste you have, you definitely find something suitable, I guess. Before people just need a cup of black coffee to start a working day…but now having a coffee at a nice place could be a new lifestyle, a true pleasure.

            A corner at L'usine - a nice place to have coffee and light food in Saigon. 

Christmas weekend in Saigon

Only a few days left to Christmas. Weeks before we already feel the holiday atmosphere, the hurry-up mood everywhere in the city, especially this morning, probably thanks to the cold air from North, Saigon's weather is suddenly and unusually getting colder . Perfect for X-mas time. In the North, up to Sapa, the highland, it's recently heavily snowing. Imagine…snowing in Vietnam, it's not a global warming!?  

             To avoid the night crowd many young people prefer the morning shoot.  

"Vitamin" drink ?

Vitamin drink - it sounds funny, and it's not a drink mixed with various medicine, it's actually the way we call a blended fruit drink (very similar to fruit smoothie) in Vietnamese - sinh tố (i.e vitamin). To be honest I don't know how we came up with this name, surely because of the fruits. Sinh tố was, still always remains a very popular, favourite and healthy drink like coffee in Saigon (coffee is healthy?!) Everywhere here you can find a small stall of sinh tố, but the good place could be hidden somewhere else in a small alley of the big city.

Sponge cake in Saigon - Bánh bông lan

I have no idea how it comes - the Vietnamese name for "sponge cake", and it's really a beautiful name for this popular, light and soft and spongy cake - we call it "bông lan". It's literally means "flower - orchid", word by word! Actually the name itself sounds also really light as a feather!

             A familiar image of sponge cake vendor in Đồng Khởi street. 

World of Desserts - Tong Pak Fu (Đường Bá Hổ)

These days most of the new eating business is created for the youth - they are surely the biggest spender. Last night I've been to a quite new dessert place - named after a famous Chinese poet of 15th century, Tong Pak Fu (Đường Bá Hổ). I don't know is there any connection between the desserts and the poet, maybe the sweetness in his poem, the tasty love in his words? 

The place is very Chinese in many details: the dessert and its name, the decoration and staff working there : the waiter and even the cashier-lady! 

Dim sum in Chinatown in Saigon (by Duc Le - my guest posting)

Since relocated to Saigon  4 years ago, I've always been scouting for a good local dim sum restaurant.  Saigon is not lacking of the sumptuous Chinese breakfast places.  On the contrary, there are plenty of Dim Sum restaurants such as Ocean Palace Restaurant, Hoang Long Restaurant, Royal Garden, Shang Palace, Li Bai in Sheraton, Windsor plaza, Kabin in Renaissance Riverside or the famous Singaporean chain Crystal Jade in Legend Hotel, to name a few.  But mostly these restaurants are high-end and a bit pricey for an average Vietnamese to enjoy. Some of my local friends suggested me to explore Chinese cuisine in District 5 (a.k.a Cho Lon) area.  District 5 is well known for Chinese Vietnamese community settlement.  It is literally the "China Town" equivalent to San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles' Chinatown.  

In the States, If you need to have good Dim Sum or traditional wonton noodles soup, you go to Chinatown.  If you want to find good shredded pork with thousand-year-old black egg porridge, you go to Chinatown.  In Saigon, its the same.  If you crave for good Chinese dessert with affordable price, you go to district 5.  You want to find an authentic Chinese noodles soup, district 5 is where you should go. You got the picture.  

Sweet fermented rice (cơm rượu)

I didn't try the rice pudding, or maybe I did, I can't remember! When I heard about the rice pudding as dessert, my reaction was quite strange - Dessert from rice?
Then I suddenly recall that we also have something sweet from rice, I wouldn't call it dessert but it's really sweet and now as a new trend, back to the tradition, at some Vietnamese restaurants we serve it as dessert, a speciality, especially to curious foreigners.

                      Sweet fermented rice 

Bến Thành market

Bến Thành market is very famous, it's like the historic image, the symbol of Sài Gòn, but to be honest, it's not in my heart. Probably because we have so many markets in Saigon, traditional ones, right in our neighbourhood, where we always go early in the morning to buy some stuff either for breakfast or for a family lunch. And we do that since our childhood. Bến Thành is far away for me.

                 One of the most popular symbols of Sài Gòn - Bến Thành market. 

Mid Autumn lantern

Talking about the Mid Autumn Festival, about the moon cake, we should not forget the lantern. Together with moon cake, the image of the colourful lantern is another sweet memory for every of us. I really can't remember when I had my first lantern, and it was either a butterfly or golden fish? And those colourful tiny candles for the lantern. A sweet childhood memory gone with the years.

            The lantern attracts not only children but also adult...

Celebration for the showbiz's spiritual protector

To my knowledge, we have a kind of spiritual protector in every profession, not every, but mostly I guess. From the agriculture, the forestry, the fishery... to the handicraft, the show business. This's a very strong belief that everyone working in that area has to respect, to celebrate in a certain day.

          From left to right: three directors - Tat My Loan, Tuan Le and Nguyen Nhat Ly. 

Beef in 7 dishes at Au pagolac

Beef in 7 dishes or as we call Bò 7 món is very popular, esp. in South. I remember when I was a little boy, my mother used to take us together with some our cousins to a small but very busy restaurant in Pham Ngu Lao street, not far from Ben Thanh market (I hope my memory did not betray me!) to enjoy these seven dishes . But most memorable to me, among these 7 dishes, was "the beef dipping in vinegar" (bò nhúng giấm), probably because they served the dipping vinegar in a coconut, so we just dipped thin slices of beef into the boiling vinegar mixed with coconut juice.

              Beef in 7 dishes at Au Pagolac 

Walking along the evergreen streets in Saigon

Saigon used to be a beautifully green city, maybe still green but the image of a charming city has gone. Back in 70s, I was just a little kid, but still remember the image of Saigon in the old days.
Not much traffic, much cleaner, less populated, less polluted and it seemed people at that time behaved more properly.

                  Nguyen Van Cu street with the narrow alleys along two sides of the main street.

Three Brooms town of Somewhere-land in Saigon

Every kid love fairy tales, without exception. We surely never forget those stories that came into our life in early years - the fairies, the witches, the magic stick.There was times that I dreamt I could fly, could be invisible to do some "horrible things". And these days it seems we need to sweeten more our life with those imaginations as too much headache out there!
I didn't know we have a place called "Three brooms town of Somewhereland" in Saigon, where I'm sure some parts of your imagination, your dream can come true. Who loves Harry Potter, should definitely visit this town, right in the heart of Saigon.


                    Welcome to the Three Brooms Town of Somewhereland! 

The steak from the giant bird - the ostrich

I heard about this giant bird meat quite long time ago, when in Vietnam the ostrich suddenly became a big focus for many business people. It seems everyone, everything love to follow the trend, not only in fashion, lifestyle but also in business. Before snake, crocodile farms...nowadays yogurt, donut, milk tea stores...So, the ostrich farm business was one of those, back to late 90s.

When the first ostrich farms probably appeared in South of Vietnam, I was wondering what we could do with this giant bird? We only see them in the zoo and I never thought that we can have this bird in our table for lunch or dinner. Anyway, today we have ostrich steak, a quite popular dish and has been considered as healthy food. I did try snake porridge, fried crocodile meat, stew turtle...so I absolutely have no problem with ostrich, by somehow it took me even years to try it.

                The ostrich meat texture looks exactly like a beef  

Make your own birthday cake

Today is an exception. Not about the street food, not about the stories from the past, or my bike riding adventures but about the challenge in my day. Tomorrow is my birthday. So I challenge myself to make my own cake for my day. I love baking, I probably got it from my mom, she loved to make cakes in the old times, but she has never been a good baker, for her making cake was just a "not serious" hobby. I'm surely better than my mom as there was time I was thinking to apply for Cordon Bleu to be a real "patissiere" - a pastry chef!

                          Polish cream cheese coffee cake, buttery, filled with cream cheese...

A cake from the childhood (bánh phục linh)

Everyone always has some favourite things in childhood, that could be either a toy, a book, a character or even a cake that we used to love and desperately wanted to have. As far as I remember I had a plastic sword from what I never  separated after school, a picture book that I always slept with ...and a small cake that I still remember until now - bánh phục linh. I tried to find why we name this cake like this? and what does it mean - phục linh? The cake made of tapioca starch, so may be that the way we call the starch in "chinese"? anyway I really don't know how people comes up with this name, where it comes from?

                 Bánh phục linh - tapioca cake, the green comes from pandan leaves... 

When the writer runs a restaurant...

It's like a trend everywhere else in the world when you got a fame, you will definitely try your luck again in another field. How many celebrities launch the coffee shops, the restaurants, the fashion brand but not everyone get really what they want: some flourish, some fail.
Exactly the same in Vietnam, we heard about the fancy places owned by some "diva" or "supermodel", or another spots - more traditional - by famous designer or novelist. I wonder - is it another way for them to make money or just to agree with what they said: "I open this place to hang out with my friends, I don't need to go out...". Hmm, it would be true or may be not!

I'm talking about "Đo Đo" eatery created by a popular novelist - Nguyễn Nhật Ánh, with his wife. To be honest I know very little about this writer, he seems well-known among the youth, some of his works has been adopted for TV series. It sounds great, but is it great his place? I got different comments: "it's so so", "mostly for those who love central flavours" (this place specialised in dishes from Central Vietnam), "the place is so tiny, not comfortable", "the dish is a bit salty"... I won't make any comments until I visited the place with friends few days ago.

Bread stall since 1950s in Saigon

We talk a lot about our bread, we know how it's popular, how people prefer it, our bread has been even selected as one of the best street foods in Asia, but we may not know that somewhere in Saigon we still have a place where they serve bread in another way since 1950s.

I was told about this place quite sometime ago, I keep in my mind "I should go there" but by somehow only last week I've been there for the first time. It's not far from my old parents house and the stall was there probably long before 1975. It's an old stall right at the corner near to Cao Thang and Nguyen Dinh Chieu's intersection - with a faded signboard "Bánh mỳ Hòa Mã"

It's not take-away shop as other places, they have tiny old metallic chairs, small, low tables along the passageway. If more customers they put more chairs and tables, if not they clear them up, not to disturb the traffic in this alley.

                  A plate of the variety of cold ham, sausage, homemade mayonnaise and pâté.

Beef noodles at "Tương Lai" - will it help to find a lost friend?

Two years ago, I have posted a small notice on BBC's Facebook page in Russian to look for a long-lost friend. He was from Belarus and the last thing I heard about him was...exactly 26 years ago. In his last letter, of course, it was not an email, he briefly informed "I will be moving to Spain for my journalist's career...". That was all I knew. Two weeks later, after my note posted on BBC's wall, I got a message from a Russian girl, who is living in Moscow and willing to help me. To my great great surprise, with her help I found my old friend. This time I got from him an email...

                Where my friend treated me to a good "phở" before I left Vietnam. It was already three decades...

Burrito - Mexican food to go in Saigon

Mexican food ? I'm not sure how many people living in Saigon know about Mexican food, but if you ask them about "Simply Maria", I'm sure many of them still remember the record holding 150 episodes TV series from Mexico, back to early 1990s. That was the first time on Vietnam TV we watched a such long "telenovela"! Everyone seemed happy, impatient to wait for the next episode, to live together with Maria, a main heroine, to cheer her up. And that also marked the beginning of the invasion of the Korean TV melodrama on Vietnam television since '90s.

Ok, we are here not about TV drama, but my first burrito in Saigon. Before heading to this tiny burrito 2 go shop, my friend and I, we were thinking about what to eat in a raining Saturday - Japanese pizza in Lê Thánh Tôn ? or Vietnamese pancake in Đinh Công Tráng ? Suddenly my friend drove me to this El Gato Negro, The Black Cat. 

               My first burrito filled with ground beef, spanish rice, red beans, veggies...

Taipei - February's rain & my street food discovery

Taiwan is one of a few countries in Asia where I've been only once. I wish to come back there but not in February! My first trip to Taiwan was in that month, a few days after Lunar New Year. And it was raining all the times during my stay. From the day I arrived, the rain accompanied me until my very last day.
After the train from the airport to Taipei, how long I had to wait at the entrance of the metro station, without umbrella or raincoat, I was standing there nearly half an hour, tried to figure out what I should do as the rain seemed never stop! Then I had no choice to carry my luggage along the street in the rain to look for my hotel. There was a very kind lady who asked me to join under her umbrella while across a boulevard. I was not lucky with the weather but leave it, the rain aside, my time in Taipei was full of many surprises and very nice discoveries.

                A fruit stall in Ximending - a trendy shopping area in downtown of Taipei, esp. for the youth

Big noodles with crab at Nguyễn Thông

Big noodles or I always call it "Vietnamese udon" with crab or bánh canh cua at Nguyễn Thông (some people say Kỳ Đồng, as the eatery located at the join of these two streets) - very popular. Nowadays as trend, the shop is named after the owner - Bánh canh cua Bà Dạng (Mme Dạng's udon with crab)!

                  Udon with crab or bánh canh cua Bà Dạng at Nguyễn Thông.

The traditional cake for Đoan Ngọ festival

I don't know much about this tradition and the cake that I always see during this period of the year: bánh ú tro. When I was a kid, I did try it, I didn't like it at all due to the specific strong smell, without any filling, no taste, just a piece of sticky cake in pyramid shape, I had to dip into sugar otherwise it was impossible to chew a tasteless, stinky cake.

         Bánh ú tro, a pyramid sticky rice cake filled with green mung bean for the 5th of May festival (by Lunar calendar)

Living in the countryside

Living in the countryside could be a dream for many people who lead a stressful life in a big city. I'm definitely one of them, since my childhood I loved to experience a life in the farm, where they have a huge chicken's cage, so I can just walk in and pick up the eggs in the morning for my sunny side up,  a few dairy cows in a green hill, a valley with a crystal clear stream flowing through it, a beautiful morning with blue sky, fresh air and smell of wet grass with dew...

                A part of the farm still under construction, but the view to the lake is terrific...

Beef noodles in a northern style in Saigon - Phở Phú Gia

When I start this blog year ago, my first review was about our famous beef noodles, I did mention that in Saigon we can taste different "phở flavours": southern, northern, chinatown (!), even some "overseas" (i.e phở prepared by "overseas" Vietnamese chef!). People may prefer this one to another, or some simply can't stand certain flavour, I have friends who really can't eat beef noodles in a northern style. What's is the difference here? - The soup? The noodles? The taste? Hard to say! You should experience yourself! Last week I've been to "Phở Phú Gia" - one of favourite spots for beef noodles in a northern style in Saigon.

               A bowl of beef noodles at Phở Phú Gia, a lot of green onion!  

Broken rice Trần Quý Cáp - another one in the top three.

Few weeks ago I had a post "In search of the top 3 of the best broken rice in Saigon"and according to one of my friends, who is a big foodie, we already found two and this place - "Broken rice Tran Quy Cap" should be one of that three.
I will not rank these three places in order of preference as I like all of them, but "broken rice Tran Quy Cap" has a special place in my mind, it reminds of my childhood. This place is not very far from my parent's first house and I can't remember whether they had a broken rice business at that time or not, but I'm pretty sure - they did sell home-made dishes for those busy working moms, who couldn't prepare a meal for family and work at the same time. My mom who has been a teacher for several schools at once, from time to time she sent me here to get some foods for family lunch.

               I can smell the five spice powder from grilled pork chop and the meat is not juicy to me...

Let's have coffee!

Talking about this dark, bitter drink is not easy for me.

First, I'm not a big fan of this liquid drug, second, what I know about the coffee life style in Saigon is little. Vietnamese love coffee. Male, female, elder, younger. Morning. Afternoon. Evening. Anytime in a day, raining days, office hours. By weekend some spacious coffee shops with aircon could be a favourite gathering place for family, with kids running around, screaming in joy.

I can't spend hours and hours there, to play with my laptop or Ipad as many people do these days. I also can't sit there just to "tám" (a popular jargon, i.e to chat, to gossip, to blah blah blah...). The word "coffee" doesn't mean a drink to us anymore, it's like a socialised activity, a company of good friends, a romantic date, a business meeting...that we can't live without.

                    Cafe phin - a favorite choice for majority of Vietnamese in Saigon. 

One of the world's 50 most delicious foods in Saigon

Finally I tried Assam Laksa - the 7th in the list of the world's 50 most delicious foods at one of a few Halal eateries in Saigon. It reminds me very much our "bun mam"- rice noodles with fermented fish soup. But I would say "Thousand people, thousand tastes". I don't like Assam Laksa.

It's certainly a good dish but by somehow I didn't like it, personally. Maybe I didn't try the authentic one in Malaysia, or somewhere else to compare. Or maybe today was not my day, so I didn't have a good appetite.

                      Assam laksa - one of the most delicious foods in the world by CNN Go - 2011.

Rice mixed with mussels (cơm hến)

One of my very first posts about Huế specialities is "From the Hell to the Heaven", this review got some encouraged comments, I even received a proposal to cooperate with one travel agency but then I had to refuse, because...I didn't know what to do. Sounds funny? But it's true.

Ok back to the Hell...I'd love to share one of my favorite Hue's flavors: rice mixed with mussels. I don't know since when I fell in love with this "bibimbap" of Vietnamese version. Whenever I'm at any Huế restaurant, I surely ask whether they serve it or not, if they have, I'll order. But it's not always good at every place!

                  A bowl of cơm hến (rice mixed with mussels) at Cố Đô - a Huế restaurant in district 5, Chinatown. 

Rolled noodles Ngũ Xã (phở cuốn Ngũ Xã)

I don't know for how many weeks, my review about "10 Vietnamese street foods we can't live without" has been a big hit and always at the top of the list...in my blog! At the same time I also got comments from some readers that it's not fair, as my 10 dishes are mostly from Saigon. I have to admit they are right.
My last trip to Hanoi was very short, I didn't have enough time to try everything of what I got in my note: I missed a famous beef noodles at Bat Dan as they were closed for very long Tet holiday, I also didn't try another popular Hanoi's flavor "rice noodles with grilled pork" at Ngoc Khanh street or favorite by the youth in Hanoi - the jackfruit yogurt, the yogurt mixed with dark red sticky rice...

I'm sorry but I'm sure I will review it soon "The 10 hawker foods we can't live without in Hanoi".
Today, it's not an excuse, but I'm happy to share one more dish from the North - phở cuốn Ngũ Xã (literally means rolled noodles Ngũ Xã).

                   Similar to some rolls we have in Saigon but here - no oily and the fillings are warm. 

It was my friend's treat for my last night in Hanoi, he took me there and Ngũ Xã turned out a name of the area, fairly far from the old quarter. To be honest, if you ask me how to get there, I would say you better take a cab. It was a Tuesday night, around 8:00pm, not crowded. According to my friend, there are two places in Hanoi, famous for this "rolled noodles Ngũ Xã", where we have been is a bigger place than the other one, not only bigger, but also lighter for my photos. How nice!

Củ Chi - the land of steel, the wall of copper

I've been to Cu Chi few times. It's a suburban district of Saigon and about 30km away from city. Not very far so yesterday with friends we decided to ride on our bicycle to this land of steel. Why we call Củ Chi - the land of steel, the wall of copper? It's surely related to the extremely outstanding tunnel during the war, to the legendary fighting and surviving spirit from the people living in this underground labyrinth.

                  The caoutchouc plantation, seeing such a green I'd love to dive into it to cool off from the summer heat.

Very famous with their tunnel network, especially to the tourists from overseas, I've also been to this site few times, my first time was a big nightmare, when I went there with my Korean colleague. He was convinced by the guide to experience the second level (*) by walking within a distance of around 20m, I followed, but a few seconds later I felt unbreathable, I really wanted to go back. Listening to our guide's instructions, I took a left turn, they continued their way. I realized I was left alone in the tunnel. Absolutely alone. No light. It was hard to breath, to crouch on my knees, to navigate in the dark, even though what I should have done was only to go straight - one way. I didn't go, I ran. Now I'm still so proud of myself as better than anyone I know exactly what's the excitement by seeing "the light at the end of the tunnel". 

                        To experience my feelings please check out this video from Global Nomads Group. 

Our first stop was at the eatery "Bún giò heo" (rice noodles with hog's ham hock). To my surprise, I never heard about this dish before, we have "big noodles" (bánh canh) but with rice noodles? 

               Famous rice noodles with hog's ham hock but My first time to try this dish. 

Something new but actually we have rice noodles with everything and everywhere! The place was very crowded due to the sunday morning but we were able to find a table for four of us.

               The hog's ham hock is huge, the soup is good but with rice noodles? 

Saigon 38 years later with some flashback stories

30th of April, 1975. 
Special day for all Vietnamese, especially for those who lived in Saigon at that historical moment. I was there, a young kid, without knowing about the war, I was packing, with joy, my favorite toys for "the escape". But it didn't happen, our family stayed and...tomorrow, 38 years later, we celebrate the date that many of us don't know how to call - either "Saigon liberation" or "Saigon fall".  
I don't want to go into the details what was good and what was bad for us, before and after that real turbulent date, it's too much political, I'm not into that. I was a very young kid before 1975, I hardly remember everything but there is always something that I never forget...in my city.

The 1st story
The classy Continental hotel, after 1975, has turned into a cheap "state cooperative eatery" (hợp tác xã ăn uống). The living conditions were very hard. One day my mom, as habit from the good old times, took us there to enjoy a Yang Chow fried rice (cơm chiên Dương Châu) with her tiny earnings after selling some dress from her wardrobe, my mother used to be a teacher so she got a big collection of áo dài, sometime she gave away her dress, sometime she just traded for an extra money. It happened only once, no second time. Now, it's good that the Continental regain the old look and I already know where is the better place for the fried rice.

              The Continental hotel - one of the luxury hotels managed by Saigon Tourist - a state company.  

PS: By the way, these days I saw they are selling the Yang Chow fried rice as a street food.

The 2nd story
Saigon was much more quiet, less people, less traffic before 1975. Our parents bought their first house long before I was born. It was very narrow, slightly more than 2 m wide but it was a shelter to many of our relatives who moved from Central to Saigon. The house has been renovated once and it was sold in 1970, after my parents got another one - much bigger.
I do remember the ice cream vendor, who always stopped in front of this house, he first played with kids and after that convinced them to buy his cheap sirup ice cream. One day I was sitting behind the balcony (as you see from the photo), I really loved to get some ice cream but no pocket money, so the young vendor tried to convince me to exchange something, I didn't know whose idea, but I finally exchanged it with a pack of french pretzels that I took from a very nice tin box. And that was a present from a friend to my mother.

           I grew up here, in my parents first house(center). It surprisingly remained the same as in the old days.   

Rolled cake Thanh Trì (bánh cuốn Thanh Trì)

When still in high school, I was told about some traditional dishes in the North of Vietnam, especially in our folklore. I actually didn't have a chance to taste anything at that time as I was living in Saigon, without knowing the flavor, but I never forget the names, they all sound nice. 

Bánh cuốn Thanh Trì, bánh giầy Quán Gánh, 

Bánh đúc làng Kẻ, bánh tẻ làng Diễn 

or 

Thanh Trì có bánh cuốn ngon, 

có gò Ngũ Nhạc có con sông Hồng.

One of those specialities that I heard all the time was rolled cake Thanh Trì. 

Where is Thanh Trì? Could be a place or  just an old village not very far from Hà Nội and surely famous for their rolled cake. My first time to try this cake was long ago, from a street vendor in Hanoi - a very old woman, right on the Hanoi's sidewalk. At that time I had no impressions, but I promised myself to taste it again at another time, because...the name of "bánh cuốn Thanh Trì" was engraved in my mind and sounds strangely seductive...to me.  

                      A tray of rolled cake Thanh Trì for only 20,000 VNĐ. 

Time really flies when my second chance came only two months ago, in Hanoi, after probably years and years. It was a cold morning, I woke up early, skipped my hotel breakfast, I decided to have a walk along Hanoi's street in the cold. And not far from my hotel, I met a street vendor of rolled cake Thanh Trì at the corner. 

                  I was not alone, some early bird customers in the wet and cold morning. 

I was not alone, there was another two customers in that early morning. One of them was a little woman in her mid 60s, suffering from dwarfism, a book, newspaper's seller in the night trains, her life was not easy, as the vendor told me after I took a photo of her, she seemed happy to pose for my camera together with her simple breakfast.

My hideaway in Saigon's summer heat

Over the past few weeks, the heat in Saigon is getting unbearable, the temperature reaches 37-38oC, TV keeps warning "don't let your children going out between 11am-3pm", and people start complaining - "freaking hot", "I'm dying of heat in Saigon". I'm seeking a cooler place at my swimming pool, but it's no longer a rescue or even a pleasure when the pool water is also heating up. Then my friends suggest to run away from Saigon, riding on bicycle, early in the morning, to Can Gio, our hideaway, where is full of the green and the waters.

             The ride on bicycle took 2 and half hours from Saigon to our "hideaway" in Cần Giờ. 

We always stop over, on the way to Cần Giờ, in a small family restaurant called "Ut Thao", by somehow it became our favorite gathering place in this unique district of Saigon. A simple countryside eatery with many hammocks where you can have a quick nap, they serve beef noodles for morning, family meal for lunch and if we order in advance, the owner can even prepare some delicacies.

                 Instead of chairs, hammocks - the favorite furniture in countryside stop-over. 

What could be Can Gio's delicacies? I have no exact clue but oyster, dried catfish (khô cá dứa - it's a kind of fish, very close to catfish, I was told it's very good having it with rice), water coconut, fermented shrimp...seems very popular here in this rural area.
This time we have two new senior members in our team, both in their 60s but looks strong, lively, one of them has even traveled alone on bicycle from Saigon up to very North of Vietnam few months ago...in just 45 days, incredibly amazing. Listening to his stories about the magnificent landscape in the North and along the famous Ho Chi Minh trail, how much we wish to do the same thing one day.

                 Grilled muscovy duck meat with okra, here duck has no fat at all, under their skin. 

Ok, back to what we always do at "Ut Thao", my friend has ordered in advance so when we arrived, it took us just half an hour to wait to be served. Lot of good foods.

                Muscovy duck cooked with lemon grass, served with veggies and noodles.

Street of sweets, street of sugar (Hàng Đường)

Street of sweets, street of sugar.
That's a name of one street among 36 streets in Hanoi's old quarter.
In my previous post about Hanoi, I did mention that I like the way Hanoi calls the streets after the name of the commodities selling there. That was likely hundred years ago, nowadays the names remained but the business dramatically changed. Except some! Hàng Đường (i.e street of sugar) is one of those "loyal"streets to what they sale until today - traditional sweets.

               One of dozens of shops in Hàng Đường, sweet and flavorful snacks business.

Hàng Đường is famous for those sweets that we can't buy anywhere in Vietnam. Only in Hanoi. And probably the best from this street. I saw a store that has been in this business since 1898. 115 years. Just wonder those sweets they used to sell before in 19th century are different from what we have today. The taste. The variety. The look. But I believe that our great-great grandparents never used  any preservative or sweeteners in their traditional stuff.

               From one side - sweet snacks in glass jar on display in a shop... 

              and from the other side...the variety can surprises many visitors from the South. 

In search of a top 3 of the best broken rice - cơm tấm Bà Hạt

One of my friends suggests me to review the top 3 (or even top 5) of the best street food in various categories such as top 3 of best "broken rice", best "Saigon bread", "beef noodles". And he's willing to do that for me. It's a good idea but - thousand people, thousand taste, so it could be challenging to select which one is the best. Anyway I just give it a try for a very first selection - "Top 3 of the best broken rice" - one of the most favorite street foods in Saigon. Early morning, late at night, everywhere - in a small quiet alley or right in the corner of busy streets, we always can find this fabulous dish. 

We have quite popular brands as Kiều Giang, Mộc, Cali, Thuận Kiều, An Dương Vương...but according to many foodies, including my friends, these brands already go too far with their fantasies by creating unusual things with broken rice, like rice burger at Cali or too much side dishes which, to me, destroyed the original flavor of "broken rice" at An Duong Vuong eatery. 

                    Grilled pork rib - one of most favorite side dishes to go with broken rice.

               Most traditional broken rice with "pork skin" and "egg cake", simply we call "bì chả" 

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... 

Tempting Nyonya food in Saigon

I have been to Malaysia few times, I have a friend who took me around, treated me to different amazing food, he surely mentioned about Halal, but I probably didn't pay much attention or that word quickly blew with the wind from my mind...until last night, when another friend suggested me to go to Halal restaurant in Saigon on Đông Du street, in very short distance from Sheraton.

              The old Chinese street in Penang (?), where the Nyonya cuisine is originated.  

It's small, quite cozy place with a lot of paintings on one wall and on another - a huge photo of an old Chinese street, could be somewhere in Penang (Malaysia) as the cuisine Nyonya originated from the Chinese community living in that region.

My friend ordered a curry laksa, I first tried laksa in KL. I even tried to cook laksa back home, when I got with me a pack of this famous noodles soup ingredients. Won't tell you how was my Laksa but here in this Nyonya place - it was awesome. It's so tasty, the soup itself is so rich in flavors and colors - coconut based curry soup, fish, chicken, shrimp, cockle, sweet, spicy...indescribable combination of tastes.

                   Famous curry laksa, soup is extremely tasty, rich in flavors and quite spicy. 

But we failed to order the 7th on the list of top 50 world's most delicious foods (by CNN Go in 2011) - Assam laksa. Seeing a poster at the entrance, we asked the waitress, she said "Today, we don't have!".Ok, another time then.

My order was my favorite fried noodles - Char Koey Teow. It was very good and according to my friend, who is not Malaysian, but spending a lot of time and eating a lot of food in Malaysia - the best Char Koey Teow in town from this restaurant! Ok, I trust him, but I would love to try it somewhere else despite the choice is not really big in Saigon for Malay food.

               Popular Char Koey Teow - stir-frying noodles with shrimps, clams, egg, bean sprouts...