Big noodles with snakehead fish (bánh canh cá lóc)

It was the first time, after almost a decade, I was traveling with my old colleagues-friends. It was a big fun and we all realised - we were the same as in the old days but without the stressful work. I wonder why it took us so long to make time and to travel together?
This time was the birthday party at our friend's place - a farmhouse in Dong Nai. We had a long day, from early morning to late at night, to share all kinds of stories, to laugh and to remember the golden moments in our life.

Our friend's house located by the lake but unluckily we couldn't use his boat due to the falling of the water in the lake and the boat motor ...in the maintenance! Anyway we found another things to enjoy there - having coffee at a quite big and nice place, eating out while waiting for the big party in the evening.

We tried the "big noodles" with snakehead fish - opposite the market Vinh An in Trị An, in Saigon we have a plenty of popular places where they serve big noodles (I used to call it "udon") either with a knuckle of pork, or with crab...but with fish, snakehead fish... it was my first time!

                   Big noodles with snakehead fish - bánh canh cá lóc in Trị An 

It was very very good, in the beginning, before tasting, I didn't expect that good, I love fish, I eat all kinds of fish, but the combination of fish and big noodles - something new to me! The owner was happy when I took photos, she even tried to make it look better with the fish display or when I came down to the kitchen...

           In Vietnamese we call this fish "cá lóc" - nothing related to snake, but it looks very much alike! 

            Another good thing - the noodles were served with veggie: cabbage and bitter veggies 

               Here you go - the full plate of the cabbage and the bitter veggie "rau đắng" 

Talking about the veggie served with "bánh canh", it's quite unusual in Saigon, where there is almost no veggie to go with this dish, but I had to admit that the cabbage and the bitter veggie (rau đắng) are the perfect choice for this "bánh canh cá lóc". The bitter veggie is not that bitter but the taste, the texture together with the cabbage in the hot, tasty, spicy soup...especially we ate it in the cold, rainy day in a small town, far from Saigon, to us it was like the best meal of the day!  

         You can order the fish head with small fish intestine inside the head - favourite for fish lovers.

I'm a fish lover, I eat fish since I was kid: either deep fried, steamed, especially the fish that cooked until the bones are edible, I love it! But besides that whenever we eat fish, the small bowl of fish sauce with some slices of red chilli is a must for everyone!

             What I saw in the kitchen - the fish was hot with steam still rising on top...

          and another important to make the dish delicious - the big noodles - the homemade one!  

           My old colleagues-friends - I left the company in 2005 and only now got chance to travel with them!

We had a long day, a rainy, windy but it didn't disturb us to enjoy a day out, we were all happy as we got time to get together after such a long break, we came back to Saigon just before the midnight and I'm looking forward to another trip to Bình Dương next Saturday, to see how they do the bird's nest - one of the most expensive products and probably to share with you if I could get some good shots in the bird's house!