ANNOUNCEMENT : My new blog about French pastry and baking

Dear friends,

I started "Vietstreedfood" blog almost 5 years ago, there was time I was wondering how can I develop and keep this blog for long. More than 5 years I did it by myself with support from some friends, who kindly took me to taste different street foods in Saigon or Hanoi, that I may never know or just simply guide me how to find out the best places...I received many suggestions to cooperate, even to sell my blog...but I just want to keep it to myself as a good memory of certain period of time in my life. If you noticed there is no any new post since last year. I'm very very sorry for this. Who know I may probably come back some day!

Meanwhile I developed my new blog about French pastry and baking, after I spent some time in Paris to learn it at a famous Le Cordon Bleu. Please do visit https://petitrenard.blog/blog/ to find out some other beautiful things in life.

Once again, thank you very much for visiting my blog.
Nguien

One of my new posts at my new blog 

Snails, snails and snails...at Bà Cô Lốc Cốc

Vietnamese love snails! I hope it's not coming from a famous French tradition. Actually I have no idea since when we love snails. I remember my mom, she loved eating those small snails, we called "ốc gạo" (rice snail, probably because of their tiny size) with a...needle, we need a needle in order to take those little green meats out from the shell and dip it in incredibly tasty "sugar-sweet, lemon-sour, pepper-spicy fish sauce". When I was a kid, I probably prefer to taste the sauce much more than the snail.

Later my mom also loved the other snail dish "ốc len xào dừa" (mud creeper in coconut sauce). I also like it...because of the super tasty sauce, but this time I could enjoy the snail, partly due to the unique way of eating this snail. Blow and suck it!

                      Bà Cô Lốc Cốc - a snail restaurant in Saigon...

Most expensive "broken rice" in Sài Gòn!

"Broken rice" or cơm tấm in Vietnamese is one of the most popular, favourite breakfasts for many Vietnamese in Saigon. If before "Cơm tấm" was like a morning meal,  but nowadays we have "night broken rice" for young nigh crawlers. They open very late at night, close just before the sunrise.

When I was a kid, how much I loved sitting on the low chair, on sidewalk, waiting for the "cơm tấm" vendor to open the huge container of freshly cooked broken rice, just to smell its fragrance and the other thing, also very important was the "fish sauce", I couldn't remember the taste in the old days, but remember at that time cơm tấm mostly served with typical "the egg cake", the shredded pork's skin...and that was good enough for me!

                              Cơm tấm Nguyễn văn Cừ is famous for their grilled pork ribs...

Porridge with frogs...in Singaporean style

I used to work for a mobile phone company, our regional headquarter was based in Singapore, so this small island but so well-developed became like my second workplace. Regardless of my countless trips to Singapore, I didn't explore this island well enough - their culture, their traditions and especially their cuisine!
My Singaporean colleagues or friends from time to time took me to different places for different meals. I still remember their favourite squids stirred (or deep-fried) in dark black-pepper sauce (?), simple but very yummy traditional kaya toast sandwich... and famous chicken rice at some luxury hotel! That was all my pour eating experience in Singapore!

                      The chef-owner is a friend of my friend, preparing the frogs 

Chinese sticky rice cake - "bánh Khuất Nguyên" for Đoan Ngọ festival.

I did notice this "Chinese sticky rice cake" for quite some time as I pass by the store everyday and probably because of my love to our traditional sticky rice cake. We usually call it "bánh ú" (literally "fat cake' due to its "big size", but for special occasion of the 5th of May by Lunar calendar - a Vietnamese version of Chinese Duanwu festival, the festival of the half of a year, they call this "fat cake" either "Bánh bá trạng" or more formally - "Bánh Khuất Nguyên" (after a name of the famous Chinese poet - Qu Yuan)

                   Chinese sticky rice cake or as we call "bánh ú" - the fat cake! 

Rice noodles with mushroom, fish cake and tofu

When I asked my friend where it originally comes from - this rice noodles with mushrooms, fish cake and tofu ? He said "It created by the chef-owner". Ok. But I still tried to figure out how the owner came up with the idea - to add mushrooms, tofu to this fish cake rice noodles.

 Squeezing some lemon juice, adding a spoon of lemongrass pate to the noodles, it made tastier 

Zoo - my day out in Zurich!

Zoo - in Vietnamese, we call "Thảo Cầm Viên", or just simply "Sở Thú". Everyone surely has some unforgettable memories with Zoo, especially in the childhood. I, myself, have a lot of with Zoo! My mom used to take her students to our hundred-year-old Zoo in Saigon, and I was always one of them.
Those sweet memories when I, being a Boy Scout, performed a dance "Sur le pont d'Avignon" in celebration of some event of the Boy Scout Association, right in the Zoo! Or when I stupidly stepped into a garden pond fully covered with tiny water lettuces, I simply confused it with the grass! Today our Zoo sadly no longer as the one as I remember in its glorious years.

                     Many birds enjoy the freedom in the nature, friendly with visitors  

Alma Oasis - a luxury hideaway resort & spa in Long Hải

Only 20km away from Vũng Tàu, Long Hải, in the very old days, was a final stop for me - a five-year-old boy's "accidental adventure" when our father, in fighting with mom, left me and my elder brother at some stranger's house in Long Hải for a week. We lived in a tiny room, without toilet, so I still remember in order to do our things we woke up early in the morning and did it on the white sandy beach, the sea water was our magic paper...Later we were "rescued" and I came back home, like a little monkey, starving for long! That was all remained in my mind, the rest of the story was fading away...with time!

                      Alma Oasis - a beautiful hideaway resort in Long Hải 

I just came back to Long Hải for a very first time and, of course, there is nothing that could remind me of the old wild days. Everything has changed. We got a friend who works for Alma Oasis, so we were able to book a lovely "villa-on-the-hill" for one night with a good rate!

A village for the rich...(part 2)

As I told you one of the reasons I want to come to Gstaad was the Tennis Tournament. To be honest this is not the best tennis show with super stars like Djokovich, Federer, Nadal...it's just another ATP World Tour 250 (if you are tennis fan, you may know what's it!) but I was told our super star Roger Federer's career launched from here, and this year they celebrated 100 year anniversary of the tennis tournament in Gstaad!

                    A beautiful chalet in Gstaad - a favourite winter holiday destination for the high society 

A village for the rich...(Part 1)

While staying in Paris for my courses at Le Cordon Bleu, I tried to travel around during weekend or after the course... Gstaad was in my list, a small village in Switzerland and as they call it "the village for the rich", but I still have another reason to go there - the tennis tournament between the tennis stars!
I booked the hotel in Gstaad but after that I changed my mind I canceled it and booked another one in Rougemont - a village nearby and I don't know why...But it was good as I got a chance to know two villages: one for the rich and another one for the very rich! The only damage to me was the two way tickets from Rougemont to Gstaad everyday for my tennis tournament and it was 10 Euros for less than 10' route!

                I booked a hotel in this village, Rougemont, 10' by train to Gstaad.

Little sponge cake with salted egg...

It seems we have so many “eating trends” these days among the youth, I remember those lemon tea, fried potato “tornado”, almond lychee sweet soup, cheese stick… everywhere in town, but after sometime some of them quietly disappeared and replaced by others – like "coconut ice cream with sticky rice"…or recently “sponge cake with salted eggs” or “shaking mango, shaking potato”! I admire that diversity  of our street foods and hope the best will stay for a little bit longer…

               If speaking today language of the youth - we would call these tiny cake "legendary"! 

A day out to the sea & specialities in a seaside town - Vũng Tàu!

Vung Tau or as we used to call this seaside town by another name - Cấp, used to be a favourite holiday place for many people living in Saigon. Only 120 km away, nearly 1 ½ hours by car...but by somehow this small town is no longer in our heart. It's still very close, by distance, compared to the other seaside places along our long coast. I was born in Saigon, so...I have many sweet childhood memories with this town and more than that, my very first "accidental adventure" when I was just few years old, happened here, where together with my elder brother we were "left" in the pagoda, I was starving...that will be another long story!        

               I have no idea since when this "bánh khọt" became Vũng Tàu speciality...

Le Cordon Bleu - a special school in Paris!

I'm very sorry I didn't have any update over the past few months. I was away from home as you may guess. To be honest I was struggling with my blog title "Viet Street Food" because already for quite some time I decided not to write much about it...only when I have a chance. So my blog could be no longer a best place for someone to look for the street food in Saigon! I was thinking to create another blog where I can write "whatever", but then I realise I better keep this one and write "whatever" as I already mentioned in my profile.

               We are not allowed to take photo or video during the demo, only at the end...with the cakes! 

Little green bean cakes and my memory of "chị Ký"

These little green bean cakes in shape of colourful fruits would recall many people among us about a sweet childhood. We used to love these cakes, we could look at them, admire them long before eating, we could check one by one, we could jump and scream with joy "it's a mango, it's plum, it's a mandarin..." All these cakes made of green bean, sometime people could mix the green bean paste with coconut milk, to make it tastier...but I personally prefer the pure, fragrant green bean flavour.

         The green bean cakes in shape of colourful fruits - a sweet memory of my childhood.

The heat of April and a day with Mút - a hot boy!

It was very hot in Saigon in April, the temp. up to 36-38oC, unbearably hot that I didn't want to do anything, to go anywhere....Yeah, it probably explained why no post on this blog since my last one in early April! But in this April's heat, if going out, it could be better than just sitting like a dead man in the room, even with the air-con. Anyway, I got a call from my friend, he suggested to spend the holiday at his "dacha" (a holiday house in the country), by the lake. I was happy to say "Yes, i'm on my way!".

                 Our little hero of today story - Mút, 5 year old, welcomed me, in front of his chicken kingdom. 

Eating in Hà Nội (Part 2)

My eating experience in Hà Nội continued...

1. Bún chả Hàng Mành
One of the most popular Hà Nội specialities is definitely "bún chả, nem cua", it's so famous that everyone want to try at least once while visiting there. The foreigners might have a difficulty to find the best place in Hà Nội, but to Vietnamese - should be no problem! But by somehow ridiculously an original Hà Nội-born gentleman in his early 40s took us to a place for bún chả, where after the first bite, I realised something wrong with the crab roll. It was bad, quite bad, strangely covered with bread crumb that I've never seen before.

                          Looks good? But honestly tastes not good, after the first bite....I gave up! 

Eating in Hà Nội (Part 1)

Eating in Hà Nội is always a pleasure for me. I quite like Hanoi taste. I know many people from South could hardly survive in the North as they found Hanoi food a bit bland, no flavours, and especially too much MSG. To me, I found it different - quite authentic, probably sophisticated and specially not too sweet or too fatty as our Southern taste.
Anyway everywhere could be the same - something tasty, something not! This time I spent almost two weeks in the North, so I got a chance to visit Yên Tử, Hạ Long Bay, Sapa, Tràng An...I even went to Hội Lim for the first time, and came back to Bát Tràng, where I visited almost 15 years ago.
During these two weeks I experienced a lot of good foods but at the same time - some far from good!
Let's start with our glorious beef noodles - Phở!

1. Beef noodles at Bát Đàn 

                          One the most recommended beef noodles in Hà Nội - Phở Bát Đàn.

Ha Long Bay - one of the new 7 wonders!

My first time in Ha Long Bay was sometime between 1993-1994 and it was not a sightseeing trip. It was a one-night stay for business. I had to accompany an Australian agency during the shooting of TV commercials around Vietnam for my company. Ha Long was the second selected spot after Hanoi.The film director, by his words, used to be a friend of Nicole Kidman and some other celebs, wanted to capture the sunrise at the Bay, so his request to everyone - to be ready by 4:00 am, but the next scene was more memorable - it was shot in the fish market, next to the fishing village, with a very nice view to the Bay.
It was wet, windy, fishy smell, muddy, dirty, big noisy crowd...and the talent, a Beauty Queen of Vietnam was asked to dress always in pure white áo dài that her mom had to wash, dry everyday after the shooting. That TVC was recognised one of the most beautiful TVCs at that time on air, as within 45 seconds we could see most beautiful places in Vietnam, from North down to Mekong Delta.

                      Hòn Trống Mái or Hòn gà chọi - one of the symbols of Ha Long Bay 

Tràng An - the UNESCO World's Heritage Site in Ninh Bình

Before Tết, I got a suggestion to accompany some friends to travel along Vietnam by car, during Tết, starting from Sài Gòn up to Quảng Ninh (North Vietnam). I was very excited, surely, a big "Yes" from me! My friend's purpose was to climb up the Yên Tử mountain, but to me - just to see Vietnam along its beautiful coasts.
When the departure date approached, most of them quietly disappeared. The only one guy left and I called him "the leader" because he was a key person behind the trip, even if no one goes, he had to go anyway, due to his inner religious commitment - to climb up to some famous "Chùa Đồng" (Copper Pagoda) on the top of the Yên Tử mountain. And he kept doing this for almost 10 years.

                        Tràng An - one of my destinations in the North during this Tết.

My first trip to Sapa (2nd part)

I was born in Sài Gòn, so I simply thought Sapa could be, by some how, similar to Đà Lạt - a famous highland town in South of Vietnam. Đà Lạt renowned for its flowers, water falls, hills with pine trees, foggy lakes. It was a favourite romantic honeymoon place for many people in South for many years but not now. Anyway, I was totally wrong! Sapa was much more impressive. Sapa probably didn't have those "romantic factors" like Đà Lạt but, instead, I found Sapa majestic, haughty Kingdom in cloud.

                     Sapa in my eyes was much more majestic, haughty...Kingdom