Roll cake Tây Hồ (Bánh cuốn Tây Hồ)

I love the name Tây Hồ. It sounds nice in Vietnamese and it means West lake! In Sài Gòn regrettably we don't have any lake. Tây hồ is in Hà Nội. I'm not sure this roll cake originally comes from some place around West lake or not, or just a name! But this stall is famous for long...since 1961!

The steamed roll cake we had tonight is in a northern style, it means cake with filling. I had another post about roll cake at Thiên Hương when I just started this blog. I've been to bánh cuốn Tây Hồ few years ago but never been back there until last night. There are two stalls with the same name but separated by a small road and owned by two sisters.  

            Roll cake (or bánh cuốn) is filled with well seasoned pork meat! 

I went there with friend around 7PM. It's a right time for dinner outside but the stall is half empty. Roll cake probably is not a right choice for evening meal? It's more likely for breakfast or lunch! Same as many other places selling roll cake in the city, always a plate with two pieces of ham (chả), a small bowl for fish sauce that you can serve yourself from a big jar of sauce on the table and finally a plate of roll cake topped with deep fried shallots, blanched bean sprouts and some herbs (Vietnamese basil)! 

I realized that the cake from bánh cuốn Tây Hồ is more glutinous than the other place, bite a cake and I feel the difference ...smooth as silk (sorry not Thai airways!) and a bit chewy, sticky...that's my first impression! Is it a secret that makes Tây Hồ famous?

             Small bowl for fish sauce and personal use! 

As southern-born, I may pour the fish sauce into my plate, but this time I tried a northern style, I take a roll cake and put it in small bowl with sweet fish sauce. I suddenly understand why Vietnamese didn't pay much attention to some details or formalities while eating, if that could make some other nations famous like Korean or Japanese. Actually people from Hà Nội are more keen to the details than people here in Sài Gòn.

              A roll cake without fillings. 


We did order an extra roll cake without fillings. If compared with another kind of roll cake in a southern style I would prefer a cale we call "wet" or bánh ướt! Roll cake in a northern style should be filled with something!

I saw a golden plate on the wall, the name of the owner who already passed away few years ago. The family business since 1961, older than me...I just imagine how it look like, the stall, in 1960s? The roll cake quality? The taste? The service ?

By the way my friend who is an overseas Vietnamese couldn't catch what the young waiter said to him when he tried to order some drink, he asked me to check. I couldn't understand either! It happened twice, here and at broken rice place called "Ba Ghiền"! Seems we are hopelessly out of date!

Bánh cuốn Tây Hồ at 127 Đinh Tiên Hoàng, Tel: 38200584 or 
271 Phan Xích Long, Phú Nhuận, Tel: 39951179  

Bạch Đằng ice cream!

I have no idea when the first ice cream stall Bạch Đằng has been launched in Sài Gòn! Early 80s? Or maybe earlier?
And I can't remember when was my first time to try the famous coconut ice cream or exactly ice cream served inside a coconut called "kem trái dừa" at this super popular spot for many Vietnamese!

                                 Signature ice cream from Bạch Đằng - kem trái dừa  

I couldn't say the ice cream here, at Bạch Đằng, is the best in town, but by somehow it attracts not only locals but also many foreign tourists. It's surely thanks to the golden location, right in the heart of the city, and also a big curiosity to try not well-known international ice cream brands but popular local one! 

How much we, Vietnamese, love to watch people passing by, esp. in one of the best corners in town: Lê Lợi and Pasteur street. This could be also one of the reasons why Bạch Đằng is so popular among the youth. 
The popularity of Kem Bạch Đằng in Sài Gòn is probably the same as Kem Tràng Tiền in Hà Nội. These days Kem Tràng Tiền already found home in this southern city, where the demand for ice cream is always 7 days a week, 4 weeks a month and every single 12 months a year! 

                                    Topped with some fresh fruits: water melon, dragon fruit...

Bạch Đằng never expanded, after more than 30 years ...they only have 2 stalls opposite to each others on Lê Lợi street! They have a new building which looks like more an office rather than an ice cream place! I have a friend, a family friend, whose father used to know the owner. He said the owner has died few years ago from the cancer and a whole family already migrated to Canada. People seems gone but the brand, the stories never!

Glorious sun-dried salted catfish (khô cá tra)

There is always many sudden incidents in our life, some we may expect, some really out of a clear blue sky! Week ago that happened to me, everything have been blown off course! It's like a ridiculous joke from those people I've met! Anyway I already learnt how to leave negative things aside and to move on! So to get rid of that "incident", I decided to go to Long Xuyen with friends last weekend!

I've rarely been sick during the trip but this time it was really bad! I though I got a normal cold early in the morning and it should pass quickly during the day! But afternoon when we arrived to Long Xuyen, it was so hot, to avoid the summer heat, we though to escape to a fish farm on the small island (cồn) nearby could be the best! But it turned out to be worse! It was so windy and made me fell like a dead man!

Long Xuyen is a big city in Mekong Delta, probably, one of the richest cities in that area. I and my architect-friend stayed at Cuu Long hotel, at 400,000 VND per night. Two beds, shower room with bathtub, including a breakfast - a cheap one!

We arrived to my friend's grandfather house in Long Xuyên around 2PM. It's quite large countryside wooden house in a big garden. We had quick good duck curry with good bread right in a typical countryside kitchen that reminds me of the old days: the smell, the two charcoal stoves, the atmosphere!

The curry we had was a leftover from the lunch, but it was good, tasty as it cooked in coconut sauce. I was too tired to take any photos, only until we were on a ferry to the island to visit a catfish farm and to a dinner place in downtown later in the evening!

              Sun-dried salted catfish from fish farm on the island

Catfish or we call cá tra is a popular fish for everyday family meal, especially to cook a famous sour soup "canh chua" or braised catfish in a clay pot "cá kho tộ". I specially love dried salted catfish, khô cá tra, a bit salty, but when we fry and have it together with plain rice ...very very good!

              Fresh catfish has been salted and dried for few days on the sun...

I heard that Thai have a sun dried salted fish called Pla-kem, very stinky so I really have no idea as being Vietnamese, I may not smell it...from this sun-dried catfish, probably slightly strong smell! To be honest, when it fried, without adding any other ingredients, , I keep eating it with just hot boiled rice!  

                  cut it into small pieces and fry...and ready to serve! 

Catfish has a big fatty part, some people like it, but to me, the best one is the skin, if we can make it crispy when we fry...so gooood! This salted fish is the most important ingredient (after rice!) for famous fried rice with salted fish "cơm chiên cá mặn" in many classy Chinese restaurants!

                  Have it with plain rice... a bit salty, crispy skin and so tasty!   

In the evening, after fish farm we went back to the city...After a quick shower and quick refreshment with sugarcane juice right on the street we went for dinner at a popular spot in Long Xuyen!

Here's our typical Vietnamese family meal (lunch or dinner!) in Long Xuyên: sour soup with catfish, braised fish in a clay pot with caramel sauce, stirred veggies...

             Most popular soup dish in every Vietnamese family - sour soup or canh chua  

Big snail with tasty filling (Ốc bươu nhồi thịt)

Snail filled with pork ground meat, or probably something else - usually one of favorite entrée at classy restaurant, esp. in a Northern style, but here where I had this dish is just a simple popular street stall. To my curious question "Why here you serve only this "ốc bươu nhồi thịt", nothing else?", the young lady said "it's our signature dish and family business, we are selling for over 20 years!"

              A plate of dozen snails served with a basket of herbs, a bowl of spicy fish sauce! 

Wow, only one simple dish and over 20 years! Snail filled with a combination of ground pork meat , snail meat, wood ear mushroom...well seasoned with some lemon grass, chili, herbs.... Dip sauce is sweet spicy fish sauce and a basket of different fresh herbs...and people keep coming to enjoy and as I noticed many orders to take home, one dozen, two, three dozens...! One snail costs 5,000 VND!  

             Better to eat when it's still hot! Don't hesitate, seeing a big snail's shell... 

Especially this is just a normal snail which is probably not listed in many people's favorite list, due to its name "bươu" or because the local media always considered it as the bad sign for the agriculture...
I really have no idea the snail we tried to day is the same "yellow snail" that our farmers always try to clean up! Maybe the same!

The Rice noodles.The Bamboo shoot and the Duck!

This is not a title of the popular Vietnamese movie "blah blah.blah...and the Duck!" (*). This's a famous dish with rice noodles and bamboo shoot cooked with duck! We simply call "bún măng vịt"!
One of our national symbols is Lotus, but by some how I prefer Bamboo than Lotus. I always have special feeling to this tree, when seeing its color, shape and its strength in the windy days!
That's special feeling in me like the confidence, the proudness...China, Japan has a lot of bamboos. Taller. Stronger (!?). So maybe our highly ranking people don't like the idea to vote bamboo as another national symbol !
Anyway not about the symbol today but about our fabulous dish "bún-rice noodles-măng-bamboo shoot-vịt-duck"!

            Rice noodles with bamboo shot and duck! 

             Different from other noodles, bún măng vịt should be topped by Vietnamese mint (rau răm)!

How we have this bowl of bún măng vịt...it started from week ago, when I and my friend's family went to Trị An for second time...just to kill a boring weekend in the city, to get a fresh air near to the lake...On the way there I told them that I would love to visit the local market ...not only me but my friends wife, his mother-in-law as well! I got something for my mom and we all found very fresh bamboo shoots there! And the idea to cook "bún măng vịt" came to our mind!

Vietnamese udon in Hue style!

It's funny when I realize a combination of three facts in the name of this post: Vietnamese, udon (Japanese) and Hue style (central Vietnam)!
I always call bánh canh - Vietnamese udon, I tried different bánh canh in Sài gòn but few days ago for the first time I tried bánh canh in Huế style! Quite different from the others, esp. the soup and bánh canh itself.

Bánh canh in Huế style here - the noodles are very glutinous, quite sticky but tasty! Usually we have other bánh canh with crab, flower crab or pork knuckle, even famous bánh canh with snakehead - the noodles are different, softer and not that glutinous! I quite like it when chewy it my mouth! The glutinous texture reminds me of another famous traditional savory cake from Huế "bánh bột lọc"!

Here bánh canh is served with crab meat ball that you see in the above photo, some cooked shrimps (they are quite tiny so I missed to take photos!) and pork knuckle! The soup is spicy, but not very so don't worry if you are not chili lover! Tasty but to me a bit salty for the early morning! Usually we say later in the day the soup may be saltier but we went there around 8:30 in the morning! But anyway good soup!

I also like the crab ball, but the shrimps - a bit disappointed as they are so tiny! I may prefer one big shrimp than few of little ones! My friend is from Huế that's why whenever we go for breakfast he always suggests to have bún bò Huế - beef noodles in a Huế style! I didn't try bún bò here, so no comments, but seeing my friend adding a lot of fresh chilies to his bowl, I knew that the dish is not spicy enough for him!
If you want to try something different, this could be the one, far from downtown, located in a quiet and nice corner of new town - Phú Mỹ Hưng! O Tem seems a good choice for Huế dish lovers in this upscale neighborhood!


O Tem, R1, 96 Hưng Phước 3, Phú Mỹ Hưng, dist.7 Tel: 54102655 - 54103651 

Rice cracker (bánh tráng)

Rice paper is different from rice cracker!
Rice paper is those we use to wrap & roll our famous deep fried or fresh spring roll! But rice cracker is a kind of snack, made from rice and other ingredients, we grill it on fire and eat as chips! Sometime we fry, very tasty but too oily!

          Grilling rice paper in the countryside shop for tourist!  

Rice cracker is fragile and very crispy, crunchy!

I love the sound when we break, bite and chewy!

I've been to Japan several times. I love their rice crackers. But these days it seems that young Japanese don't love rice crackers! It's mostly for the olds! Tradition is fading away!

              Ready for sale!