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.