random shots of Saigon

Notre Dame Church

Opera House at night

In search of bun cha

When the kids wanted to go to the museum, I thought it was the best opportunity for me (and D of course) to go look for bun cha which I missed out on the last trip. The idea of grilled pork balls mixed with rice noodles (bun, pronounced 'boon') and tangy soy-pickled sauce, throw in a whole lot of herbs, was simply irresistible. After brekkie and ice-cream, we were still too full for more food, so we decided to walk and look for the bun cha stall. Though it was sweltering, I loved the walk - street stalls, honking motorists, narrow alleyways of coffee and banh mi stalls. We chanced upon the famed Notre Dame church and found a wine enclave which sells some excellent Aussie and French wines.

I got to eat my bun cha. And it's very good.

PS. I kinda lost the address of this one. Will try to locate the business card in my backpack.

Christmas

I went for Christmas mass and prayed a prayer of thanksgiving.

For the gift of good food. For the gift of travel experiences. For the gift of a comfortable home and two lovable pets. For the gift of family. For the gift of true friendship. For the gift of a loving and caring hubby, and most of all, for the gift of faith.

Wishing everyone a blessed Christmas.

A simple dinner for two.

Roast chicken, boiled veggies, sweet potato mash, a slice of panettone for good christmassy measure and of course, a good bottle of red.

Saigon on the move

People ask me - what's there to see in Saigon other than the museums and the tunnels? (which, by the way after two trips, I have seen neither).

Its hard to explain my love affair with Saigon.

Its not about seeing. Its about living.

And eating of course.

quick food

With just enough space for one or maybe two to stand, the stall owner-cook-cashier prepares her freshly made goi cuon one by one with fresh shrimp, pork belly and heaps of fresh herbs and vemicelli. Not forgetting the potent mixture of crushed chilli and sweet peanutty sauce. At 4000VD a roll, its fast, fresh and extremely healthy. Did I mention it's delicious as well? Find it at Ben Thanh Market, D1, Saigon, Vietnam.

Happy belly

On our first night in Saigon, we decided to eat at Square One on the mezzanine level at Park Hyatt which, like most places we ate in on our trip, was an excellent choice for us (especially since we had to find kiddy food for the 4 hungry and tired ones). The waitress was really nice to bring the spaghetti carbonara and the margarita pizza up for the kids.

We ordered the set - which was actually a kind of degustation menu of sorts, with a mixture of both Vietnamese and Western choices all thrown together. This is what we had. Pomelo and shrimp salad (absolutely the best I ever had with freshest shrimps and the sweetest pomelo segments all thrown together with delicate herbs and aromatic roasted grated coconut), grilled shrimp paste on sugarcane (also really well done without the overly starchy bite in many others I have tried before), crackers with dip (some kind of keropok with piquant tamarind dip), grilled squid with flavoured salt (awesome and perfectly done, though the salt was the coarse kind so too much was too salty), lobster bisque (really really good bisque that was chockful of lobster, it was so rich that we couldn't finish the servings which was a real waste) and steak and fries (as good as any found in fine-dining steakhouses here. In fact, maybe ever better than some. The steak was pink and juicy on the inside and charred and perfectly salt-crusted on the outside. Even the fries were good. Our friend, Jud loved them. I especially like the 4 sauces that came in little copperpots, though they were unneccesary as the steak was simply good on its own).

And finally desserts. We had coconut custard with fresh longans in young coconuts (the coconutty taste was a little too overwhelming for me and by that time of the night I was totally stuffed. D kinda liked it, though I think it was the longans that he liked), a platter of tropical fruits (we were so taken by the effort in presentation even for cut fruits as these were placed artistically over a mould of shaved ice) and chocolate fondant with hazelnut ice-cream and a dollop of sweetened cream (amazingly, we could still eat this, considering we were so so full. The fondant [what we know here as molten chocolate cake] was very chocolatey, not very sweet and oozy in the centre; in other words: perfect. The hazelnut ice cream, which is made in house, was a perfectly accompaniment for the warm fondant. Just heavenly.

My verdict? Happy belly.

fantastic food to go

After a good 1 hour half french-style spa massage, my tummy was growling and anticipating another night of feasting. As we walked back to the hotel, my eyes spotted a tiny mobile cart selling banh mi - a vietnamese-style baguette with pate (don't-ask-just-eat-kind), hams (I spy chicken and pork and a gelatinous one) and chicken floss. Further stuffed with pickled carrot and radish, fresh cucumber and chilli slices. Not forgetting a good handful of fresh herbs of coriander and vietnamese basil. Finished off with a good splash or two of the trusty soy sauce (Maggi sauce - as we know it here). Wrapped in a ripped page of a local magazine. 10000VD. (S$1.00, US$0.65) Good to go. Good enough for several bites around before dinner time. Simple and simply addictive.

PS. Before heading off to the airport on our last day, I went back to the banh mi cart and got ourselves 5 more for lunch on the airplane.

Saigon feasting

Ben Thanh Market pho ga (chicken noodle soup)

We ate and ate and ate. Yes, I probably put on several pounds. But what the heck. Its worth the calories. Fantastic grilled beef, battered fried softshell crabs, goi cuon (fresh shrimp spring rolls), cha gio (fried spring rolls), pho bo (beef noodles), pho ga (chicken noodles) bun cha (grilled pork and vemicelli), grilled squid, french onion soup, perfectly done steak and frites, saffron risotto, lotus leaf wrapped fried rice, raspberry granita, cabbage rolls with grilled pork, lobster tagliatelle, chocolate souffle, softshell crab toasties, creme brulee, jackfruit stem salad with crisps, beef cappaccio, crabmeat fried rice, french ice cream, clam rice soup, molten chocolate fondant, coconut custard, soursop shake, vietnamese drip coffee... the list goes on and on...

So get ready for a gastronomic journey through Saigon.

Again. Burp.

off to Saigon

I'm off to Saigon tomorrow morning with D and some friends. I won't be blogging for the coming week. To whet your appetite for what is to come, here's a photo of a plate of cha gio (fried spring rolls) from my last trip. Watch this space.