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Started By
Message
re: Exploring the food culture in Vietnam beyond pho
Posted on 6/16/24 at 6:21 am to PeteRose
Posted on 6/16/24 at 6:21 am to PeteRose
Been out of action for a few days. Had a minor motorbike accident(my fault) where I busted up my right toe. It’s still all black but at least I can put pressure on it.
I took an 12 hr overnight train into Nha Trang. The train itself has seen better days. But it makes up for it with the morning views.
Rows of mountains with miles of rice paddy fields.
View of South China beach just before Nha Trang with surround islands
Once in town, I stopped by my favorite bánh mì place run by this husband and wife.
I got the regular(#16), and special with eggs(#17). What’s makes the bánh mì special is the 3 sauces it gets. By itself with the sauces, it would be delicious. But it also has 4 kinds of cold cuts, cucumber, green onions, cilantro, eggs mayo, pork floss. And the bread is toasted over charcoals. Im not sure if this is the best bánh mì, but I would take it in a banh mi tournament.
Regular
Deluxe
After getting the banh mi, I stopped by this vendor to get some fresh sugarcane juice. This woman had a colorful parrot with her. Never seen so many colors on one bird.
Vendor even let it stand on my shoulder when she was juicing. She said that it doesn’t speak but it does understand commands in Russian. For some reason I believe her.
She’s using an old press where she runs the sugarcane sticks 8 or 9 times to maximize the juice.
I took an 12 hr overnight train into Nha Trang. The train itself has seen better days. But it makes up for it with the morning views.
Rows of mountains with miles of rice paddy fields.
View of South China beach just before Nha Trang with surround islands
Once in town, I stopped by my favorite bánh mì place run by this husband and wife.
I got the regular(#16), and special with eggs(#17). What’s makes the bánh mì special is the 3 sauces it gets. By itself with the sauces, it would be delicious. But it also has 4 kinds of cold cuts, cucumber, green onions, cilantro, eggs mayo, pork floss. And the bread is toasted over charcoals. Im not sure if this is the best bánh mì, but I would take it in a banh mi tournament.
Regular
Deluxe
After getting the banh mi, I stopped by this vendor to get some fresh sugarcane juice. This woman had a colorful parrot with her. Never seen so many colors on one bird.
Vendor even let it stand on my shoulder when she was juicing. She said that it doesn’t speak but it does understand commands in Russian. For some reason I believe her.
She’s using an old press where she runs the sugarcane sticks 8 or 9 times to maximize the juice.
This post was edited on 6/16/24 at 6:34 am
1
Posted on 6/16/24 at 7:02 am to PeteRose
The next morning I was in the mood for banh can, a nha trang specialty. As I was walking past the market to get to my destination, a fragrant smell of cooked rice hit my. I don’t know why the rice smelled so good. It’s just cooked rice. So I stood there debating. Like Graham Greene said in “the Quiet American” Vietnam novel, “The smell: that's the first thing that hits you, promising everything in exchange for your soul.” So i had to get a plate of com tam(broken rice) with a grilled pork chop, sunny side egg, and 1/2 a sausage. All this for 20k(80 cents), easily the best value meal so far.
After finishing the rice plate, I went on journey to get some banh can. Here is the shop.
Banh can is a rice cake cooked in small clay cups over charcoals. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside with a hint of smoke. The toppings are eggs, quail eggs, baby squids, shrimps. But I like mind plain.
Each plate is around 50 cents and has 10. You’d add sautéed green onions into the home made fish sauce and dip it. It’s good that I can eat 20 easily.
I got a few more things for nha trang but i’m about to hit my first night market in a bit.
After finishing the rice plate, I went on journey to get some banh can. Here is the shop.
Banh can is a rice cake cooked in small clay cups over charcoals. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside with a hint of smoke. The toppings are eggs, quail eggs, baby squids, shrimps. But I like mind plain.
Each plate is around 50 cents and has 10. You’d add sautéed green onions into the home made fish sauce and dip it. It’s good that I can eat 20 easily.
I got a few more things for nha trang but i’m about to hit my first night market in a bit.
Posted on 6/16/24 at 11:07 pm to PeteRose
Remaining pics from Nha Trang
Meatball banh mi(#18). Solid B tier
Corn sticky rice with shredded coconut. Little bit sweet, little bit salty breakfast item.
Grilled sticky rice with bananas. This old lady is pretty hard working. She has vision in only one eye and it’s not good. She had to hold the money two inches from her face to see the denomination. I bought a few extra to support her. Told her to keep the change and it made her day.
Meatball banh mi(#18). Solid B tier
Corn sticky rice with shredded coconut. Little bit sweet, little bit salty breakfast item.
Grilled sticky rice with bananas. This old lady is pretty hard working. She has vision in only one eye and it’s not good. She had to hold the money two inches from her face to see the denomination. I bought a few extra to support her. Told her to keep the change and it made her day.
Posted on 6/17/24 at 10:59 am to PeteRose
Still riding with you, Pete. There haven't been many comments from others lately, so just wanted you to know we're still here. 
Posted on 6/17/24 at 11:12 am to BhamTigah
quote:
Still riding with you, Pete. There haven't been many comments from others lately, so just wanted you to know we're still here
Definitely still travelling vicariously through you, Pete. Thanks for the incredible photo journal.
Posted on 6/17/24 at 11:24 am to LSUGUMBO
Posted on 6/17/24 at 11:43 am to PeteRose
Obviously the prices are such that you don't have the need to haggle, but do you haggle the price a bit with food vendors to mark yourself as an experienced customer? Or is it not a haggle culture there?
Posted on 6/17/24 at 12:12 pm to vistajay
Vendor: That'll be 80 cents.
vistajay: I'll give you 50 cents.
Posted on 6/17/24 at 1:21 pm to BhamTigah
I lived in Vietnam for a year after college and this thread is making me miss it so much.
Everyone should visit Vietnam. It will change your life.
I'm thinking about retiring there
Everyone should visit Vietnam. It will change your life.
I'm thinking about retiring there
Posted on 6/17/24 at 8:50 pm to Balsamic_duck
Pete —- Hanoi in the plans? I would highly recommend getting up there while you are in country. The most magical of all of the Vietnam cities IMO.
Either way … nice to see the dispatches.
I love Thailand in a different way, but it suffers from over tourism a bit.
I hope to make it over for one more weekend …. Have to go home early August
Either way … nice to see the dispatches.
I love Thailand in a different way, but it suffers from over tourism a bit.
I hope to make it over for one more weekend …. Have to go home early August
Posted on 6/17/24 at 9:02 pm to PeteRose
quote:
Each plate is around 50 cents and has 10. You’d add sautéed green onions into the home made fish sauce and dip it. It’s good that I can eat 20 easily.
Looks awesome.
Posted on 6/17/24 at 10:28 pm to BhamTigah
Appreciated, I’ll keep posting till the trip ends.
Posted on 6/17/24 at 10:30 pm to JW
quote:
Pete —- Hanoi in the plans? I would highly recommend getting up there while you are in country. The most magical of all of the Vietnam cities IMO.
I got to hit hoi an first. A little tired after I got back from phu quoc island. And my wife is not a big fan of Hanoi people. She said the last time she was there, vendors would quote 30k for pho but end up asking for 50k when it’s time to pay. But it would be cool to see Ho Chi Minh’s body.
This post was edited on 6/17/24 at 10:55 pm
Posted on 6/17/24 at 10:52 pm to PeteRose
Visited Phu Qu?c island for 3 days. Here are some of the pics. I stayed with some relatives.
A lot of people think they might see pho, bun bo hue, vermicelli noodles if they walked in a Vietnamese house during meal time. The typical lunch/dinner for Vietnam rice + a couple of protein dishes + soup + some greens. In fact “rice” is used synonymously with “lunch/dinner”.
Braised chicken
Braised pork belly and hard boiled eggs
Braised pork ribs
Pan fried fish
Stir fry chayote
Tamarind fish soup and pennyworth soup
A lot of people think they might see pho, bun bo hue, vermicelli noodles if they walked in a Vietnamese house during meal time. The typical lunch/dinner for Vietnam rice + a couple of protein dishes + soup + some greens. In fact “rice” is used synonymously with “lunch/dinner”.
Braised chicken
Braised pork belly and hard boiled eggs
Braised pork ribs
Pan fried fish
Stir fry chayote
Tamarind fish soup and pennyworth soup
Posted on 6/17/24 at 10:57 pm to PeteRose
quote:
I got to hit hoi an first. A little tired after I got back from phu quoc island. And my wife is not a big fan of Hanoi people. She said the last time she was there, vendors would quote 30k for pho but end up asking for 50k when it’s time to pay. But it would be cool to see Ho Chi Minh’s body.
Is your wife Vietnamese? Reads like she is.
And ..... it's not really his body (supposedly)
But still ... some really interesting spots there. And the Egg Coffee.
And Halong Bay within reach ... touristy yes, but also worth it.
This post was edited on 6/17/24 at 10:59 pm
Posted on 6/17/24 at 11:30 pm to PeteRose
Next day I took a stroll along the market. It’s a long street with various types of vendors.
View of street market
Coconut vendor
Fish vendor
Fruit vendor.
Vegetable vendor
Traffic jam
Sugarcane vendor. They use a machine to peel the stick. One person manually chops the canes at an angle so it can be feed into the press. Another person weighs and bundles the canes, and they’re ready to be sold to anyone who passes by. I could’ve bought them and made some side cash.
Woman selling gourd drink
She added some grass jelly. It’s kind of refreshing. It’s tastes like caramel if caramel came naturally from a fruit.
Woman selling various sweets
Bought some banana gelatinous cakes topped with home made coconut milk. Homemade coconut milk the whipped cream and it’s added to 75% of desserts. If the coconut milk is not thick with the right sweet and salty, it can ruin the dessert.
Meat ball Bánh mì (#19)
Patented double phu quoc double scores
Che vendor. Got the sticky rice + beans + coconut milk. Creamy, sweet, chewy
Also got some steam rice cakes. These were areal good vs the bland Ðà N?ng version I had.
View of street market
Coconut vendor
Fish vendor
Fruit vendor.
Vegetable vendor
Traffic jam
Sugarcane vendor. They use a machine to peel the stick. One person manually chops the canes at an angle so it can be feed into the press. Another person weighs and bundles the canes, and they’re ready to be sold to anyone who passes by. I could’ve bought them and made some side cash.
Woman selling gourd drink
She added some grass jelly. It’s kind of refreshing. It’s tastes like caramel if caramel came naturally from a fruit.
Woman selling various sweets
Bought some banana gelatinous cakes topped with home made coconut milk. Homemade coconut milk the whipped cream and it’s added to 75% of desserts. If the coconut milk is not thick with the right sweet and salty, it can ruin the dessert.
Meat ball Bánh mì (#19)
Patented double phu quoc double scores
Che vendor. Got the sticky rice + beans + coconut milk. Creamy, sweet, chewy
Also got some steam rice cakes. These were areal good vs the bland Ðà N?ng version I had.
This post was edited on 6/23/24 at 6:21 am
Posted on 6/17/24 at 11:51 pm to JW
quote:
Is your wife Vietnamese?
Yes she is and she dislikes Hanoians with extreme prejudices.
[img] the Egg Coffee. [/img]
This was an exclusive northern delicacy but seems like you can get it anywhere in VN now.
Posted on 6/17/24 at 11:58 pm to vistajay
quote:
Obviously the prices are such that you don't have the need to haggle, but do you haggle the price a bit with food vendors to mark yourself as an experienced customer? Or is it not a haggle culture there?
For food, I rarely haggle if it’s not in a tourist area. If vendor gives me a high quote for fruits at the market, I’ll just walk to the next vendor. But I did haggle a couple of random motorbike taxis I knew were a bit high. You just pick and choose your battles.
Posted on 6/18/24 at 12:33 am to PeteRose
Cool .. my lady is Vietnamese as well. Well known fashion designer born in Saigon.
I know you can get a version of Egg Coffee most everywhere now, but it hits a bit differently in Hanoi. Magical place.
I know you can get a version of Egg Coffee most everywhere now, but it hits a bit differently in Hanoi. Magical place.
Posted on 6/18/24 at 8:03 am to JW
Nice. They do love you long time...
Many can cook so well if you find one.
Many can cook so well if you find one.
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