I’m going to say right up front that I’m no “foodie”. In fact, I’m not all that adventurous when it comes to exploring local cuisine in general and street food in particular. So, why am I doing a post about the food I’ve eaten thus far during my Vietnam adventure?
Let’s eat!
Last night, my pal Alex invited me out to his favorite restaurant for some leg of lamb.
The best meal I’ve had so far though was the lunch served during the Mekong river tour I took on Friday. It was also probably the most traditional Vietnamese fare I’ve had on this trip.
Now one Vietnamese diet staple is the bahn mi sandwich. I think I saw them featured on an old Anthony Bourdain episode and I’ve wanted to try one since I arrived. Oddly enough, when I asked hotel staff for a good bahn mi restaurant, I was told the best ones were from the street vendors. Go figure. Anyway, after my morning walk yesterday, I brought one home:
Here’s how Wikipedia describes the bahn mi:
A typical Vietnamese sandwich is a fusion of meats and vegetables from native Vietnamese cuisine such as chả lụa (pork sausage), coriander leaf (cilantro), cucumber, pickled carrots, and pickled daikon combined with condiments from French cuisine such as pâté, along with chili and mayonnaise.[6] However, a wide variety of popular fillings are used, from xíu mại to ice cream. In Vietnam, sandwiches are typically eaten for breakfast or as a snack; they are considered too dry for lunch or dinner.[7]
Here’s how mine looked:
Dining out has kind of been hit or miss. Usually drink until hungry, then either eat at the bar or pop into a nearby restaurant. Sometimes I’m not even sure what’s on offer. Stopped into this place the other night with some mates, and it was almost like being back in Korea, but without kimchi.
And about the only other Vietnamese delicacy I’ve had thus far is a soup called Pho.
Phở or pho[) is a Vietnamese soup consisting of broth, rice noodles (bánh phở), herbs, and meat – usually beef (phở bò), sometimes chicken (phở gà).[4][5] Pho is a popular street food in Vietnam[6] and served in restaurants around the world.
And there you have it, a post about food. I’ve been a bit more adventurous in trying the local brews.
It all looks good, although those sandwiches seemed a bit on the small side. I guess that’s why they were so cheap. The meat in the pho looked particularly good. There’s some decent pho to be had in Seoul, but there are also the shitty restaurants here that serve pho where the meat is shriveled and ghost-white. I’m going to guess that that has something to do with not using the brisket cut, which is what’s normally supposed to go into the soup.
So, regarding that fish that came out mounted like a morbid museum piece, are you supposed to pluck it from its mounting, lay it flat on a plate, then eat it? Or do you just tear at it with chopsticks while it’s still vertical?
Yeah, it was a nice 5 or 6 inch french roll, but was skimpy on the innards. I’ve got a place called the Hungry Pig to check out before I leave, so maybe I’ll be able get something more robust.
Re: the fish, it was both. The waitress laid one down and pulled meat off with her gloved hand. Then she stood it back up on its pedestal. Other diners at my table just picked the meat off while the fish was still standing…