Actually, I should be more specific…
Since Derek got a stomach bug right at the start of our two-week trip through Vietnam, he was not so keen on all the weird and wonderful food so it was mainly ME eating OUR way through Vietnam. Although, he did participate in the Happy Hour 2-for-1 cocktails!!
In fairness, he did try some of the local dishes but stopped short of eating from side walk stalls. I, on the other hand, was keen to try anything and everything. Some of the dishes were excellent, others not so much.
Below is a list of a few things we tried.
Banh Mi
Vietnam’s most famous sandwich. The baguette, mayo, and pork are borrowed from French cuisine, but the Vietnamese added jalapeños and cilantro (and spiced up the grilled pork!) to turn this into a delicious local favourite. I had three, Derek even joined me the third time.
Goi cuon
Vietnam’s most famous dish: translucent spring rolls packed with greens, coriander and various combinations of minced pork, shrimp or crab dipped in peanut sauce. We also had way too many deep fried spring rolls. WAY too many. I don’t think we had a bad one.
Cao lau
A speciality from Hoi An, cao lau is a bowlful of thick rice-flour noodles, bean sprouts and herbs in a light soup, topped with thin slices of pork. Apparently the dish can only be made with water from the ancient Ba Le well in Hoi An, but we’re not so sure this is true. We had it one evening in Hoi An during Earth Hour when all the lights went out, hence the slightly darker photo.
Mi quang
I tried this dish in Saigon, although it’s a Hanoi speciality. Ingredients vary, but mainly includes a simple bowl of meat noodles enlivened by additions like fresh herbs, shrimp, peanuts, mint and quail eggs. The soup was disappointingly bland, but the rest was quite tasty.
Egg coffee (ca phe trung)
A Hanoi speciality, I had to have this at the shop in Hanoi many TripAdvisor fans raved about. The egg yolk is whisked beyond recognition and, adding it to a strong shot of coffee, turns the drink into a liquid tiramisu. Almost. It’s divine. Derek and I tried it again in Saigon and it was just as good.
Mango cake (or banh xoai)
We walked past many stalls selling mango cake and thought it had mango inside. Not so. It is made from sticky rice with a mixture of peanuts and sugar inside. The “sticky rice” tastes like those sticky jelly hands that we played with as kids. It was disgusting.
Fried banana pancake
Vietnamese deep fry a lot of their food, including their pancakes. Several stalls in Hoi An sold banana pancake and, since I cannot resist banana or pancake, I was desperate to try this. After deep frying, the cake is covered in sesame seeds which add some crunch. While the cake was tasty, it was also very oily so I ended up throwing half away. Not sure if I had a bad one, but I didn’t go back for seconds to find out.
While not strictly “Vietnamese”, we also had a lot of these… cocktail Happy Hour generally lasted from just after breakfast until after midnight (Happy Days!) and we had some of the best cappuccinos ever in Hoi An.
Cocktails & Coffee
