Dying4desserts in Vietnam, Saigon

Hello! Or should I say CHAO for all the Vietnamese in us of all. I am dying to share with you my 2 weeks trip to Vietnam. I spent a few days relaxing in Saigon, followed by sightseeing in Phu Quoc (an island in the South) and DaLat. These posts are going to be in random order and are all about the food. Food is delicious in Vietnam and I ate heaps! I'm surprised I haven't gained any weight during this trip, however unfortunately my Personal Trainer had said I have added a few centimetres to my waist line. O wells, she will just have to train me harder in the upcoming months before Europe. But that's another story.

I arrive in the afternoon on the 24th December into the heart of Saigon. The weather is great, the happiness I feel seeing my parents again is overwhelming and of course I was HUNGRY!!! haha

First stop..

Quan An Ngon (Ngon Restaurant)

Popular to many tourists, the idea of this restaurant is fantastic!! In the middle of the restaurant are where all the guests sit and dine. On the edges of the perimeter, there are food stalls of many types of food. Each food stall will have say one type of dish such as rice paper rolls, noodle soups, vietnamese pancakes, sweet desserts etc. 

Rice paper stall

Vietnamese savoury rice noodle / dumplings / cakes

Sweet desserts

Mini pancakes

Noodles Station

A different noodle station

Fried Spring rolls

Snail station

After walking around and seeing what I felt like, I ordered the..

Bun man Vit (Vermicelli duck noodle soup with bamboo shoots)

Spring rolls with fresh vermicelli and herbs

Che (A sweet soup containing peanuts, lotus seeds, seaweed, tapioca and coconut milk)

Banh Duc (A glutinous coconut pandan cake with palm sugar syrup and sesame seeds)

Bun xao Ghe (Clear noodle crab in clay pot)

Banh Duc man (Savoury coconut glutinous cake with nuoc mam, meat loaf and powdered shrimp)

Sweet tofu in coconut syrup and ginger

The restaurant is like every Vietnamese hawker food you can think on the street put together under one roof. The idea is amazing and the place is always busy. I'm also pretty sure most taxi drivers will know where it is so it is a must eat!!

Another eatery...

You can't visit Vietnam without eating their Pho.

Special beef noodle soup (73000 dong = approx. $3.50)

Vegetarian stir fry with rice

The menu consists of Pho the rice noodle soup or rice dishes, so whatever you prefer!! Pho 24 is a franchise, they are on most corners, however there are many different Pho restaurants and they are everywhere!!! With the money exchange rate at the moment, Vietnam is a bargain place to holiday! Eat on the street for approximately $1 a meal or go into an air conditioned restaurant with service for $2.

Mon Hue Restaurant

Mon Hue restaurant provides dishes specialised in Central Vietnam, Hue. Vietnam is divided into 3 parts, the North, Central and South. There are differences in dialect, accents and definitely in food. The South tends to use more sugar in their diet having a balance of sweet, tang and salty. Whereas, the North (Ha Noi) and Central tends to eat more Salty flavours. There are a few dishes which are signature to those parts, and Mon Hue Restaurant specialises in Central Vietnamese Cuisine. 

They start by offering these parcels at the table. If you eat it, then they charge you. I don't know what it's called but it is savoury and made of glutinous rice flour with shredded coconut filled with mashed mung bean.

Selection of Hue style 'dumplings'

Eaten with the Nuoc mam (fish dipping sauce), all these savouries have diffeent tastes and textures and also cooked differently. Right at the back is a dish with shrimp and it was cooked in banana leaf. The ones in the ramekin, banh beo are coconut rice flour steamed with powdered shrimp and pork crackle. Banh bot loc is the glutinous chewy 'dumpling' filled with baby shrimp and there is a cold meatloaf on the corner. 

Peacock spring rolls

These spring rolls are fried and tooth picked on this dragon fruit (which becomes our dessert after). Loved the presentation and vegetable carving! hehe

Fried/steamed cakes with shrimp and pork

This is the same glutinous rice cake. One is fried and one is steamed. It has a light spring onion oil on top with crispy pork and shredded shrimp.

Pork mince stir fry with crispy cracker

The pork is wok fried with bean shoots, mung bean and onion laced with coriander. You spoon it onto the thinly fried rice cracker and with the nuoc mam dipping sauce.

Hue style noodles

Hue style noodles with prawn dumplings

Special Hue style noodles

Hue style beef noodle soup is one of the most famous noodles of the Hue region. With a pho base, the addition of spices and herbs such as lemongrass, chilli, star anise, cinnamon etc. It is delicious and one of my favourite cooked with ox tail and beef bones.

Chicken rice Dong nguyen

Ma po tofu

Lotus soup

Dong Nguyen Restaurant is known for their Chicken. They are a cheap eat which locals and foreigners know about. Situated in Cho Lon (10 - 15 minute taxi ride out of the city), this is the area where most Chinese born in Vietnam live. You may refer to this area as 'Chinatown' hehe. The dishes are very simple, rice with fried, grilled or poached chicken. They also have a selection of healthy soups made from pork stock and chinese herbs. This lotus soup is just amazing and refreshing. They also sell BBQ pork or ma po tofu, a pork mince with chilli and silken tofu to name a couple.

Banh Khoc - Vietnamese mini pancake

This place is a little treasure in the hidden streets of Cho Lon. We would not know this place unless we had family friends. The locals know it, and it is known for their Banh khoc, the vietnamese mini pancakes. Crispy on the base and soft above, this delicious dish is made of rice flour mixed with coconut flavours and prawns. They are garnished with dried shrimp powder, spring onion oil and eaten with nuoc mam. You can eat it on it's own, or wrap in lettuce leaves with shiso leaves, mint and vietnamese mint.

Fish vermicelli noodle soup

This was just delicious. The soup was sweet and tangy made from fresh tamarind, tomato and the fish which I'm not familiar with the English term, but in vietnamese it's called Ca Loc. This soup came with a side dish fill with fish sauce and chilli. Dipping the fish into the sauce creates this delicious sweet flavour from the fish, salty from the fish sauce and the chilli flavour to make you salivate.

Deep fried squid

Somehow, deep fried squid is always on my mind no matter what. It is lightly battered then sprinkled with salt and pepper (maybe a little msg) hehehe

Banh cuon is Vietnamese Steamed rice noodle. It is served on it's own with meat loaf or you can choose a filled one. For breakfast one morning, my parents and I took a mini stroll a few stores down from the hotel we stayed at and had this banh cuon filled with pork mince and black fungus. Garnished with crispy shallots and the nuoc mam sauce.

I LOVE VIETNAM for it's massive selection of sweets!!! They sell desserts or anything sweet for breakfast, lunch and dinner!!! Grilled bananas, glutinous rice wrapped bananas, sweet glutinous rice, steamed cakes..too many to name. I ate so much, but forgot to take photos until I finished so it was too late. haha But at least I remembered on this occasion. We bought grilled bananas from this couple who sat at a particular spot behind Ben Thanh. Something so simple eaten with coconut milk and crushed peanuts with a slight sprinkle of salt can be so satisfying!

Dried swallows nest

Swallows nest and lotus seed sweet soup

Apparently, swallows nest is made of their spit and is hard to get. Asians believe there are healthy values to eating this. It's like strands of jelly that doesn't taste like much. It was AU$15 for a very small bowl. Good to experience once but WOW..I don't think it was worth it at all.

Macarons

I found a French patisserie who sold macarons. They were worth AU$1.50 each. I just had to try it, but unfortunately they didn't allow us to take photos. Boo.. ah wells...

So what do you think?? The food was yummy recapping what I ate. And finally, I have finally posted this post after 3 months. Slowly but surely, the next 2 parts are to come. Enjoy!!

Xx