Nem Nướng in Nha Trang

Located on the South Central Coast of Vietnam, Nha Trang is the beach capital of Vietnam. I spent 4 days and 3 nights there this past weekend during a national holiday that coincided with my 23rd birthday. The weather was perfect and we spent the weekend lounging at the beach, snorkling, parasailing, driving around the coast, and checking out a few bars and nightclubs. To read more about what we did in Nha Trang take a look at Mike’s entry entitled “Paradise City” or check out my facebook photos. But given my obsession with food, I’m going to write about one of my favorite eating experiences in Nha Trang. For breakfast one day a couple of us strayed away from the Louisiane Brewhouse, where we ate about half our meals, and headed away from the backpackers district and into the center of town. Aside from seafood, we were informed that any visit to Nha Trang would not be complete without trying a local specialty: Nem Nướng. Before this trip I had never heard of Nem Nướng, so I was really excited to try out a new Vietnamese dish. Nem Nướng is pork grilled on skewers. Before the meat is grilled it is usually marinated in a sauce with red food coloring to give it a nice look once it is grilled. At the restaurant we went to, the Nem Nướng was served with strips of fried rice paper, pickled vegetables and your usual plate of lettuce, mint, scallions, basil, etc. We were then given pieces of raw rice paper and it was our job to actually assemble the spring rolls ourselves.

Nem Nướng - Grilled Pork

Fried Rice Paper

Everything ready to be assembled

Rice Paper

Almost ready to eat!

Nem Nướng rolled and ready to eat

A delicious sauce that you dip your rolls in

I was a big fan of the dish and now want to find a place in Saigon where I can get Nem Nướng. The fried rice paper is really crunchy and it is a perfect contrast to the soft meat. It’s also fun to make your own rolls because you can put in all your favorite ingredients. If you are in Nha Trang definitely try it out. There are a bunch of different Nem Nướng restaurants you can choose from there. We went to one located at 17 Le Loi and I would definitely recommend it. For those of you based in Saigon, when I find a place here with good Nem Nướng I’ll let you know where it is!

Miến Gà: Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup

Even though it gets really hot in Vietnam, people love soup here. Various types of soup noodles are usually served as a breakfast dish, but there are plenty of soup places that are open for lunch, dinner and late night snacks. When I first got to Vietnam I wrote an entry about the most popular and well known soup dish in Vietnam: pho. And while pho is delicious, we shouldn’t forget about other types of soup noodles that exist in Vietnam. I hope to introduce you guys to numerous noodle soups on this blog, and we will start with one of my favorites: miến gà.

Miến Gà (Miến means glass noodles and Gà means chicken) is the Vietnamese version of chicken noodle soup. Glass noodles are also sometimes referred to as cellophane noodles because once they are cooked, they resemble cellophane. The noodles are made from a plant called Canna, which is one of the worlds richest starch sources.

Canna Plant

Miến Gà is made with a chicken based broth and is usually served with noodles, chicken, scallions, bean sprouts and onions.  There is a soup shop about 5 minutes from my house that I get my Miến Gà from. In addition to Miến Gà they make pho and other types of noodle soups.  The service there is really fast and I often go there on the weekends after my morning classes so I can eat a quick lunch and then take a nap before my afternoon/night classes. In addition, the place is usually packed with locals so that’s always a good sign. A bowl of Miến Gà is 24,000 VND (a little over $1). Grab a bowl the next time you are on Ky Dong Street.

I don't know the actual name....I just call it the soup noodle place

Seating area

Miến Gà

Glass noodles aka cellophane noodles

The Noodle Soup Place is located at 14/5 bis Ky Dong. Right across from the Vietcombank down the 14 Ky Dong alley.

Vo Van Tan Street Food

One of the things I love most about Vietnam is the street food culture. You can’t drive around the city without seeing groups of people sitting at small tables on the sidewalk. Whether it’s grabbing a steaming bowl of pho at the crack of dawn, relaxing with an afternoon cafe su da (Vietnamese coffee), or drinking 50 cent beers at 3am, there are guaranteed to be people eating and drinking on the street at all times of day. One of the busiest times of day for street food is lunch time. Instead of running to a local deli or chain restaurant like they do in the United States, people in Vietnam hit the streets to grab a quick lunch. Street vendors wake up before sunrise to run to the markets and start preparing their food for the day. They spend the entire morning cooking and when lunch time hits, sell their food at street food stands all over the city. Usually, you are given a huge serving of rice and the vegetable of the day, and then you pick from a selection of meats and fish. There are two specific places in the city that I like to go to get street food for lunch. Both are located around the intersection of Vo Van Tan and Truong Dinh, only a minute walk away from the LanguageCorps office.

Both places usually fill up by 11:30am and you have to make sure you get there early enough because the food runs out fast. It’s also pretty chaotic ordering because people don’t really form lines here, so you basically have to push your way to the front and let the people know what you want. This is especially hard to do if you can’t speak Vietnamese! Once you finally order your food you can choose to sit on the sidewalk and eat or take it away. When we go to the street food stand on Truong Dinh, we are usually able to get a table and will sit down on the miniature size chairs. Here is a look at what the Truong Dinh food stand has to offer.

Selection at Truong Dinh Stand

Far left: Tofu. Middle/Front: Pork, Tofu, Egg. Right: Chicken Curry

Huge bucket of RICE!!

A pork sausage and tofu stuffed with meatball

Surprisingly, the small chairs and tables aren't so uncomfortable...but I can't speak for tall people...

I do like this stand, but the portions are way smaller than the portions at the stand on Vo Van Tan, and it’s a little more expensive. For rice, vegetables, one meat option, soup and a tra da (iced tea), it costs about 25,000VND (a little over $1). However, this place makes an awesome chicken curry (pictured above) on Mondays that I love.

The stand on Vo Van Tan is great, but you have to get there early because they run out of food around 11:45am. Their portions are pretty big and you can get rice, vegetables, meat and a soup for only 18,000VND (a little under $1). Here is a look at what they have to offer.

Selection at the Vo Van Tan Street Food Stand

Hungry customers - this place actually has normal size tables!

Take away - Beef with morning glory and a bag of soup

If you are in the area and looking for a quick bite to eat  definitely check these places out!

The Truong Dinh stand is located on Truong Dinh at the intersection of Truong Dinh and Vo Van Tan.
The Vo Van Tan stand is located on Vo Van Tan between Truong Dinh and Tran Quoc Thao.

Late Night Seafood Snacks

Late night snacking is a big thing in Saigon, and it ranges from pho to kebabs to banh mi to seafood. When it starts getting dark out, vendors will start setting up their small tables and chairs on the sidewalks and large groups of people will hang out for hours eating, drinking and socializing. The other night I went to play tennis with a few friends, and when we finished at 11pm we were hungry and craving seafood. So we headed to a street in the middle of District 3 that is full of small seafood stalls. The seafood is presented in a bunch of colorful baskets and all you have to do is point to what you want and the servers will cook it and then bring it to your table. We went in a group of 6 so we were able to order a bunch of different dishes to share. The atmosphere in these types of restaurants is always relaxed and low key. It’s a great place to sit back and just hang out with friends, drink some beer and eat some delicious and cheap seafood.

Baskets of Seafood - they are usually more full, but I took this photo late at night...

Cockles, or small saltwater clams

Not exactlly sure what this is called. My Vietnamese friend called it fingernail seafood - creepy???

Clams with lemongrass - my favorite!

More clams, this time with peanuts and scallions

And of course, no meal would be complete without some morning glory with garlic and seafood fried rice

So including a couple beers and sodas this meal cost each of us 65,000VND (aka ~$3.00). Not bad, eh?

Seafood stalls are located on a street right off  of CMT8 traffic circle.

Banh Xeo 46A Restaurant

It’s awesome to read about a restaurant on a foreigner’s blog and then when you actually get there see tables full of Vietnamese. When a restaurant is full of locals you know that the food is good and you are probably getting your moneys worth. Tonight, when I hopped off my moto at Banh Xeo 46A I knew that I was in for a treat. All of the tables were packed with locals and you could see the cooks preparing fresh Banh Xeo, Spring Rolls and barbequed meats. I arrived at 7pm and all I had eaten earlier in the day were 2 Banh Mi, half a can of Sour Cream and Onion Pringles and an entire pack of Mentos (consumed in one sitting, don’t judge). So needless to say I was excited for some fresh and cooked food.

Kitchen/Seating Area of Banh Xeo 46A

Cooks preparing Banh Xeo

Since the restaurant has the name Banh Xeo in it Ashley and I decided it was only appropriate to order one. For those of you who are not familiar, Banh Xeo are Vietnamese pancakes stuffed with pork, shrimp, and bean sprouts and then pan fried. They are served with lettuce, mint, basil and of course, FISH SAUCE. You are supposed to break off pieces of the pancake, wrap them in the lettuce and herbs and finally dip it all into a bowl of fish sauce. In Southern Vietnam Banh Xeo are rather large and usually take up more space than a big plate. In the Central and Northern regions of Vietnam, Banh Xeo are usually smaller in size. Here are some smaller Banh Xeo that I ate during a previous meal.

Smaller Banh Xeo, typical of the Central Region of Vietnam

In addition to the Banh Xeo we ordered a plate of 10 Fried Pork Spring Rolls. The two dishes were plenty for us to share and altough the spring rolls were a bit on the expensive side (70,000VND/10 rolls), it was definitely worth it. The rolls were fried but not too greasy and the meat inside was done perfectly. The Banh Xeo was only 40,000VND and plenty for a single serving. It was also a really nice atmosphere. The restaurant was crowded and there was an intense energy that made our dining experience really exciting. Although Banh Xeo 46A specializes in Banh Xeo, I am looking forward to going back and trying some of their other dishes. There were a bunch of noodles dishes with barbequed meats that looked good and are a great price (30,000VND per bowl). I’ll have to report back if it’s especially good. For now, here are some pictures of our dinner.

Banh Xeo and Pork Spring Rolls (lettuce and fish sauce on the side!)

Banh Xeo, almost gone.

OH YEAH, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!

Banh Xeo 46A is located at 46A Dinh Cong Trang, right off of Hai Ba Trung.

Lunch Lady: Tuesday

The “Lunch Lady”, given said name by http://gastronomyblog.com/, was introduced to me by Ashley, my fellow food enthusiast and eating partner in crime here in Ho Chi Minh City. When we aren’t doing stuff related to English teaching, you are likely to find Ashley and I sending each other links via gchat to websites and blogs we’ve found related to food in HCMC. So after reading about the Lunch Lady on various blogs and seeing Anthony Bourdain visit her on one of his trips to Vietnam, Ashley decided this was a place we had to try out.

From gastronomyblog.com:

“Every morning before the sun rises, Nguyen Thi Thanh rolls out of bed, dons a comfy do bo (Vietnamese pyjamas), hops on her motorbike and heads to Thi Nghe Market. Thanh has been frequenting the same vendors for years, so everyone knows her by name and provides her with the freshest meats, noodles, herbs and vegetables.

Thanh arrives home at 8 am and begins preparing the day’s noodle dish. All of her broths are made from scratch, and she is blessed with a certain touch that somehow allows her soup seasonings to simultaneously suit everyone’s tastes. An hour before noon, the broth is finally perfect, and a crowd of customers gathered under a shady tree near her apartment is ready to dig into a hot bowl of noodles. This well-worn routine has been a part of Thanh’s life for the past decade, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.”

After a thirty minute walk on Tuesday we reached our destination sweaty and thirsty from the humid 90 degree weather. We were shown to a table, bought two bottles of cold water and eagerly awaited what was to come. First came a plate of four spring rolls served to us by Lunch Lady’s sister. They had the usual ingredients (noodles, shrimp, pork, mint) and were served with a delicious peanut sauce. Next came Tuesday’s specialty: Banh Canh. Now I am no food connoisseur so when our bowls of soup came out I had difficulty figuring out what I was actually eating. Luckily, gastronomyblog is way more knowledgeable and can give you guys some insight. Here is what she says about  Tuesday’s dish:

“Tuesdays feature a double punch of banh canh and bun moc. Both dishes are composed of a satisfying collection of meats, deep-fried shallots and a deeply flavourful and deftly salted pork-based broth, but they employ different noodles. The bun moc uses vermicelli rice noodles, while banh canh contains a thick udon-like noodle with a bite. “

This is what the soup looks like when it is served to you.

Banh Canh

And this is what the noodles look like.

Banh Canh Noodles

There are a couple things about this meal that make it stand apart from other soups. First, the broth is excellent. It is extremely rich and has so much flavor but at the same time is very light and drinkable. Secondly, I am a huge fan of Udon Noodles and these were the first thick noodles I’ve had since being in HCMC. You could tell they were extremely fresh for a couple of reasons. One, there was a lady physically making them at the table next to us and two, the texture was unbelievably soft. In addition to the noodles there was a mixture of assorted goodies and also some things I have not yet worked up the courage to eat in the soup. Those white pieces with black dots tasted a lot like fish chips and I liked dunking half of the chip into the broth and leaving the other half dry so there was a mixture of both crunchy and soft. The chicken and shrimp were both delicious but I stayed away from the liver, intestine and gizzards. I’m sure that they add more flavor to the broth but good luck trying to get me to actually eat it. Maybe eventually I’ll work up the courage. MAYBE.

All in all the food was great and it was nice eating outside at miniature tables amongst the locals. One thing that sucks about being a foreigner in Asia is that people know you are not a local and will therefore charge you more. Normally a bowl of soup is supposed to be 13,000VND but we were charged 20,000. Yeah, it sucks. But is it worth it to argue with someone who speaks almost no English over less than fifty cents? Probably not.

Ashley and I will definitely be returning to Lunch Lady on different days of the week so hopefully there will be a new post up soon about another one of her dishes. Stay tuned!

Lunch Ladys Stand

Friend of Lunch Lady making Noodles

The Lunch Lady is located at 23 Hoang Sa. Thi Nghe Canal. Binh Thanh District.

Can I get a breakfast sandwich?

If you know me, you know that I have an intense love affair with breakfast sandwiches. And seriously, what’s not to love? I can’t think of anything better than a greasy sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich on an everything bagel first thing in the morning. So imagine my disappointment when I arrive in HCMC and find no McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts or Bagel Barns. Luckily there is some sort of a god out there and he/she has blessed me with an adequate substitute to the breakfast sandwich: the Banh Mi.

Finding a Banh Mi stand in HCMC is just about as easy as finding a Starbucks in New York City. You purchase them at carts on the sidewalk and the vendors will make the sandwich in front of you right after you order. For the most part street vendors don’t speak English, but most Banh Mi carts only sell Banh Mi so you just have to walk up to the vendor and put up one finger (or two depending on how hungry you are) and point to what you want. There are other Banh Mi stands that make Banh Mi based on a protein other than egg, but the one I usually go to just sells egg based Banh Mi. I will eventually branch out and try all of the different kinds.

The sandwich is served on a baguette, which is probably the case because the French occupied Vietnam for many years. In addition to egg or whatever protein you choose, the baguette is filled with pickled carrots, cucumbers, cilantro, pate and a sweet chili sauce. The chili sauce isn’t that spicy but it definitely gives the sandwich a little kick. My Banh Mi guy will usually crack open an egg, fill up the baguette with all the other ingredients while the egg is cooking, and then toss the cooked egg on the sandwich before wrapping it up in a little bag.

The best part is that Banh Mi are ridiculously cheap. The cart I go to sells them for only 5,000 VND. THAT IS ONLY TWENTY-FIVE CENTS PER SANDWICH!!!!

So it’s not exactly like a breakfast sandwich you’d find in the States, but I think I’ll be okay for a year eating Banh Mi instead.

Banh Mi Cart

Cooking my egg

Banh Mi on my lap, no big deal.

Crown Restaurant

Hidden at the back of a quiet alley off of Vo Van Tan Street is Crown Restaurant, which offers Vietnamese Fine Dining and has a spacious dining room and beautiful bar. The atmosphere is relaxing and trendy. Linh, one of the LanguageCorps instructors, took me and my friend Ashley there for lunch and for 28,000 VND we each got a plate of fresh rice noodles and grilled pork served in a delicious sauce. In Vietnamese the dish is called bun thit nuong. The noodles and pork came out separately and Linh instructed us to put our noodles into the pork sauce. Like most dishes in Vietnam, we were also given lettuce and a variety of herbs to add to our food. If you like grilled or barbecued meat, this meal is perfect for you. The spices they use on the meat are excellent and I thought that it was grilled to an ideal tenderness. Definitely cooked but not overdone in the least. The portions aren’t that big, but it’s enough to fill you up. In addition to the pork and noodles, we ordered some fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls to share. The spring rolls are rolled in rice paper and have shrimp, pork, lettuce and herbs inside. They are served with a peanut sauce for dipping. Each roll is 8,000 VND so my check came out to a total of 36,000 VND (under $2 USD).

The three of us had a lovely meal and for the cheap price, good food and ambiance, I definitely recommend this place. Here are some pictures.

bun thit nuong

Noodles and Pork mixed together

Fresh Spring Rolls with Shrimp, Pork, Lettuce and Herbs

Crown Restaurant is located at 50/48A Vo Van Tan Street. Ward 6, District 3.

Beto Restaurant

Beto restaurant

Located on 57 Vo Van Tan St. District 3, and only a thirty second walk from the LanguageCorps headquarters, Beto makes for the perfect quick lunch. For only 36,000 VND (a little under $2) you can get a four-course meal and a complementary iced tea. You pick a meat/protein, vegetable, soup and salad.  There are 28 meat/protein, 8 vegetable, 5 soup and 4 salad choices to pick from. So far I have tried the Grilled Chicken with lemongrass and Korean style grilled pork ribs for my meat/protein option. The pork ribs tasted like real Korean BBQ and the chicken, although somewhat plain on it’s own, was very tasty with the lemongrass sauce. The chicken also has a nice crispy skin that is a perfect complement to the tender meat. Both meats came with bone so my hands got pretty messy trying to pick off the meat, but it was definitely worth it. Here are the ribs and chicken.

BBQ Pork Ribs

Lemongrass Chicken

For my vegetable choice I’ve been sticking with the stir-fried water spinach with garlic. I love cooked spinach and garlic helps ward off mosquitoes so I’m ok with ordering this dish every time. For soup I usually order the tofu and tomato soup. In addition to tofu and tomato, the soup has some bits of egg and what I think is ground beef. It’s a good combination. The salad is OK but definitely the least impressive part of the meal. I order the Russian Salad and it is pretty much cole slaw. Not bad, but nothing to write home about.

Stir fried water spinach

tomato and tofu soup

Russian salad

You get a pretty good amount of food for what you pay, but I don’t doubt you can find a better deal elsewhere.  However, other places with cheaper prices probably aren’t as clean. The tables and floors are almost pristine, the silverware comes wrapped up and the furniture appears relatively new. The service is also very fast. Your food is on the table a couple minutes after you order. Even when you show up in large groups there are always enough tables to comfortably accommodate you and the service is still quick.

I have already eaten here four times and I can see myself making the trip back even after I stop taking classes two doors away.