Let's have a coffee!

Talking about this dark, bitten drink is not easy for me.

First, I'm not a big fan of this liquid drug, second, what I know about the coffee life style in Saigon is little. Vietnamese love coffee. Male, female, elder, younger. Morning. Afternoon. Evening. Anytime in a day, raining days, office hours. By weekend some spacious coffee shops with aircon could be a favourite gathering place for family, with kids running around, screaming in joy.

I can't spend hours and hours there, to play with my laptop or Ipad as many people do these days. I also can't sit there just to "tám" (a popular jargon, i.e to chat, to gossip, to blah blah blah...). The word "coffee" doesn't mean a drink to us anymore, it's like a socialised activity, a company of good friends, a romantic date, a business meeting...that we can't live without.

                    Cafe phin - a favorite choice for majority of Vietnamese in Saigon. 

One of the world's 50 most delicious foods in Saigon

Finally I tried Assam Laksa - the 7th in the list of the world's 50 most delicious foods at one of a few Halal eateries in Saigon. It reminds me very much our "bun mam"- rice noodles with fermented fish soup. But I would say "Thousand people, thousand tastes". I don't like Assam Laksa.

It's certainly a good dish but by somehow I didn't like it, personally. Maybe I didn't try the authentic one in Malaysia, or somewhere else to compare. Or maybe today was not my day, so I didn't have a good appetite.

                      Assam laksa - one of the most delicious foods in the world by CNN Go - 2011.

Rice mixed with mussels (cơm hến)

One of my very first posts about Huế specialities is "From the Hell to the Heaven", this review got some encouraged comments, I even received a proposal to cooperate with one travel agency but then I had to refuse, because...I didn't know what to do. Sounds funny? But it's true.

Ok back to the Hell...I'd love to share one of my favorite Hue's flavors: rice mixed with mussels. I don't know since when I fell in love with this "bibimbap" of Vietnamese version. Whenever I'm at any Huế restaurant, I surely ask whether they serve it or not, if they have, I'll order. But it's not always good at every place!

                  A bowl of cơm hến (rice mixed with mussels) at Cố Đô - a Huế restaurant in district 5, Chinatown. 

Rolled noodles Ngũ Xã (phở cuốn Ngũ Xã)

I don't know for how many weeks, my review about "10 Vietnamese street foods we can't live without" has been a big hit and always at the top of the list...in my blog! At the same time I also got comments from some readers that it's not fair, as my 10 dishes are mostly from Saigon. I have to admit they are right.
My last trip to Hanoi was very short, I didn't have enough time to try everything of what I got in my note: I missed a famous beef noodles at Bat Dan as they were closed for very long Tet holiday, I also didn't try another popular Hanoi's flavor "rice noodles with grilled pork" at Ngoc Khanh street or favorite by the youth in Hanoi - the jackfruit yogurt, the yogurt mixed with dark red sticky rice...

I'm sorry but I'm sure I will review it soon "The 10 hawker foods we can't live without in Hanoi".
Today, it's not an excuse, but I'm happy to share one more dish from the North - phở cuốn Ngũ Xã (literally means rolled noodles Ngũ Xã).

                   Similar to some rolls we have in Saigon but here - no oily and the fillings are warm. 

It was my friend's treat for my last night in Hanoi, he took me there and Ngũ Xã turned out a name of the area, fairly far from the old quarter. To be honest, if you ask me how to get there, I would say you better take a cab. It was a Tuesday night, around 8:00pm, not crowded. According to my friend, there are two places in Hanoi, famous for this "rolled noodles Ngũ Xã", where we have been is a bigger place than the other one, not only bigger, but also lighter for my photos. How nice!

Củ Chi - the land of steel, the wall of copper

I've been to Cu Chi few times. It's a suburban district of Saigon and about 30km away from city. Not very far so yesterday with friends we decided to ride on our bicycle to this land of steel. Why we call Củ Chi - the land of steel, the wall of copper? It's surely related to the extremely outstanding tunnel during the war, to the legendary fighting and surviving spirit from the people living in this underground labyrinth.

                  The caoutchouc plantation, seeing such a green I'd love to dive into it to cool off from the summer heat.

Very famous with their tunnel network, especially to the tourists from overseas, I've also been to this site few times, my first time was a big nightmare, when I went there with my Korean colleague. He was convinced by the guide to experience the second level (*) by walking within a distance of around 20m, I followed, but a few seconds later I felt unbreathable, I really wanted to go back. Listening to our guide's instructions, I took a left turn, they continued their way. I realized I was left alone in the tunnel. Absolutely alone. No light. It was hard to breath, to crouch on my knees, to navigate in the dark, even though what I should have done was only to go straight - one way. I didn't go, I ran. Now I'm still so proud of myself as better than anyone I know exactly what's the excitement by seeing "the light at the end of the tunnel". 

                        To experience my feelings please check out this video from Global Nomads Group. 

Our first stop was at the eatery "Bún giò heo" (rice noodles with hog's ham hock). To my surprise, I never heard about this dish before, we have "big noodles" (bánh canh) but with rice noodles? 

               Famous rice noodles with hog's ham hock but My first time to try this dish. 

Something new but actually we have rice noodles with everything and everywhere! The place was very crowded due to the sunday morning but we were able to find a table for four of us.

               The hog's ham hock is huge, the soup is good but with rice noodles? 

Saigon 38 years later with some flashback stories

30th of April, 1975. 
Special day for all Vietnamese, especially for those who lived in Saigon at that historical moment. I was there, a young kid, without knowing about the war, I was packing, with joy, my favorite toys for "the escape". But it didn't happen, our family stayed and...tomorrow, 38 years later, we celebrate the date that many of us don't know how to call - either "Saigon liberation" or "Saigon fall".  
I don't want to go into the details what was good and what was bad for us, before and after that real turbulent date, it's too much political, I'm not into that. I was a very young kid before 1975, I hardly remember everything but there is always something that I never forget...in my city.

The 1st story
The classy Continental hotel, after 1975, has turned into a cheap "state cooperative eatery" (hợp tác xã ăn uống). The living conditions were very hard. One day my mom, as habit from the good old times, took us there to enjoy a Yang Chow fried rice (cơm chiên Dương Châu) with her tiny earnings after selling some dress from her wardrobe, my mother used to be a teacher so she got a big collection of áo dài, sometime she gave away her dress, sometime she just traded for an extra money. It happened only once, no second time. Now, it's good that the Continental regain the old look and I already know where is the better place for the fried rice.

              The Continental hotel - one of the luxury hotels managed by Saigon Tourist - a state company.  

PS: By the way, these days I saw they are selling the Yang Chow fried rice as a street food.

The 2nd story
Saigon was much more quiet, less people, less traffic before 1975. Our parents bought their first house long before I was born. It was very narrow, slightly more than 2 m wide but it was a shelter to many of our relatives who moved from Central to Saigon. The house has been renovated once and it was sold in 1970, after my parents got another one - much bigger.
I do remember the ice cream vendor, who always stopped in front of this house, he first played with kids and after that convinced them to buy his cheap sirup ice cream. One day I was sitting behind the balcony (as you see from the photo), I really loved to get some ice cream but no pocket money, so the young vendor tried to convince me to exchange something, I didn't know whose idea, but I finally exchanged it with a pack of french pretzels that I took from a very nice tin box. And that was a present from a friend to my mother.

           I grew up here, in my parents first house(center). It surprisingly remained the same as in the old days.   

Rolled cake Thanh Trì (bánh cuốn Thanh Trì)

When still in high school, I was told about some traditional dishes in the North of Vietnam, especially in our folklore. I actually didn't have a chance to taste anything at that time as I was living in Saigon, without knowing the flavor, but I never forget the names, they all sound nice. 

Bánh cuốn Thanh Trì, bánh giầy Quán Gánh, 

Bánh đúc làng Kẻ, bánh tẻ làng Diễn 

or 

Thanh Trì có bánh cuốn ngon, 

có gò Ngũ Nhạc có con sông Hồng.

One of those specialities that I heard all the time was rolled cake Thanh Trì. 

Where is Thanh Trì? Could be a place or  just an old village not very far from Hà Nội and surely famous for their rolled cake. My first time to try this cake was long ago, from a street vendor in Hanoi - a very old woman, right on the Hanoi's sidewalk. At that time I had no impressions, but I promised myself to taste it again at another time, because...the name of "bánh cuốn Thanh Trì" was engraved in my mind and sounds strangely seductive...to me.  

                      A tray of rolled cake Thanh Trì for only 20,000 VNĐ. 

Time really flies when my second chance came only two months ago, in Hanoi, after probably years and years. It was a cold morning, I woke up early, skipped my hotel breakfast, I decided to have a walk along Hanoi's street in the cold. And not far from my hotel, I met a street vendor of rolled cake Thanh Trì at the corner. 

                  I was not alone, some early bird customers in the wet and cold morning. 

I was not alone, there was another two customers in that early morning. One of them was a little woman in her mid 60s, suffering from dwarfism, a book, newspaper's seller in the night trains, her life was not easy, as the vendor told me after I took a photo of her, she seemed happy to pose for my camera together with her simple breakfast.