Do you Phở?

On my south-east Asian adventure I was lucky enough to come accross some amazing food. Both fusion and local, these dishes and restaurants added flavor to my traveling experience.

All in all, the food I'd sampled in Vietnam was a new experience to me: be it the crispy rice paper rolls, the lotus flower stuffed with fresh shrimp meat, the deep-fried elephant ear fish, the steamed mung bean cake or sweetened ginger tea.

However, the national dish Phở is what captured my attention. I tried this soup at a handful of restaurants, and its heartening broth was equally delicious in all. This Vietnamese specialty, cooked with meat and fresh herbs can be eaten as part of any of the three main meals in Vietnam. In fact one of the most common sights when browsing the streets of Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi is the pop-up eatery set up on the side of the road with locals sipping on Phở at any hour of the day. 

If you think your stomach can handle it, the street food in Vietnam is extremely rich, interesting and everywhere, but for a safer bet you can opt for Highway 4. With several restaurants in Hanoi and one in Ho Chi Minh City this artsy and cheap chain of eateries offers, quick and delicious eats.

A friend who had already been to Saigon, had mentioned a restaurant worth visiting. On our first night, I enquired about it at the hotel and the response I got was "For tonight? They are full tonight, I have already checked for another guest. If you would like to go I have to make a reservation for tomorrow evening." And so our next dinner was at the Temple Club. Set in one of Saigon’s heritage buildings, the restaurant's antique furniture and retro music helps to recreate  a long gone era. With a variety of cuisines ranging from Vietnamese, Chinese, Khmer, Indian and French you will not regret eating here.

If you can spare some dollars for a fine dining experience, look for the Green Tangerine, in Hanoi's Old Quarter. Set in a 1928 colonial villa, this restaurant serves up a fusion of French and Vietnamese recipies with exquisite food and a wonderful atmosphere with plenty of seating to enjoy its beautiful garden. 

We sampled the buns stuffed with iced Parmesan cream, layered with onion and galangal and prepared with red wine. One of the main dishes that caught my eye was the stew of caramelised pork and apples served on a lotus-seed layered cake topped with mashed carrots and cilantro. We also tried the stewed rabbit flavored with wasabi and accompanied by three kinds of risotto: Passion Fruit in rice alcohol, Wasabi and mushrooms from the Tam Dao forest. To top that we tried their Jasmine Green Tea cheese cake, which was deliciously enjoyable and refreshing.  

Overall, Vietnam was a unique culinary journey that I thoroughly enjoyed and wouldn't mind going back for more.