Ho Chi Minh city - Cooking class

Today is the last day in Vietnam and also the highlight of the trip, the full day cooking class from Ho Chin Minh Cooking Class. For this class, I chose 8 dishes and 1 dessert from the list posted on their website.

At 7:30 am, I was picked up at the hotel and transferred to their farm, which is outside of the city. Because of the awful traffic in the city, it took 2 hours to get there (it was originally expected to be 1 hour). Compared to other large cities in Southeast Asia, such as Bangkok and Yangon, Ho Chi Minh City is the most chaotic, from my experience.

When I arrived, they showed us their small farm and had us pick ingredients for the cooking class.

This is lemongrass. I thought that each stalk grows individually. I wouldn't have expected this bush to be lemongrass.

Here is the Oyster Mushroom "cave".  The bags are filled with wood shavings that have already been colonized by the spores. The mushrooms grow from a "spout" at the end of the bag and can be harvested by tearing them off - more mushrooms will then grow back in their place.
Each bag will eventually produce 20 kg worth of mushrooms!

The first dish is the spring roll. I've made this before by myself and it's pretty easy to make. But I chose the dish because I wanted to know how to wrap it properly and how to make the shrimp look nice. The wrapping procedure was nothing new to me. But I learned that shrimp should be inserted after partially wrapped. Then, only single sheet of rice paper is on top of the shrimp so that the color of the shrimp is more prominent. Also, I found the rice paper we used in the class is much thinner than what I'm used to, so I only needed to splash water on the rice paper instead of soaking in warm water. The dipping sauce wasn't the peanut based sauce that I'm accustomed to, but a watery fish sauce- and citrus juice-based sweet and spicy sauce. I learned that Vietnamese fish sauce is less pungent than that from Thai cooking. I would expect the sauce to be very fishy if I had used Thai fish sauce to make the same sauce.

The next dish is the lotus rootlet salad with grilled pork. I've had lotus rootlet salad before in the US. That's why I requested this dish. I didn't know that it comes with grilled pork. Despite the meat, it's still refreshing.

This is something unique. The lotus rootlet salad above is wrapped with mustard leaves. The wrapped salad and shrimp are tied with a chive. The dipping sauce is the same as the one for the spring rolls.

This is Pho Bo (beef). I was so glad that we made this from scratch. I was worried that they might prepare the broth ahead of time and just have us assemble the finished soup because it takes so long to make the broth. They had me make the broth as soon as I arrived with beef bones and spices. I was really excited because that's the part I wanted to learn. The rest is simple. Season the broth with fish sauce, sugar and salt. A simple but flavorful dish.

This is the dessert, banana spring roll along with coconut cream. It's the end of morning session. The dessert is very simple but satisfying. The coconut cream was premade, though.

After a short break (resting in a hammock), I started to work on the rest of the 4 dishes. In the morning session, I made each dish one at a time. In the afternoon session, however, I worked on all 4 dishes at once.

First, stir fried shrimp and veggies with tamarind sauce. The shrimp are tossed in egg white and tapioca starch, and then deep fried. They are then stir fried with veggies and tamarind sauce. I would say this is the Vietnamese version of sweet and sour shrimp.

The photo may not do this dish justice. But it is braised pork cooked in a clay pot. The seasoning is basically fish sauce and caramelized sugar. Because of the caramelized sugar, it gets dark and looks salty. But in fact it's well balanced.

Grilled pork on the rice vermicelli. This is pretty standard Vietnamese dish at Vietnamese restaurants in the US. The only difference is the lack of lettuce. Instead, I chopped various herbs and added enough to replace the lettuce that I would normally expect.

This is fish in the claypot. Basically this is prepared in the same way as the pork dish above. One unique ingredient is a hard boiled egg. Before it is added to the claypot and braised, the egg is seared in the wok. The instructor said that the egg will keep it's shape by the process of searing it.

As I expected 8 dishes and 1 dessert was A LOT!! I was super full after I made everything. I'm leaving tonight and have time for a dinner. But I don't think I can eat anything before the flight.

I was expecting hot and humid weather before I came to Vietnam. Luckily it wasn't that hot by Vietnam standards, yet it's still quite hot. But what killed me is the humidity. I feel like I sweated enough for a year worth on this trip... But I believe the amount of sweat will compensate for the weight gain from all the food.

Ho Chi Minh - Street food tasting tour

I took the afternoon flight from Hue to Ho Chi Minh City and then cab into the city. I was expecting some traffic in Ho Chi Minh City but it's much worse than what I thought. I was a bit nervous that I wouldn't make it to the evening street food tasting tour, because of time.

I did make it but it took more than 1 hour for 7 km ride. I've seen crazy traffic with tremendous numbers of motorbikes on TV before, but now I see that, in Ho Chi Minh City at least, that it does actually exist - that's no exaggeration!  It seems that no regular traffic rules apply and it's unbelievable I don't see any accidents...

A little bit after I checked into the hotel, the street tour guides arrived at the hotel to pick me up. I booked this tour from Vietnamstreetfoods.com. They offer both motorbike and walking options. Although I wouldn't have to drive the motorbike myself, I felt uncomfortable to even sit on the back in such crazy traffic, so I chose the walking option. The two guides arranged a taxi and took us to district 4 (my hotel is in the district 1). It's only a few km but it took more than 30 min....

The food market/stands area in this district is huge We started from the fruit section. The guides told me that I can choose any fruits I'm interested in. Two fruits grabbed my attention.

The first is a custard apple.  It looks like a young pine cone. It does taste like cherimoya that I tasted in Peru. In fact this has more flavor than cherimoya and it was really good. The only problem is the custard apple is much smaller than cherimoya (slightly smaller than tennis balls). There are many seeds and the skin tastes bitter. It needs some experience to eat this.

The second fruit is milk fruit. It's called this way because the juice resembles to milk. The guide told me a story about this fruit but I didn't quite understand it completely. They are the third guides since I arrived in Vietnam. Unfortunately, the English level of the Vietnamese guides (also hotel staff) is not as high as other countries I've visited. They all have great personalities to make it up for, though.

This is the milk fruit after cutting into half, seeds stayed on the other half (like an avocado)

This is fresh sugar cane juice with kumquat. It's still pretty sweet but not syrupy. The added kumquat juice makes it refreshing.

This is the kumquat used in the sugar cane juice

After the fruit section, we moved to "cooked" foods vendors area. The first snack was fried dough with minced meat inside. This is the Vietnamese version of piroshki. The guide told me the name but unfortunately I don't remember it....

Suddenly, one of the guides asked "do you like snake wine?" Not really... But I said "why not," instead. So, it's the snake infused (?) wine. I don't know what exactly the liquor is. It tasted neutral, like vodka. In fact it was as strong as vodka in terms of alcohol. I don't know what snake is supposed to taste like. But I didn't taste anything unusual. Just a strong liquor flavor.

The next stop is bahn mi. This is the second bahn mi after the one I tasted in Hoi An (the one Anthony Bourdain visited). This one is made with various meat products. Very flavorful with spiciness and sweetness. But I liked the other bahn mi better.

Next, a short break with fresh coconut juice. I chose the chilled coconut since it's very hot and humid. When ordered, they cut the top off and stick a straw. It tasted very fresh. The guide told me that it takes a day to chill the juice completely because of the thick coconut flesh,

This is something I've never had. Minced meat is mixed with seasoning and wrapped in betel leaves. They are grilled at the front. Smells wonderful!

They are served with rice paper, rice noodles and a veggie/herb plate. The two unique veggies on the plate are starfruit and and young banana. Both are sliced thinly and give a hint of bitterness. The rice paper is very thin and I didn't have to soak it in water. After wrapping everything with the rice paper, the whole roll is dipped into the fish sauce based dipping sauce. Very good.

This is Pho!! It's a hot and humid day (although it was after 7:00pm by then) and inside the restaurant it was like a sauna because of the boiling pho broth. The girl in the photo below was drenched in sweat. Vietnam is a very hot country. I wonder how so many soup noodles dishes became popular in such an environment...

The beef was lightly cooked in the boiling broth, so it's not as rare as what I'm used to

The guide showed me how to make dipping sauce for the beef. You can directly add the condiments to the broth or dip the meat. But it seems more Vietnamese to eat Pho the second way (at least among the Vietnamese around me). It's hoisin sauce (the guide called it sweet soy), hot sauce, citrus juice (kumquat) and house made chili sauce (dried chili flakes in oil). These are mixed before dipping. So far, I haven't seen "World wide famous Sriracha" in Vietnam!! I saw something similar, though. Sriracha is manufactured in the US. So, I guess Sriracha is the US version of the Vietnamese hot sauce  made by Vietnamese immigrants in the US.

The last stop of the tour is seafood! The scallop below is grilled with shallot, scallion and peanuts. Served with sauce. Don't know what the ingredients for the sauce but I guess shrimp paste is included. Very savory sauce.

Grilled shrimp with chili. When I taste the shell, it's very spicy. But after being peeled, there's only a hint of spiciness. Very fresh shrimp. Also, it comes with a similar dipping sauce.

This seafood eatery had many different varieties of seafood. I saw some giant clams that I've never seen. If I was going to stay longer, I would like to come back here.

During the tour, we had quite a few things that came with ice, such as sugarcane juice, teas and even beer. I didn't feel completely comfortable with this (because of the unknown water source) but I gave up eventually because it was so hot and I needed something cool. Many of the ice "cubes" were big cylinders with a whole on one side. After I came back to the hotel, I Googled the ice in Vietnam in general. It seems this big cylindrical ice is safe to consume. Even other types of ice are usually ok in big cities. I should have checked this before I came to Vietnam....

Tomorrow is a full day cooking class!

Paradise cave and back in Hue

Other than Vietnamese foods, the main event of this trip is the Paradise Cave. The nearby Phong Nha cave has been know well for decades as a UNESCO World Heritage site. On the other hand, the Paradise Cave was discovered in 2005 and is still relatively new to tourists. However, the view inside was amazing! I felt like I was in some kind of sci-fi movie. Very surrealistic.

Because I wasn't convinced with the Bun Bo Hue that I had yesterday, my mission for dinner is to find a good Bun Bo Hue. After I came back from the Paradise Cave, I asked the hotel clerk where to go. I did emphasize what I'm looking for, real Bun Bo Hue that locals would go for. He suggested a street vendor, but wasn't sure whether or not the stall has a name. When I got to the area that the hotel clerk mentioned, I found the vendor that looked very local. The hygiene seemed questionable but I really wanted to have "real" Bun Bo Hue. Still no blood curd. But all the customers were locals and the soup was spicy. The broth was very flavorful. Probably this particular vendor doesn't serve blood curd? Or skips it for tourists? Anyway, I did enjoy this Bun Bo Hue.

Also, this vendor served another noodle dish called Bun Cha Ca. Bun Cha Ca is a regional soup noodle dish from Da nang. It's supposed to be served with fish cake but this preparation seemed to use fish ball with what was most likely crab. The major flavor is lemongrass as well, but it's more predominant than in Bun Bo Hue. This is not as spicy as Bun Bo Hue.

In general, the food portions in Vietnam are much smaller. When I go to Vietnamese restaurants in the U.S. for Pho, for example, there are regular and large sizes. Normally the regular portion in the U.S. is just right for me, so that gives you an idea of how small the portions are. In any case, I was ready to try more food.

On the way to the hotel, I found the sign for Be Hien"Banh Canh." Banh canh is a type of noodles made with rice flour and tapioca flour. The tapioca flour creates a chewier texture and resembles an Udon noodle. This particular Banh Canh is served with crab/fish balls and blood curd. Yes, blood curd! I really don't care for this because of the lack of flavor. But I would never ask them to skip it because I don't want to give them an impression that I'm not ready for "authentic" food. I forced myself to eat it, though. The broth is made with pork and quite flavorful.

I'm flying back to Ho Chi Minh City tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing any culinary differences between Central and Southern Vietnam.

Hue

I had a minor stomach issue in the morning but so far that's it. I guess I my stomach can handle the street food in Vietnam!

As soon as I finished breakfast at the hotel in Hoi An, I moved to Hue, which is 2.5 hours north of Hoi An. The most famous dish in Hue is Bun Bo Hue. While there are so many regional noodle dishes in Vietnam, Bun Bo Hue is the nationally recognized soup noodle. Unlike the more well-known Pho, which doesn't contain chili in the broth, Bun Bo Hue is usually spicy and made with lemongrass and fermented shrimp paste. It's also served with blood curd.

However, I was disappointed when I saw this Bun Bo Hue. The broth wasn't spicy at all (though the optional spicy condiments were on the table). Also, although I'm not a big fan of blood curd (because I can't really detect any flavor), not including blood curd made it look less traditional. The restaurant looked pretty authentic but there were signs in different languages. They probably toned down the dish so as not to offend tourists. It tasted good but didn't pack enough punch...

After sightseeing in the city of Hue, I was wandering the night market area by the Perfume River. One of the street vendors was selling skewered foods. After ordering, these are all deep fried in oil. When I was picking the skewers, I asked what they were. Unfortunately, the communication didn't work out. Perhaps it's better not to know??  They all looked different but tasted almost the same, except for the green one on the left which, I was told, contained "vegetables."

The next stop was another of Hue's local foods, Banh Beo. On top of steamed rice cakes in a small shallow bowl, there are different toppings, such as pork rind, scallion and shredded dried shrimp. These are served with sweet and tangy fish sauce.

This stand also serves Banh Nam, which is almost same as Ban Beo, ingredients-wise. The biggest difference is that the ingredients are wrapped in bamboo leaves (kind of like a Vietnamese tamale). The bamboo aroma is transferred to the rice cake.

Two of Hue's famous must-have dishes are checked off the list! I'd like to try another Bun Bo Hue tomorrow, though.

Hoi An, Vietnam

My latest trip destination is Vietnam. Initially, I was going to spend the whole time in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) but found myself more interested in the cities of Central Vietnam, such as Da Nang, Hoi An and Hue. Additionally I found that there's an amazing cave in the area north of Hue. I decided to spend more time in central Vietnam.

I flew into Ho Chi Minh city and immediately transferred to Da Nang. From Da Nang, I was picked up by the taxi that I had arranged before I left the US, and traveled to Hoi An. Hoi An is an old city that reminds me of Kyoto, Japan somehow. Hoi An survived the Vietnam war and many buildings were well preserved. Hoi An is very famous for lanterns and is a very walkable and efficient city. Compared to Da Nang, where I first landed, I saw that almost all the motorbike drivers were wearing helmets. It seems that the police here enforce the use of helmets more strictly.

My very first "Vietnamese" food (?) since my arrival in Vietnam is this ice coffee with condensed milk. As soon as I saw the coffee coming, I regretted that I ordered "iced" coffee because the ice may not be safe. I wasn't sure whether tap water or bottled water is used to make the ice... My decision is to finish the coffee before the ice starts melting. I finished it in a few seconds.... Because it's still concentrated, it was very sweet.... Still tasty, though.

After the coffee, I went for lunch. The first stop was for steamed dumplings, called white rose. This is a local specialty of Hoi An. This restaurant specializes in white rose and fried wonton - just two dishes. Everything is handmade. The filling is pork and shrimp. There were two different shapes but I didn't find much difference in taste.

White rose wasn't enough to be a full lunch, so I moved on to another restaurant that serves Cau Lau, which is another of Hoi An's specialties. This is not the typical soup noodle, like pho. It has a very small amount of soup / sauce at the bottom and should be eaten by tossing everything together. It's served with pork, pork skin and veggies. This is my first Cao Lau, so I don't know whether this is a good one or just "ok" one. But I thought it tasted a bit bland. The portion was tiny....

I could have had more food for lunch because the white rose and cao lau weren't enough. But I decided to save some room for the dinner, which is a street food tasting tour in the evening.


The first stop on the tour was Banh Mi. This particular stand the guide took us to was visited by Anthony Bourdain. The menu had his picture on it. I don't usually try food places just because some celebrities visited them or mentioned them. But I have to say this banh mi was amazing. The stand is called Banh Mi Phuong and the sandwich I had was with ham and pate. The pate was well seasoned and it was served with their original hot sauce. I didn't know what it was exactly but it was tasty for sure.

The next dish was an egg pan cake. It's similar to the famous Vietnamese pan cake, Bahn Xeo. But this is much smaller and eaten by rolling the pancake up in rice paper. The accompanying sauce was similar to peanut based dipping sauce for spring rolls but it seemed there were more ingredients in this one.

At the next stop, I had the second white rose of the day. This restaurant (Vuon Xua) was located in a small alley where nobody would find it unless they knew the city really well. It had a very nice decor using different types of bamboo. Tastewise, it wasn't much different, but somehow their fried shallot tasted more cohesive with the dumplings.

At the same place, I had the fried won ton, topped with shrimp cooked with spicy tomato sauce. It tasted more Chinese than Vietnamese. Although the guide described this as Vietnamese pizza, I thought this is more like tortilla chips with shrimp and salsa...

The entree (that's what the guide said) is Com Ga, chicken rice. Rice is cooked with chicken broth (therefore, it's slightly yellow) and topped with shredded chicken meat and veggies. There were limes, fresh chili and chili condiments on the table. The fresh chili was amazingly spicy. It was definitely spicier than regular jalapeno. Size-wise, it looked like Thai chili. Chopped up blood cake and organ meats were included. This stall is very small, run by a local lady, so there's no name. But very crowded with locals.

This is very unique dish called Banh Dap from Quan Cam Nam. Two types of rice crepes (one crispy, one soft) are placed together in an alternating fashion. Then, before eating, the stack of crepes is smashed together ("Dap" means "smash") and pieces are torn off and dipped into a sauce made with anchovy.

It's a good start of for the trip. Some of the street vendor's hygiene was questionable. I hope I won't be in trouble tomorrow. Let's see..

Lima - last day

The last day! I signed up for a food and bike tour. This is the same tour company that I signed up with two days ago for a tour of the city center. This time we're going south of Lima, to a suburb called Barranco.

One of the same guides took us to a seaport, in the district of Chorillos, where freshly caught seafood is sold. The view was amazing and all the seafood could not look any fresher. The guide picked up some fish and took me to a nearby "mom & pop" seafood shop.

There, the fish was made into fresh cebiche!! Again, because the fish is so fresh, it didn't need much time to marinate. It came out within 10 minutes. It was as good as the one I made at the cooking class yesterday. The guide told me that locals eat cebiche between breakfast and lunch as a snack because many local restaurants don't have refrigerators, so they have to finish serving by early afternoon. Of course, big restaurants with good refrigeration can keep the seafood fresh and serve it at dinner.

The next stop was the oldest bar in Barranco, called Juanito Bar. Yes, it's a bar and we were supposed to have alcoholic drinks there, but not today.... Tomorrow is the presidential election day in Peru and any alcohol consumption the day before the election is prohibited.. But the causa trio below was excellent. These causa isn't the typical layered shape; instead, different toppings are served on top of balls of causa potato. This one had scallop, octopus and tuna (left to right). Still the best one is octopus. It was well seasoned and tender!

For dinner, I did some research because this is going to be the last meal in Peru. I found this restaurant, Panchita Sazon Criolla. It seems this is Gaston's restaurant. Some guidebooks and online comments mention Gaston's name but not the restaurant's website. So, I'm not totally sure... Gaston is probably the most famous chef in Peru and his restaurant, Astrid & Gaston, is ranked No. 14 of the world's 50 best restaurant in 2015. I had tried to book his restaurant in Cuzco, called Chicha, but couldn't make the reservation.

This restaurant specializes in grilled and stewed dishes. The first dish is anticucho. Compared to the anticucho I had the other day, this is definitely more sophisticated. The beef heart was cooked medium rare and the corn accompaniment was separated from the cob and lightly sauteed. The seasoning was as good as the other anticucho.

This is a pork stew, called adobo. Adobo can be totally different things depending on the culture. In the Philippines, adobo is normally a chicken stew involving vinegar. In Mexico, it refers to a chili-based pasty sauce. In Peru, adobo is stewed pork, which originated from the Arequipa region. I don't think that traditionally this is such a big chunk of pork but this restaurant offered a very generous portion, in a very complex flavored sauce. So yummy!

I don't know if this is a traditional or a fusion dish but it's so good! Stewed beef tongue that melts in your mouth. The sauce tasted a bit like Beef Bourguignon. I was expecting the puree underneath to be grits (corn), but it was a very creamy mashed potato.

In this trip, I would say the two most noteworthy dishes/foods were cebiche and fruits. I've had quite a few cebiche. But nothing can beat cebiche made with fish that was caught in the same day!! When marinated the minimal amount of time with fresh lime juice and fresh chilis, it cannot be any fresher. Also, the amazing fruits. My most favorite is granadilla, which is one of the sweeter passion fruits. It has a floral aroma that reminds me of some Pinot Noirs. It resembles lychee in flavor, which is also my favorite. In fact, the very last food I had in Peru was granadilla at the airport. I bought some at the supermarket and took it to the airport. I was enjoying it until I was ready to board the plane.

Another amazing trip!