Posts Tagged: saigon

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5
Nov 09

Phat in Saigon: Quan An Ngon

This post is a little late… but decided I should throw it up anyways!

So on our last night in Vietnam, we met up with our friend Minh at a “street food restaurant.” I expected lots of little red plastic chairs and blue tarp. Instead, we ended up sitting at a shared table in a beautiful French colonial villa under swaying palms and breezy white canopies.

Photo credits go to Ades.

open kitchen
Quan An Ngon is Saigon institution, and apparently an inspiration for NYC’s famed Spice Market. Its an open air restaurant that features some of the best street chefs in the game. Conveniently, all their different specialities can be ordered from one menu.

Rice with periwinkle clams
I’m really glad Minh was there, because we totally got schooled in Vietnamese food. This was my favorite dish of the night (left), and something I had never tried before. I believe Minh said it was a Hue dish. I don’t know the name, but basically it is rice with periwinkle clams served with shrimp paste on the side. Yum! It’s been a while since I had had either periwinkles or shrimp paste, so this was a real treat.

EDIT*** This dish is called Com Hen, thanks to Dennis!

grilled oysters
The grilled oysters were really fresh and meaty, cooked simply & served with lime dip.

Snails!
Oc buoc nhoi thit, snails minced with pork and lemongrass. I havent had very much experience eating snails, but these were delicious. I like how you tug on the knot of lemongrass to release the snail/pork meatball from the shell.

shrimp on sugar cane
I love Vietnamese food because eating it is such a customizable experience. We ordered chao tom, shrimp on sugarcane, which was brought to our table and expertly sliced off the sugarcane skewer for us. Then we got to wrap up the pieces with fresh lettuce and herbs in a rice paper wrapper which softened in the accompanying fish sauce. (No, that is not my man hand up there)

???
This meal took place a little while ago, so I can’t really remember what was inside this rice noodle roll. But im sure it was delicious because I remember really liking it. Served with cold cuts on the side. Looks a bit like what I had at Chatuchak in Bangkok, eh?

dessert
For dessert, we each had a tall, icy glass of che suong sa hot luu, which is coconut milk topped over tapioca pearls, mung beans, water chestnuts, and various types of jelly (herbal jelly, green bean jelly, jelly noodles!). It was so good. I’m glad I made a little extra room for jelly in my belly. hahah.

If you are in Saigon, you should definitely stop by Quan An Ngon, the price is much more expensive than what you get off the street, but the experience and the atmosphere really make it worth it. Enjoy!

$
Quan An Ngon
160 Pasteur, District 1
Saigon, Vietnam
+08 3827 7131

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21
Oct 09

Phat in Saigon: Ben Thanh Market

Saigon is a crazy place. Really crazy. Lots of interesting people just hustling and trying to make a living. The trick is not to let the hustle YOU! Here are some quick tips:

-Don’t pay 50,000 dong for a coconut.
-Don’t get in fake taxis, they will rape you. Look for Vinasun or Vinataxi.

And when you are done getting ripped off for the day, you can suffocate yourself with food at Ben Thanh Market. It’s pretty lively at night, with lots of touristy shopping stalls and restaurants setting up shop on the streets. Look for the ones with the most SMOKE. yep – more smoke = more food grilling up! We were drawn to this one spot that was grilling whole red snapper on the street.


The outdoor kitchen was poppin, a sure sign that good stuff was coming out. This place had tons of seafood and even some frogs strung up. Yeah, cruel. But delicious.

Ben Thanh Snapper
Of course we ordered the main draw – red snapper grilled simply with lots of salt. Served with lime dip (salt & pepper, wedge of lime) on the side. This fish was cooked perfectly, with crispy skin and super tender, juicy flesh. So fresh and perfect!

Ben Thanh Clams
Steamed clams with plenty of fish sauce, green onion, and chopped peanuts. Tasty! The only misstep on the menu is their fresh summer rolls, or goi cuon. Really awful. They just let those suckers sit in the open air so its like gnawing on a piece of plastic by the time its actually served.

2 person FEAST
We had all of the above with an order of seafood fried rice (fuckin fantastic!) and shrimp cooked with tamarind and loads of onion. Sweet & savory, mmm.

All this food, with icy cold Saigon 333 beer – for two of us! We were stuffed to say the least.

Pinoyfoodcritic , 9000 Hours in Saigon & Miss.Adventure in Vietnam also did some writeups on Ben Thanh, ch-ch-ch-check it out!

Peace!

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21
Oct 09

Phat in Vietnam: In Search of Banh Mi

Ok, so obviously by now everyone knows what the hell a banh mi is.

I remember getting $2.25 combo special banh mi from Lam’s Vietnamese on Taraval in SF. (sucks that its closed now). That was good, but I’ve always been on the search for something better.

First there was Banh Mi So on Broome st in NYC. Good, but the bread was a little too dense. But I liked the red pork and the guy behind the counter. I tried a few other places around NYC Chinatown. The Sau Voi (VCD & bra store) was close to my office, Banh Mi So (the jewelry store place) was good, Paris Sandwich was oookay but lacked SOUL… and then i found Ba Xuyen in sunset park. I’m really hesistant to blow up this spot any further, cause seriously, they serve the BOMB banh mi. I only hope the 40min subway ride will keep all you other foodies from crowding it up and buying all the grilled pork sandwiches before i get there!!


Ahh, the perfect sandwich. smear of pate, generous spread of homemade mayo, gratuitous fillings of headcheese, cha lua, godknowswhatelse, all topped off with perfectly pickled daikon & carrot. Finished off with cilantro and stuffed in a crispy and light baguette. Gimme a jackfruit shake and i’m golden!

Anyhoo, you can see how passionate I am about my banh mi. So when we got to Vietnam, I was pretty determined to find some damn good banh mi.


First attempt at banh mi was in Pham Ngu Lao (backpacker’s district) of Saigon. It was quite good, the bread was an appropriate ratio of light crust to bread innards. The fillings were a little meager tho. But of course this is Vietnam and apparently thats they way a banh mi should be. And for 20,000 VND (~$1.12 USD), can’t really complain. It seems the banh mi in Vietnam all come wrapped in recycled paper. Dunno what this paper was about.


Second attempt at banh mi in Pham Ngu Lao. This banh mi lady offered a much better sandwich. The bread was nice and crispy and this banh mi offered the additional green onion and pork floss. Yum!


Paired with a nice ca phe sua (ice coffee with milk), its a perfect lunch.


The best banh mi I had in Vietnam was acquired on a street corner in Nha Trang. And I’m not just saying this because the photography is the best! (thanks adrian) Look for this vendor! This banh mi was way better than the others because of the bread. It was superbly crispy, comprised of almost all crust! So light and the perfect wrapping for tasty banh mi fillings. Didn’t hurt that this banh mi lady had a toaster in her cart. Also, this particular sandwich, wrapped in Microsoft installation instructions, had plenty of pork floss and some kind of ground meat in sauce topping. AMAZING.

So in conclusion, the best banh mi? I feel like its hypocrisy saying this.. but… BA XUYEN! I guess i like my sandwiches big and beefy (err, porky). and brooklyn style.

The Porkchop Express has a fantastic banh mi guide for NYC, go get schooled.