Hai Lua @ Ho Chi Minh City
Posted: June 10, 2011 Filed under: Food, Ho Chi Minh, Travel, Vietnam | Tags: Ben Thanh, Food, Hai Lua, Ho Chi Minh, Ho Chi Minh, Night Market, Travel, Vietnam Leave a commentUnited Nations of Dining – this is how I would like to describe Hai Lua – a make-shift stall outside Ben Thanh Market ( opposite Pho 24).
When Ben Thanh Market closes at 6.30 pm, the outdoor night market opens. The structures are built from scratch daily from 6 pm onwards and within a jiffy, the make-shift stall, complete with ‘fiery’ kitchen and proper table settings are ready. Even the waiter and waitresses are in uniforms!
Why United Nations of Dining ? Because there are so many nationalities congregated at Hai Lua, enjoying roadsides’ finest!
The first day I was there, I was sandwiched between a group of Japanese tourists and a family of 4 from either Hong Kong or Singapore. The second day, I sat next to a French guy with an English speaking Vietnamese wife.
This is one section of the dining area. There is another dining section segregated by the kitchen and BBQ pit.
The temporary kitchen. Very impressive.
The BBQ pit. The other side of the dining section.
Tables are combined and diners have to share the tables.
We ordered Vietnamese roasted pork. Not much different from our version.
Garlic mussels. Very liberal use of garlic ( I love) and very fresh and juicy and huge ass mussels. Very delicious.
Can you make out what this is? It is a frog / toad! I think it was skinless grilled 5-taste frog. You have the option of having it skinless or with skin. The waiter recommended skinless as he claimed that it is tastier. No idea if his claim is true. In any case, I don’t dare to try the skin. Although the outer layer looked charred, the flesh is actually quite juicy and fresh. Must try.
Garlic clams. As usual, very generous use of garlic and fresh clams too. Very huge ass clams.
Seafood fried rice. Very eggydelicious!
Chinese style fry kangkung with garlic. The taste is just nice.
This is freaking nice. Sorta like salad / appertizer. With rice vermicelli underneath,there were grounded peanuts ( I like), veges and bits and pieces of pork. Like pork salad. Very springy vermicelli.
Very springy rice vermicelli.
Tamarind crabs. The taste of the tamarind gravy is overwhelmingly good. Fresh crabs.
Fried calamari. A bit disappointed with it.
And of course, if you are at Hai Lua, you definitely need to order its signature steamed prawn in coconut. The prawns come together with the coconut together with dry ice.
It will then be lighted up!
And it goes up in flames!
After a short while, the waitress will help to peel of the shells!
And the shelled prawns are soaked in coconut water, ready for consumption! The taste is really a bit bland but I think the ‘fiery’ experience kinda make up for it.
Hai Lua is definitely a place to go to if you are in Ho Chi Minh City. The price is very reasonable. We had the above ( together with fruit juices and beers) for slightly less than RM200! And of course, the service is exemplary too.
Address : Outside Ben Thanh Market, facing Pho 24 ( there is a row of make shift stall but you would not miss Hai Lua because the crowd is significantly bigger at Hai Lua)
Bun Cha @ Hang Manh Street (Old Quarter)
Posted: May 19, 2011 Filed under: Food, Hanoi, Travel | Tags: Food, Hanoi, Travel, Vietnam 1 CommentOne thing that make me miss Hanoi very much is its Bun Cha – combination of vermicelli noodle ( bun in Vietnamese), bbq minced pork patties ( together with some pork belly sliced into bacon-cut like) in fish sauce with herbs.Commonly found in the northern part of Vietnam ( instead of the southern part e.g. Ho Chi Minh City). Bun Cha is normally taken during lunch.
I was at Hanoi for a short getaway recently and since I was travelling with a friend who is familiar with Hanoi, I left all the planning to him. He brought me this shop located amidst the puzzling Old Quarter for a supposedly late breakfast. We were there early ( approximately 9.30 am) and we were whisked away by one of the (fierce) servers who insisted that the restaurant only opens at 10 am.
We wandered around looking for late breakfast and we settled for a bowl of piping hot pho. After the breakfast, we loitered around Old Quarter, took pictures at Hoan Kiem Lake. At this point of time – I still had no idea what bun cha is and did not realize that I would be missing something so great if I did not pay this restaurant a visit! Luckily, he insisted that I should try out bun cha or else, I would be missing one of the best food in Vietnam…
We reached there slightly past 1 pm and the ground floor, comprising a kitchen that occupies half of the narrow shop and a few long tables. It was full and we climbed the narrow staircase to the 1st floor. The first floor is just as small. There were like 4 tables ( maybe) and we were lucky that there was an empty table. We squeezed in and before we know it, the servers came with 2 bowls of grilled pork patties dipped in rice wine and fish sauce. We stared at the elaborate spread before our eyes – 2 bowls of grilled pork patties, cold clumpy messy of rice vermicelli, herbs and greens, bowls of thinly sliced cucumbers, mangos and papayas soaked in liquid, coarsely chopped chilli and garlic and a bowl of spring rolls. I looked at him hoping for some hints on how to consume these……
You are supposed to pile the ingredients – a bit of the rice vermicelli, some fish sauce,a spring roll, some sliced papaya / mango / cucumber, chilli, pork meat patties and finally some green herbs as topping.
Isn’t this tempting? I am already drooling by just merely looking at this picture!
Instead of piling the ingredients in separate bowl, I dipped the rice vermicelli in the pork patties’ bowl. This bowl is heavenly. It was food orgasmic!
The kitchen that occupies half of the ground floor.
The bun cha shop that you MUST go to while you are in Hanoi.
Address :
Hang Manh, Old Quarter
Hanoi
That Pink Luggage 