Tea with longan and lotus seed

Tea with longan and lotus seed is considered as the Vietnamese quintessence...

With longan and lotus seeds, the Vietnamese can create a kind of special-flavor tea. It is considered the quintessence of the heaven and earth. The tea is aromatically fragrant with an original flavor.

Containing longan fruit pieces and lotus seeds, this kind of tea is fragrant with a full-bodied taste. The original and naturally flavored beverage is rich in glucose, sucrose, proteins, and other minerals. Longan flesh is sweet and contains niacin, which aids metabolism and keeps the skin, nervous, and digestive systems healthy. Lotus seeds can treat nervous depression and sleeplessness.

Longan and lotus tea is a nourishing drink with natural sweetness. When both of the ingredients combined, it is effective in fighting against anemia and fatigue, and boosting energy levels. Or in other words, they are good in building blood and regenerating Qi. It has a pleasant taste and high nutritional value, and is recognized as valuable medicinal herb.

The flavoured tea is tasty and refreshing; and can easily satisfy your thirst as well as refresh your minds. The rich composition of natural nutrient factors entails the tea with healthy characters, which makes you keep up your spirits among the clean, free and happy mood. I

Vegetarian eating in Vietnam – same, same but different!

Vietnam is not only a rather peculiar country of North Asia with extremely friendly and helpful people but its vegetarian regional menu is also worth discussing. The majority of Vietnamese population is meat-eaters, however, there are those who prefer vegetarian cuisine and pay much attention to the issue of their nutrition and health. Many meals are prepared and sold in the streets. Therefore, you will probably need some extra guidance to thoroughly study the Vietnamese vegetarian menu.

Speaking about vegetarian regional menu, it's important to pay attention to the basic features of vegetarianism and peculiarities of the meals the entire vegetarian used to eat. Since, it's a common knowledge that vegetarianism is referred to the practice of not eating meat and its all possible by-products. This means that, vegetarians are the people who exclude from their daily meals beef, poultry and most of dairy products or eggs. However, there are several types of vegetarians and some of them still eat a number of dairy products. The majority of vegetarians also don't eat the products derived from animal carcasses including tallow, lard, rennet, gelatin, cochineal, etc. It's interesting to mention the new tendency present in vegetarianism of not wearing clothes, shoes or accessories made from animals (for example, silk, leather, fur and feather).

 The abundance in fresh vegetables and fruit!

Whereas vegetarian cuisine in the West often means a bland plate of grilled vegetables or strange faux meat products, Vietnamese vegetarian fare sticks to familiar flavors and ingredients. Like it is the case with many other South-Asian countries, the Vietnamese vegetarian menu that features fish and meat as seasonings and condiments is something to talk about. Speaking about the Vietnamese cuisine, it's impossible not to mention about its abundance in fresh vegetables and fruit. However, these vegetables and even various tofu dishes are often made with pork, meat broth or fish. Sometimes, Vietnamese vegetarian regional menu includes all the mentioned three ingredients. Some professionals in sphere of vegetarianism consider Vietnamese menu to be among the most outstanding and significant cuisines on Earth (along with the African-American vegetarian menu). Many tourists who visit Vietnam often state that food and specific regional menu is one of the important reasons to visit the country.

 It's impossible to speak about Vietnam and not to tell you some words about the well-known dishes included in the Vietnamese vegetarian menu. Vietnam cuisine is full of such outstanding delicates as vegetarian version of pho, Vietnamese meat and noodle soup, noodle-rice shacks, vegetable soups, sweet-and-sour cauliflower, stir-fried noodles and vegetables... For those seeking meatless fare for dietary reasons, religious leanings, or just personal preference, there are a handful of well-run and exciting Vietnamese vegetarian restaurants in the city worth getting to know. You would imagine that, in a society where roughly 85% of the people are practicing Buddhists, vegetarian restaurants could be found on every corner. Thus, it won't be an exaggeration to say that Vietnam offers a warm welcome to both vegetarians and non-vegetarians nowadays.

A place to enjoy?

When Dang Hong Diem - a fifty-one-year-old retired electrical engineer- decided to open a vegetarian restaurant, she wanted "to create a relaxed atmosphere without the loud music that so many others have now. I also wanted simple and elegant service." Anyone who has been to Nang Tam, the latest addition to Hanoi's gourmet scene, knows Diem has succeeded. The restaurant shows off a wide range of Vietnamese dishes while answering the demand for vegetarian food in Hanoi. She settled on a vegetarian restaurant because her foreign friends said there was not a good one in Hanoi. As the menu explains, she then named her establishment Nang Tam after the Cinderella-like character in a Vietnamese fairytale who wins her prince with her home cooking.

Diem originally spent months touring the country collecting recipes and ideas. The menu includes the regional specialties she tasted as well as a blend of Vietnamese and Western favorites. There are thirty vegetarian dishes to choose from and daily specials made with pork, fish or chicken for meat-eaters.


A warm corner in Nang Tam restaurant
Carrots, tofu and mushrooms are used to replace the meat in dishes like roast duck and beef salad. For a first course, we recommend the creamy potato soup. Popular main courses include snowballs or tuyet hoa, a deep-fried combination of grated potatoes, chopped mushrooms and croutons. Also popular are the spring rolls, a vegetarian version of the traditional nem. The breaded chicken croquettes or ga tam bot ran are actually cauliflower bouquets dipped in a batter and deep fried. The stuffed cabbages or bap cai nhoi are another favorite. You can finish your meal with a fruit tart and a cup of coffee.

In addition to the food, clients are impressed with the helpful service and hospitable attitude. Classical music and a working fireplace add to the ambiance as ambassadors and students mix with Vietnamese businesspeople. "It's one of those hidden treasures," says American tourist Nancy Howe. "The portions are just right and the prices are reasonable."

Nang Tam is not easy to find, though it is definitely worth the trouble. Just down the street from the Cambodian Embassy, a sidewalk sign advertises Com Cay Nang Tam or Vegetarian Restaurant. Located at 79 Tran Hung Dao, Nang Tam is set off the street behind a yellow French colonial building that is now home to the Financial Times. The restaurant's ten small tables are usually full so reservations are required, especially for dinner.

Even you are not a vegetarian; please do not hesitate to try this kind of food in our country because it will give you the unique taste with the frequent ingredients! That is “same, same but difference!”

Com hen song Huong (Perfume River mussel cooked rice)

“Com hen Song Huong” is a dish served at room temperature, made with mussels and leftover rice. It is a complicated recipe that includes sweet, buttery, salty, sour, bitter and spicy flavors.

Com hen Song Huong (or Com hen in short) is the very simple and low-priced specialty of Hue, the ancient citadel of Vietnam. Accordingly, the way of serving this special kind of food is of great ancience, simplicity and deliciousness.

Com hen has a sweet-smelling flavor of rice, onion, and grease, as well as strange tastes of sweet, buttery, salty, sour, bitter, and peppery-hot. You have to arrive to Hen river-islet in the Perfume River to have the original Com hen. However, you can find out the dish on some streets in Hue City. It requires 15 different raw materials to prepare for the dish, including mussel, fried grease, watery grease, peanuts, white sesames, dry pancake, salted shredded meat, chilly sauce, banana flower, banana trunk, sour carambola, spice vegetables, peppermint, salad, etc.

Com hen is always attractive to many customers since it is tasty and, at the same time, economical to anybody.

What makes this simple kind of food popular is revealed in the great endeavor to adopt and process its main ingredient – mussel. Mussels are sea species, which must be dipped in water for a long while before being processed. Accordingly, people often say that com hen somehow expresses the strenuous work of the maker.

Where to find it? Very easy as it is popular everywhere in Hue and these days, elsewhere in Hue restaurants in Vietnam. More favorably, it is a low-priced specialy, thus you could eat it in luxurious restaurants in Hue or even in vendoring mobile shops on the streets.

“Visiting Hue could not miss Com hen, or else you have not come to Hue ever!” is the most common remark of visitors elsewhere to Hue. So, please come and enjoy it yourself!

Banh Trang Trang Bang - Trang Bang Girdle Cake

Up to 22nd highway from Tay Ninh, 4-km from Saigon, that is Trang Bang town, the country of special food: fresh rice paper in fog and soup cake. You can find both of them anywhere, but nowhere make them better than Trang Bang because it is make from special local rice.    They roasted flour into cake, a little thick. The specialty is that it is roasted at 4-5 hour, then bring to dry under fog until it is soft, they put it in a sealed bag. We can eat anytime without water dripping it is still flanked and soft. Trang Bang people use this cake to eat with shrimp, meat, salad, coriander, gill, blit, and drong. In the Tet holidays, they can use with roasted salty meat, egg and sour mustard. The flavor of the cake with shrimp, meat, sauce, herb, chili, condiment make you never forget.   Flour for soup cake of Trang Bang is made of rice flour, not other flour. The fiber's size is larger than noodles. We can cook with pork, alery and carrot. In the bowl, we put in some meat, garlic, shallot, condiment and fish sauce. It is very cool to eat and drink this soup, and also flavor. Over hundred years, this dish is in Trang Bang and famous so far.

Loc Du village and its cooks, who make the best cakes, were featured on National Geographic and American public broadcaster PBS last year.

Nguyen Thi Dut, who has been making banh trang phoi suong ‒ which, despite its name, is a kind of rice paper ‒ for 30 years, says: “It takes time and careful effort to make this special cake. The process includes several steps of steeping and grinding rice, adding salt to the powder and coating before finally drying the cakes under the sun and leaving them in the dew to soften.”

Banh trang Trang Bang is made from high-quality white rice, and is thicker than any other rice paper made around the country.

Despite being very dry, it is soft enough to be rolled with shrimp, meat, salad, coriander, herbs, chili and dill.

The flavor of the rice paper, together with the stuffing inside, makes for a delicious treat.

It is usually dipped in fish or soy sauce.

Though famous internationally, the art of making banh trang phoi suong might well be dying out since a family earns very little by making it despite the hard work involved.

To make 1,000 cakes, a 10-member family has to work from dawn to late into the night but still earns just VND300,000.

Phan Van Tro, a village official, says: “Most of the families that have made the cakes for the last 30-50 years are living in old, ramshackled houses. None of them has become rich.”

“We feel sad to see the young generation take up other jobs since they realize it has just cultural value and cannot support them,” he says.

But Trang Bang still has over 360 families making banh trang phoi suong.

Crab Spring Rolls (Nem cua bể)

If you fall in love with “nem rán” (Vietnamese spring rolls), nem cua bể, is bound not to let you down for the first try. Known as a specialty of Hai Phong, a beautiful coastal province, nem cua be seems not only to satisfy your taste but also bring you a little sunshine, a little sea breeze and even a little hardship of coastal locals. With the same cooking method as “nem ran”, nem cua be, however, distinguishes itself by its materials.

The main ingredients include ground crab meat, ground crab tile, lean pork, egg white, kohlrabi, carrot, ear mushrooms, bean sprout, rice paper and vermicelli. First, mix most ingredients together, apart from crab meat and egg white; add pepper, fish sauce, and then combine all things to make a sticky paste for stuffing. While other Vietnamese rolls are of tube shape, nem cua be is wrapped into square shape; thus, the wrapping process entitles special rice paper, leathery and soft plus a lot of culinary skills. Additionally, a little beer sprayed on rice papers is a secret for soft wrappers. Next, drop spring rolls into boiled oil, and wait until they turns golden brown and particularly appetizing.

This dish is served with rice vermicelli, lettuce, chopped cucumber, and a sour spicy sweet sauce. Minced carrot and kohlrabi tenderized by salty water, soaked into vinegar, also are eaten with nem cua be. Crab meat flavor is so special, sweet, fragrant but not too greasy. Savoring the dish gradually, you are certain to feel that the name nem cua bể is step by step embedded in your mind, gastronomists.

“Bun goi da” in Soc Trang

“Bun goi da” is a special noodle soup which is one of the most appreciated by visitors to Soc Trang Province.

The strange dish is originated in My Xuyen Town, Soc Trang Province. Leaving the city of Soc Trang some 5 km to My Xuyen Town, you can see a board "bun goi da" suspended before the small stall. While waiting for the dilicious dish moved out, you can view the cool green trees, smelling the fragrance of delicious dishes.

The best “bun goi da” is served at a small and shady stall in a quiet street at old Bai Xau, a site which used to be buoyant port serving the 6 Southern provinces. The shop-owner Trinh Thi Nu, is a retired school teacher in Can Tho City. She takes a very good care to ensure the best quality of the dish which requires a number of ingredients including rice noodles, pork, prawns, soybean paste, sliced red chilli and some herbs. Having put these things into a decoratively presented bowl, a flavoured hot broth, the most important thing to decide the taste of the dish, is added to the mixture.

“Bun goi da” is even more appealing with some fresh vegetables. It has been one of the favourite dishes for both locals and visitors in Soc Trang Province. Each bowl is a mere 12,000 to 15,000 VND. For many years, “bun goi da” have made the journey to Ninh Kieu District, Can Tho City, help to improve people’s living standard. Moreover, “bun goi da” is also served in Hoang Cung Restaurant of Saigon - Can Tho Hotel. Although the price is 20,000 to 25,000 VND for a bowl of “bun goi da”, the luxurious seat will help you delight in watching the street and the bowl of “bun goi da” is much more delicious.

Not only the favourite for many visitors, “bun goi da” is one of traditional dishes in Soc Trang Province. Once enjoying and you can feel the typical fragrance of the dish.

Snake wine in Vietnam

What is it? Bottles of "medicinal" rice wine with dead cobras preserved inside. You got a problem with that? Sometimes you'll see a pickled gecko or sea horse instead of the standard coiled reptile. One container I found was packed with bees.

Where can you buy it, and how much? Available nearly everywhere in Vietnam, snake wine is often made by villagers filling up leftover brandy or Perrier bottles. The jug I bought at the Hanoi airport contained three lizards and cost 335,000 dong, or almost $21. (Okay, I admit, this tempting item cost slightly more than my souvenir price ceiling. But I couldn't resist.)

Why would you want it? Scary for drinking, great for display. The snakes are preserved in action poses; the wine is as pink as a nice rosé. "That," someone told me, "is because of all the blood in there."

Reminds you of Vietnam because: In a country known for old-world superstitions, this is the perfect elixir. "Makes man strong!" said my guide, Tuan, when I asked why you would drink this. But when I downed a glass, there was no Viagra effect. I felt sleepy, not strong. The taste was mysteriously bland, like licking envelope flaps or stamps.

Downside: Might leak in your suitcase. Also, the bottle I bought listed "ethanol" as its main ingredient

Banh Phu The- Vietnamese Conjugal Cakes

Stories that when King Ly Anh Tong went to war, the wife of the husband's love him to the kitchen manually making cakes for her husband. King find delicious food, to think of a couple named cake is Phu The cake(husband and wife cake).

Phu The cake pack in the phrynium, not garish colors, restrained in style but take off cake bringing white porcelain disk that will enjoy to make astonished. The black sesame as a suspension of the gold shell cakes throughout, the delicious cake circle, square shape with coconut leaves as the square of the circle of Yin and Yang philosophy

This is reflected in the form of bread made of the box is based in two parts: in the box, also called sound box - small, low case and the cake outside the box, also called positive list, larger a little box up on the sound, making the cover. In addition, positive-negative philosophy also shows quite clearly how the cake.

To create a Phu The cake, people settle thin powder on campus, located on the top, emtank remaining flour onto the show as cherish, protection as conjugal affection. Not the case, Phu The cake also include it in the philosophy the team recreate a fine last year's color wheel: white powder by filtration and coconut rice, yellow of gardenia use for skin cake and green bean fine grinding of kernel cake, black of seseam, green leaves and red of bamboo string .

It is the harmony between people with land, with heaven, the harmony between the people, between the husband and wife.

The meaning of harmony Yin and Yang with delicious taste sweeter make that cake mate also requires many wonder. Flour used as a cake is made from sticky rice milling, and then get to the filter, the pressure to drain and then dried. When processing, it is not using water mixed with food color water that use water of gardenia dedicated knead flour to keep bread with gold colors throughout nature.

The processing kernel of cake take care. We use green beans ripe steam it, then add white sugar, coconut rice, lotus seeds and the five tastes . To add to the delicious cake, the processing of any hillock green papaya, soaked alum and minced with flour and bread to more brittle for cake.

When you should enjoy the Phu The cake, addition of sticky plastic, brittle of papaya, the rich green beans also have more fat in the coconut rice, the fragrant lotus seeds , and the sweetness of sand white sugar... all right together create a very own taste of Phu The cake, has once tasted will not forget, feedback will remember, remember forever, such as emotional mate sustainable sweeter.

Today, many pre- wedding and wedding cake still choose Phu The cake as offering the meaning of Yin and Yang of it. Instead of coconut leaves used as a cake box as before, it is replaced by the glazed paper, forced by color ribbon.

Fresh air between pleased joyful wedding day, sweeter flavors, delicious cake and the meaning of "square circle" heaven and earth as harmony, one hundred year durable forever that gifts are meaningful that Phu The cake gives bride and bridegroom in the most important of life's

Vietnamese tea

...is what you often here when walking along Hanoi streets, near a lamp post, under the shade of a tree, or next to a door where there is a low table with glass pots containing different kinds of candies, roasted ground nuts, and sugar coated cakes. This is a complete description of a make-shift tea shop, which is a very popular part of Vietnamese street life.

The owner skillfully lifts the cap of the tea cozy, takes out the tea pot, and then pours the hot tea into a small cup. The owner then hands the cup of steaming tea to the customer. Unlike northerners, who prefer hot steamy tea, people in the south would like to add ice cubes to their tea cups/glasses due to weather difference.

Tea drinking - an indispensable habit.

Vietnamese people have a nice habit of drinking tea. They drink it everywhere and at any time: at home, at workplaces, even in tea shops on their way to work, or at formal meetings, weddings or funerals. They also place it on altars as an offering to their ancestors on worshipping occasions. Whenever the locals feel thirsty, they are likely to look for this drink, in both summer and winter. A cup of iced tea in a hot day in summer not only refreshes your mind but also detoxicate your body. On the contrary, in winter, a sip of hot tea makes you feel warm inside and better able to cope with the outside cold temperatures.
Yet, tea drinking is not a recent trend in Viet Nam but attached to an ancient history as follows;

Tea drinking - from history to daily life...

Viet Nam is one of the largest and oldest tea-producing countries in the world. The Vietnamese have been growing tea for over 2,000 years. As early as in the 11th century, tea was used as a symbol to convey the essence of Buddhism. During the period of the Tran Dynasty from the 13th to early 15th century, tea assumed a philosophical value for the Vietnamese. In the 15th century, the Vietnamese polymath Nguyen Trai (1380-1442) lived as a hermit, renouncing the outside world for a life of "tea, poetry and the moon".
While tea has a special philosophical value for scholars and a long tradition in Vietnamese history, it has its own place today in the life of ordinary people living both in the cities and in the countryside. In the past, peasants could not afford expensive tea, so they grew tea on their own. Nowadays, tea is used to bind people together, for example, the peasant often invites his neighbor around for a chat over a cup of tea. They drink tea initially to thank the host for his hospitality, then throughout several tea sips, they open  heart more, to share their feelings, to speak about the family, the company and finally to feel the nature savor of the cup of tea.

Besides a normal thirst-quenching beverage, tea is also considered a delicate and meaningful one. In the past, it used to be the leverage for poets’ inspiration. Up to now, the habit of leisure tea-drinking has helped refresh and polish the drinkers’ minds. Moreover, a person's character can be assessed by his or her tea drinking ways. Vietnamese people consider those who drink concentrated tea to be finely-mannered; and those who can pour tea into bowls arranged in a circle using a coconut scoop without spilling a drop will certainly enjoy the admiration of their tea-drinking peers.

Kinds of tea

Viet Nam has grown many and various types of tea such as che Tuyet, che Moc cau, che man, che chi … Each one is combined with a particular kind of flower: che man with chrysanthemum; che bup with hoa soi flowers; high quality che man and che bup with lotus, narcissus or jasmine. Some connoisseurs go so far as to row out to the middle of a pond to place small amounts of tea inside lotus buds in order to perfume it. An example is cum tea, grown by the Tay ethnic minority. Cum tea plants are allowed to grow until the buds are mature, then they are picked, and roasted in a pan until they are dry and the buds begin to curl up. The tea is then wrapped up in palm leaves to keep it fragrant.

The Vietnamese like to mix tea with flowers to make it more aromatic. Tea with lotus is very precious for Vietnamese people. This kind of tea was formerly reserved to the Kings. According to the predecessors, when the lotus blossoms in the afternoon, they put a sachet of tea in the pistil and then, they tighten it with the sheets of lotus. In the next morning, they take dew remained on the sheets and in mixture with the sachet of tea in the pistil. After having poured into the cup, the soft and fresh odor of lotus dominates the whole room.
The tea culture has sticked to the life and the heart of Vietnamese people for generations. And when they drink tea at a small mouthful, the tea savor makes them more off-hand and closer to one another. This has formed the culture of the vicinity and the affection between neighbors.

Sugar-cane juice - Great for summer

Sugar-cane juice  is a type of drink commonly found in Vietnam as a refreshing drink during the hot Vietnamese climate.

In the hot weather like Vietnam, people know sugar-cane juice as a natural beverage that is delicious and cheap. Therefore, sugar-cane juice is so popular in Vietnam and is available at most small street stalls, often sold alongside other popular beverages. The juice is served from distinctive metal carts with a crank-powered sugar cane stalk crushers that release the juice.

There used to be a vendor that would make freshly squeezed sugar-cane juice. Previously, sugar-cane juice was sold in small plastic bags filled with ice and tied at the open end with an elastic band around a straw. Buyers could then suck the drink out through the straw. There has been movement to selling sugar cane-juice in white foam cups and it’s got a slight lime taste to it as commonly seen in Vietnam today.

Moreover, at the present, there is a system of 20 high quality sugar-cane juice stores named Fruit Shake has  been occurred in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. After March 2007, There appears a lot of super-clear sugar-cane juice stores  with price from 7000VND-8000VND (less 0.5 USD). Sugar-cane juice in Fruit Shake with many flavors becomes a high-class beverage in Vietnam.

Now, you can feel free to enjoy a glass of sugar-cane juice (considered the second best drink in the world after the orange juice) and you do not have to worry whether it meet the standard of food safety or not.

Cheapest bia in the World - Bia hoi Vietnam

 Vietnam probably wouldn’t come near the top of your list when thinking of great beer cultures, but this country actually has some of the cheapest beer in the world. No, you can’t get a local hop-heavy microbrew or an ink-black stout, but if you care more about what kind of quantity your travel dollar will get you, it’s hard to go wrong here. Plop yourself down at a bia hoi (fresh beer) stand and you’ll be ordering by the pitcher for next to nothing.

I was reminded of how much I loved this practice when I saw this Wall Street Journal article last week about how the local beer brewers were still doing better business than the foreign brands by beating the giants at the keg beer game. Consumption at these draft beer outlets—usually outdoor cafes that may be just folding chairs and tables on a sidewalk—makes up 30% of the local beer market.

That article linked above left out one key data point though: the price. A big mug will cost you about 20-25 cents U.S. and a 2-liter pitcher will often be a dollar or less. Sometimes far less. A few pitchers and some tasty street food will set you up right for the night.

You often have to start early though. When the kegs run out, as they often do just as night is falling, it’s time to close up shop. Then you’ll have to up the ante and buy bottled beer somewhere else. That’s cheap too, but you might have to pay a dollar or more for a big bottle in a bar instead of a dollar for a pitcher.

Hanoi is known as the home of bia hoi, but you can get it almost anywhere in the country if you keep your eyes peeled. I’ve personally downed pitchers in Nha Trang and Saigon as well. Cheers!

Cao Lau & Crispy Pancakes in Central Vietnam

I wound up in the central Vietnamese town of Hoi An last week. The town is a major draw on the heavily pounded, unimaginative tourist trail along the length of Vietnam's coast. For such a popular tourist hang, it's surprising to find a town bereft of gourmet grub. There are virtually no quality restaurants in town. Everybody serves the same tired menu and caters to the lowest, cheapest tourists that come to Vietnam. Like the shoddy, tenth rate tailoring the town has become infamous for, the food here is decidedly lacklustre.

There are two exceptions. The first is the dish above - Cao Lau. It's the best of the three local specialities that plague every restaurant billboard in town. The others being White Rose and Won Ton dumplings. This rendition of Cao Lau is from Fukien at 28 Tran Phu Street. It costs 6,000VD. It's a noodle, herb, beansprout and pork sliver dish. Hoi Anans (is there such a word?) will tell you the dish cannot be replicated outside of town because the water used in the dish must be drawn from a well in the nearby Ba Le well which is down an alley opposite 35 Phan Chau Trinh Street. The pork is fried in a marinade and then roasted for 1 hour. Chuck in some fish sauce, soy sauce, garlic, sugar, salt & pepper, thin crispy croutons add the noodles and herbs and you're done. Mix it up and dig in. It's simple, spice tinged and yummtastic.

Each chef adds his or her own amounts of each ingredient - that's the only discernible difference from one restaurant to another. Someone somewhere in this town with a bit of brains could easily make a bundle by opening up a high end, classy restaurant serving quality food, but it hasn't happened yet. My feeling is the restauranteurs here have gotten lazy. New blood and new ideas are what is needed.

The second food highlight (no photos for this joint, so just trust me) is Kimijan cafe at 30 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street run by Ms. Kim Lien, a French Viet Kieu who is one of the few folk in town who seems to know her grub. Very, very few people nip in here. I think it's the mosquito netting on the windows that puts people off as it doesn't allow them a look inside. But, it's definitely the best cafe/restaurant in town. Not on the menu, but she'll serve it if you ask, is an excellent Banh xeo. This version of the southern crispy pancake standard comes with a hefty herb side plate in which you will find six different leaves including a watercress type chap called cai con. It is found nowhere else in Vietnam. She also serves some stomach teasing French desserts. The Tarte tatin & Tart au citron meringue were both effortlessly eatable and had pieman loosening his belt buckle in appreciation. I didn't sample the three different scrummy crepes on offer, but I hear from reliable stomachs they are also quite exquisite.

Source : http://www.noodlepie.com

Hue beef noodle – the typical culinary art of Hue!

In Hue city, the former citadel of Vietnam, it doesn't take you a lot of money to dine like a King!

Hue beef noodle takes its origin from the Royal Hue City of Central Vietnam. The broth is from cooking beef bones for a long period of time as well as a variety of different spices including lemongrass.

How does it taste? Well, having a bowl of Hue beef noodle, you will easily recognize that it is completely different from Pho since the former’s beef broth is much more spicy.

How to make it? Learning how to make a clear broth from bone and meat is quite a difficult task. After being selected from the market, the fresh beef will be shredded, boiled and taken out of the water to obtain a delicious clear broth. A typical version of Hue beef noodle must include pork, roast beef, pig’s blood, Vietnamese salami, Hue’s style salami, shrimp sauce and chopped lettuce.

The interesting thing is that, the amount of salt put in the beef noodle recipe varies between seasons. For example, during summer, Hue beef noodle soup is served with soy bean, mint and different kinds of lettuce while in the winter, the recipe is saltier added with lemongrass and fish.

The best Hue beef noodle comes from the street vendors who work from dawn to early morning. In Hue, when night lights are on, you can enjoy a good bowl of this noodle soup at restaurants in front of No. 84 Mai Thuc Loan Street. This hot dish represents just a few of the treasures of Hue's traditional cuisine. Clam-rice and the flour pies like beo (streamed flour cupcakes), nam (wrapped shrimp pies) and loc (tapioca and shrimp pies), for examples, are part of the ancient capital's culinary heritage.

Where to have Hue’s beef noodle in Ha Noi?

You are in Hanoi, and wondering if such a Hue’s specialty appears in Hanoi or not. Don’t worry, Hue beef noodle come up quite often in many streets of Hanoi from morning till night. It’s better to ask your hotel to recommend a place nearby or you can refer to the following reliable addresses:

• No. 4 Ly Thuong Kiet Street, Hanoi

• No.467 Đoi Can Street, Hanoi

• No.7 Thai Phien Street, Hanoi

• No.22 Phan Boi Chau Street, Hanoi

• No.175 Lang Ha Street, Hanoi

• No.G23 Huynh Thuc Khang Street, Hanoi

“Banh khuc”, so delicious!

Banh khuc is a traditional cake of Vietnam and so delicious!

The cake is a rice ball made of glutinous rice mixed with cudweed (khuc)-most important ingredient and filled with green bean paste, pork, and spices.
Cudweed grows during lunar January and February, when the drizzling rain lasts all day, and it can be found along the edges of rice fields. There are two kinds: “nep” and “te”. The latter is more flexible and fragrant and is preferred for making the cake.
First, the cudweed is washed, ground and then mixed with husked glutinous rice. Green beans, that are flayed and turned into paste after being cooked, are then added to the mixture. Finally, the cakes are sprinkled with grains of glutinous steamed rice.
As time goes by it is increasingly difficult to find cudweed as fields are eaten up by development. For now, you still can find “banh khuc” in Hanoi. However, some bakers may not be using cudweed and may substitute it with cabbage or water morning glory.
Wishing to have the chance to satisfy your hunger for “banh khuc”, you can visit cake stall at 69 Nguyen Cong Tru Street, that has been churning out “banh khuc” for years. Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan, the seller, has to hire locals in rural areas in Hanoi or in neighbouring provinces to seek out the elusive cudweed. In winter, it grows in abundance so enough has to be collected to last the summer. The surplus will be dried and stored.
If you are in the old quarter of Hanoi, you might hear someone cry “Ai banh khuc nong day?” (who wants hot “banh khuc”?). You can stop them and ask if the “banh khuc” is from Ngoai Hoang village in Ha Noi, a place that is famous for having the most delicious and tasty “banh khuc”. Then, you can buy one for tasting. The cake should be served hot and dipped into a mixture of roasted and crushed sesame seeds and salt...

“Banh gio” – Pyramidal rice dumpling

Not everyone can eat "banh gio". Yet, it is very easy to get addicted to it. That is true!

This simple dish sold in country markets has become a favorite breakfast of many Hanoians. People can find this dish in small stands o¬n any street in Hanoi. The stands are always crowed with diners. Hanoians can enjoy this dish at any time, at breakfast, lunch or post-lunch.
Although pyramidal rice dumpling is simple, it is very good and healthy, especially its appealing fragrance. This white and smooth dumpling is wrapped in green banana leaf, which is regarded as the quintessence of heaven and earth.
The pyramidal rice dumpling is made from a few ingredients including plain rice flour, minced lean meat, cat’s ear, onion and mushroom. The process of stirring and kneading flour is the most important, which decides the deliciousness of the dumpling. Processing the dumpling flour is a secret handed from generation to generation. Some famous makers of pyramidal rice dumpling said that they bought flour in Ha Dong District but still kept secret what kind of flour was. Therefore, it is not easy to make delicious rice dumplings.
After soaking in water, flour is dried, which is similar to the kind of “banh te” (rice cake). This flour is continously dissolved in water when being cooked. After 45 minutes, the flour turns pure white and viscid, which means it is well-cooked. Then the flour is placed o¬n phrynium leaf and wrapped with meat. These rice dumplings are then put into the boiling water for 20 minutes. After that, pyramidal rice dumplings are picked up. People can feel the fragrance of the filling, rice flour and the special smell of phrynium or banana leaf. It is so great to serve this dish with sour vegetable pickles, which makes good taste; therefore, some people can eat two or three dumplings at a time.
Sitting in crowded stands, feeling hungry and enjoying this dish, you will find it a pleasure in life...

Banh cuon (rolled rice pancake)

Among Vietnam’s delicate specialties, "bánh cuốn” ranks top thanks to its softness, sweet fragance of cinnamon, dried onion and strong taste of minced meat and sources!
Among other members of the extended noodle family, bánh cuốn almost ranks first. It is a paper-thin steamed rice flour pancake, much like delicate sheets of fresh rice noodles. The pancakes are plucked off of the linen steamer base, and immediately rolled with minced pork and mushrooms, then piled on a plate, sprinkled with deep fried shallots, snipped with scissors into bite sized sections, and topped with fresh herbs such as cilantro or Vietnamese basil. A plate of bánh cuốn is a light dish traditionally eaten as breakfast in Hanoi but now can also be found as a late night snack.
To eat, dip a section of rolled noodle goodness into the accompanying warm fish sauce broth, brightened with a squeeze of fresh lime. You can also pick the leaves off the herbs and add them to the dipping sauce, grabbing a leaf or two as you dip, or you can follow each bite with a chaser of herbs. Bánh cuốn are often eaten with different sides of pork sausages, including sheets of an orange hued, roasted cinnamon sausage called chả quế.
Where to find it?
A short walk north of Hàng Da Market and Hàng Điếu street will bring you to Bánh Cuốn Thanh Vân, just look for the bánh cuốn station—two large covered steaming pots—out front along the sidewalk. Just take a look! The practiced hands keep the bánh cuốn rolling out with experiences, alternating seamlessly between spreading the thin batter on the linen base of one steamer, then at right time, turning to the other to peel the delicately steamed pancake off the linen base with a bamboo stick. By the time the batter is spread on its newly emptied linen base, the pancake in the first steamer is ready and waiting. With only 6 tables nestled inside the small open storefront, the pace never slows. Serving 7AM-1PM and 5PM-11PM.
Coordinators:
No. 14 Hàng Gà street, between Hàng Mã and Hàng Vải (the Hàng Vải corner is lined with bamboo ladders and poles). It is located on the west side of the street, not far from where the street name changes from Hàng Cót to Hàng Gà.
The restaurant Quán Ăn Ngon, No.18 Phan Bội Châu Street, also does a very respectable version of bánh cuốn.

"Banh Chung" - the soul of Vietnamese New Year

"Banh Chung" (Chung cake) is a traditional and irreplaceable cake of Vietnamese people in the Tet Holidays and King Hung’s anniversary (10th March Lunar). For the Vietnamese, making "Banh Chung" is the ideal way to express gratitude to their ancestors and homeland.

Banh Chung
The legend of " Banh Chung"
Chung cake was invented by the 18th Prince of Hung Emperor in the contest of looking for new Emperor. According to the legend, 3,000-4,000 years ago, Prince Lang Lieu, made round and square cakes, the round Day cake symbolizing the sky and the square Chung cake symbolizing the Earth (under the ancient Vietnamese perception), to be offered on the occasion of Spring.
In the ancient conception, the Earth is square, hence Chung cake's shape is square, too, to reflect the Earth shape. Since the cakes he offered were of special meaning and delicious taste, Lang Lieu was selected to be the next Emperor. Since then, in honor of this 18th Prince, Vietnamese people always make and have Chung cake in the Lunar New Year. Up to now, Chung cake has become the most famous and irreplaceable traditional Vietnamese food in Tet Holiday. This legend aims to remind the next generations of the ancient tradition as well as the primary of Chung cake. Besides, it emphasizes the important role of rice and nature in water rice culture.
How to make a "Banh Chung"?
In contrast to the fast food in modern life, the process of making Chung cake is time-consuming and requires the contribution of several people. Main ingredients are glutinous rice, pork meat, and green beans wrapped in a square of bamboo leaves that will give the rice a green color after boiling. The
sticky rice must be very good and was soaked in water in the previous day. Rice cake is wrapped in square shape, and the wrapping power must be neither tight nor loose. Then the cake will be boiled in about 12 hours by wood. The Green Chung cake has nutrition with an original tasty flavor and may be kept for a long time. Eating Chung cake with vegetable pickles will bring you unforgettable taste!
In the traditional conception of Vietnamese people, the process of making Chung cake is the opportunity for family to come together. Sitting around the warm fire, all members in the family tell one another the past stories and are ready for a New Year with wishes of best things. Nowadays, in some big cities, the business lifestyle of modern society prevent people from preparing the cake, however, the habit of worship ancestors with Chung cake never changes. It is the evidence of the Vietnamese loyalty and deep gratitude to ancestors.

Stuffed Cabbage Soup Recipe (Canh Bap Cuon)

 

Stuffed Cabbage Soup Recipe - "Canh bắp cải cuốn", which literally translates to stuffed cabbage wrap soup is my way of using the leftover potsticker filling I recently made. I stuffed the leftover mixture into whole cabbage leaves that were previously softened by par-boiling. I served them phở-style, meaning that I brought them to the table in bowls and then covered them with celery and carrot broth just before everyone dug in.

Creating little cabbage “gifts” is a great way to vary the vegetarian meals we've been having this week for Tết (Vietnamese Lunar New Year, on February 3rd). I tied the cabbage with green onions strings. The entire thing is edible and looks very playful.