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