Food Travelogue - Vietnam

Hello Fellow Nom Seekers!

I recently came back from a fantastic getaway in Vietnam.  After watching episodes upon episodes of the eating adventures of Luke Nguyen and Anthony Bourdain, I was compelled to go.  My tours and accommodations were all through Flight Centre and I must say the tours far exceeded my expectations.

I'll keep this post pictorial-dense and rambling-lite.  Here are a few food related pics.




My all-time favourite meal and outing in Vietnam.  This was taken on a boat in the majestic Ha Long Bay.  The crew cooked our seafood banquet.  We had fried stuffed crabs, prawns with salt pepper lime dipping sauce, steamed fish, fried calamari...I was happily stuffing my piehole.  The spectacular limestone views were jaw dropping - I didn't know what to focus on - the great food in front of me or the view outside the window.  It was one of those days where I felt incredibly blessed and fortunate to be enjoying this.

One of the tours involved a cruise down the Mekong River.  We were privy to a cooking demonstration whilst on the boat and we all got to participate by rolling a few spring rolls which we had for lunch.  The monsoon was in full swing and was whipping the side of the boat, the spring rolls were frying with delicious aromas wafting...it was a surreal moment.

Whilst in Ho Chi Minh City, we stayed at Sofitel Saigon Plaza. Everytime I passed this meringue display in the hotel bar cum tea room, I wanted to pick one off.  Tempted but I restrained myself.  

 

Saw this on walkies in Ho Chi Minh City, district 1.  Perhaps it's someone's dinner?  Or would they be for fighting?  The leash sort of implies it's a pet of sorts.

Hmm...bags of MSG...Could this be part of the reason why everything tasted so delicious?!  I'm not going to overthink this.

The famous "Lunch Lady" as featured in Anthony Bourdain's No Reservation.  She even has her own Google+ profile now.  

Pho from a the McDonald's equivalent of a pho chain.  Nope, the fastfood chain pho is definitely not the same as the real deal.  

One of my fav restaurants in Hanoi, Quan An Ngon.  Eating my fav Vietnamese dish - Banh Xeo which is a thin crepe with prawns and pork.  You eat this wrapped up in rice paper and Vietnamese herbs.  So fun to get the ole hands in there.  Could eat this every day.  And I did just that.

Vietnam is the type of place where you can easily get addicted to visiting.  I hope to visit Sapa next time and I would also love to wind down in one of the beautiful resorts in central Vietnam.

Until next time...