Culinary Adventures in Vietnam

To all Edible Madison readers, hello from Viet Nam!

After a week and a half in northern Viet Nam, my husband Mike and I arrived this morning in the beautiful central Viet Nam town of Hoi An. Situated on a pretty river that leads to the South China Sea, the Old Town of Hoi An is a Unesco World Heritage site of quaint old stone and brick houses, temples and pagodas and, most important, is chocked full of great food.

Know that I am here in Viet Nam to EAT.

We had some pretty good food up north in the capitol of Hanoi from street vendors—hearty pho (pronounced “fuh”) bo soup with rich beef bone stock, rice noodles, sliced aged beef, "half-cooked" beef (pounded thigh meat that has hot broth poured over it until it's pink), and piles of fresh herbs like cilantro, Thai basil and mint. Plus fresh chiles and a citrus that is like a cross between a lime and an orange for adding at the table.

My other favorite was bun cha—grilled pork in a sweet, sticky glaze served in slightly fishy broth with noodles and more of the ubiquitous but lovely basket full of fresh herbs, this time with lemon balm and shiso added to the mix.

A trip to the mountainous and remote northeast part of the country brought us some interesting food and stunning sights of rural rice paddies, vegetable cultivation, terraced tea plantings, corn fields (who knew corn is big in Viet Nam?), sugar cane and more. We hired a guide and driver for a couple of days so that we could get off the tourist trail and better know what we were eating and seeing. Our guide was this totally adorable 24-year-old Vietnamese version of me named Dung (pronounced Zoong). Dung was a self-described "big eat-ter" and talked about food constantly.

The culinary highlights: local corn wine, stir-fried watercress with garlic, homemade tofu fried and then simmered in a fresh tomato sauce, fresh bantam chicken egg omelet with scallions, and rice crepes with huge bananas and local honey.

The worst mountain food (not for the weak-stomached): boiled pig feet, upper pig intestine stir-fried with pig liver and mushrooms (OK, the liver and mushrooms was quite good), and lower pig intestine (super mega yuck). We tried it though, with smiles on our faces!

Now, however, I have arrived in Vietnamese food heaven. Not only is Hoi An gorgeous with its old buildings and narrow streets lit up with thousands of colorful silk Chinese lanterns, but the food is incredibly fresh and beautifully presented, especially in the Old Town.

There's this lady here—Miss Vy—who's my new hero. She started the first brick and mortar restaurant in Hoi An in the 1990s; before that it was a sleepy fishing village with nothing but street food. She's a third generation cook and has since started three other restaurants in Hoi An, plus a cooking school that I get to attend in a couple days. She uses the best quality, fresh, locally-raised and traditional ingredients. We ate at her original restaurant, the Mermaid, tonight. Holy buckets, I'm so happy. I want to eat there every day.

Here was our dinner (the beer was local too!):

(Disclaimer: We weren't able to stuff Jim, Edible Madison's illustrious photographer, in our pack so I apologize for the less-than-ideal photo quality.)

• Banana Flower Salad with Prawns: tender white strips of banana flower and carrots with fresh mint tossed with a divine sauce of sweetened fish sauce, lime and tamarind juice. All this topped with salty peanuts, sesame seeds, and crispy fried shallots served with homemade rice crackers. One of the best things I have ever eaten. Ever.
• Hoi An Pancake: a thin crepe made with rice and mung bean flours and coconut milk stuffed with pork belly, prawns and bean sprouts. Served with a pile of fresh herbs (this time cilantro, lemon basil, and chrysanthemum), butter lettuce, thin slices of green banana and star fruit, fishy peanut sauce, and rice paper to wrap it all up in. Yum yum.
• Bok Choi with Mushrooms (pictured above in header): baby bok choi and black mushrooms in a sweet, garlicky ginger sauce. Beautiful.
• Minced Pork and Grilled Eggplant Claypot (pictured above in header): smoky, melt-in-your-mouth, grilled Asian eggplant slow-cooked with minced pork and lots of scallions in said clay pot. Simple yet super delicious and satisfying.
• Dessert (not pictured): homemade passion fruit sorbet for me, and lemongrass gelato for Mike.

Happy Dani.