There are these handy tools here in Vietnam for crushing ice. You hold a huge chunk of ice in your hand (like a 1990ès cellphone size) and then whack it with a flat-bottomed mallet. The ice shatters. Voila, Vietnamese shaved ice. That’s what I’ve been doing with the ice I make, too. I buy tropical fruit—bright yellow and sweet jackfruit, mangoes, oranges, papaya, pomelo, watermelon, baby honeydew, canary melon, a lucuma-like fruit I don’t know the name of, star apple (amazing), and sapodilla and eat it with whacked ice. No added sugar, syrups, or a blender. For breakfast I do take out the blender, but I’m telling you, this ice breaker is great.
I leave for Montreal in 2 hours. I’ll get back in about a day, which is really a little less with the time change. I’m looking forward to gluten-free meals on Air Japan, even if I’ll be eating them at 3am. I’m looking forward to draft Hakutsuru sake, which is so much better than the draft we get in Canada. I’m looking forward to Japanese films on the flight, and maybe even an outlet for m laptop. I’m looking forward to being able to properly pronounce the word “thank you” in a foreign language (both Japanese and French). I’m looking forward to not needing an entry visa to enter the country (though I do think this online service is pretty good).
And I’m looking forward to spring. I’m not looking forward to the tail end of (hopefully) the last snow storm of the year in Montreal.
So here, because it’s lovely here, are my top places, experiences, and things to do in Ho Chi Minh City, the last and definitely my favourite stop on my two month-long trip to South East Asia that spanned parts of Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam:
1. Shaved ice! Followers of my blog are probably rolling their eyes now. IT seems everything I write has to do with shaved ice, but that’s because there’s always room for it. There isn’t always room for pork terrine or Bun Bo Hue beef noodle soup.
And goodness knows there’s almost never room for coconut sticky rice chè. And all the sugar in every smoothie, juice, and dessert…eek! But Trop B desserts, just south of Vo Va Tan gets my top pick for amazing desserts (coconut-free black sticky rice with, of course, sweetened yogurt, and a mulberry syrup. Or just their mixed fruit shaved ice with yogurt and a side bowl of strawberry syrup-ed ice for mixing.
2. Pho ga’. It’s not the season for hotchicken noodle soup, and it’s such a touristy dish, but the best was where I went the first day at Pho Huong Binh. Amazing. Go there. Tear the herbs (mint, basil, sawtooth, and Vietnamese water herb), toss in some bean sprouts, and taste the amazing crack fermented chili sauce (my name for it, not theirs).
3. Chao. I love rice congee, but the Vietnamese version or this rice porridge is made with fish sauce instead of soy, so I can eat it! My favourite is made with a little bit of minced pork as the base and chicken (I didn’t know until it was too late) at Chao Hoi An on Pasteur, south of Nguyen Dinh Chieu on the west side. Get the mixed one with chicken liver, heart, and kidney with oily snakehead fish. So rich, but so comforting. It’s intentionally bland, so it’s good for stomach recovery, especially with the sliced fresh ginger and green onion involved. There’s fish sauce on the table if it’s not salty enough for you. Watch the woman make each bowl to order. And good luck finishing an entire bowl. Save the rest for breakfast the next day. Second best was Chau Vit (duck rice porridge).
4. Steamed rice mini discs with shrimp and sweet fish sauce at Dong Pho Quan Hue. Hue-style cuisine is refined royal cuisine from the centre of Vietnam. At this restaurant the Tourane-style noodles were freshly-made linguine-like rice noodles (such flavour you never get with dried, or even the fresh ones from the market here!) coloured with turmeric in a pork broth with shrimp.
The broth…my God. And those steam rice discs had the most amazing texture—so smooth but not glue-y. You take a spoon and gently remove them from their little steamer bowl that looks like a little dipping bowl for soy sauce or fish sauce, and pour some sweet fish sauce on top. Then pop the whole thing in your mouth. The texture! And not too sweet, not too salty. Add a slice or red or pale green pepper for heat.
5. I love the concept of Banh Xeo (pronounced “bahn zeh-oh”—banh means cake, and xeo is the sound the pancake batter makes as it hits the pan). But it’s too greasy for me. Even when you wrap pieces of it in mustard greens, lettuce, basil and mint and dip it in a fish, sugar, lime, chili and garlic sauce. It’s basically a thing deep-fried pancake. In southern Vietnam they get outrageously big, and in the north they can be small, but here in Ho Chi Minh they’re pretty reasonable.
Stuffed with a little pork (belly in fancy places) and shrimp with green onion, mung beans, and mung beansprouts, it’s awfully tasty, though. And the bitter mustard greens make you wonder why you ever didn’t like mustard greens—they just need to be paired with something sweet and creamy and savoury to be amazing.
6. Good quality rice. Aromatic Vietnamese rice. It’s like Jasmine but not. There’s red, black and brown rice with the hulls if you want bitterness and health, and there’s polished short grain for stickiness, and then there’s long grain white that smells like…comfort. Even better if it’s com tam (broken rice—rice kernels cut into couscous-sized pieces) that booked in a claypot so the edges get crispy and smoky.
7. Caramelized fish. It’s so sweet, but it’s never served in a large portion. You can caramelize any kind of fish or chicken or pork, but there’s usually some bacon involved, or lard or pork cracklings for umami. Not necessary, though. And lemongrass chicken is also great. Not as heavenly sweet, but the country is too sweet already, as mentioned above. Pouring the leftover caramel-bacon syrup on your perfect Vietnamese rice, though…priceless.
8. Sour soup. I always hated Chinese hot and sour soup, but this is not that. This takes flavourful tomatoes and adds a sauce of tamarind, fishsauce, garlic, tons of sugar to balance, fresh pineapple (never from a can—blasphemy), and any kind of fish for richness, preferably with okra and elephant ear (it’s a spongy vegetable, don’t worry!) and makes this juicy, more-sweet-than-sour soup served with beansprouts and more bitter herbs. It’s pretty acidic, but so fresh.
9. Salads. Especially banana blossom. But anything that combines a cooked meat (chicken, seafood or pork) with bright herbs (basil, mint, Vietnamese coriander), fish sauce, sugar, chili, maybe peanuts, pomelo, onions…texturally it’s fascinating. It’s also filling. And most importantly, on hot days, it’s more refreshing than a bowl of hot soup.
10. Fresh Fruit! Just give me more fresh fruit!! Star apple in particular. It’s a softball-sized light green fruit that has a custardy lychee interior. Custard apple is cherimoya, and rose apple is a red apple-like thing, but this…this is heaven. Also, the papayas are much more flavourful here than in Thailand or South America. I would take a Vietnamese papaya over another papaya any day. Frozen, especially…mmm…and those dark green-skinned oranges that are bright orange inside are only slightly less amazing than the small mandarines that are pure sugar and joy. I get why my parents were always excited for real mandarin oranges at Christmastime instead of clementines.
And all these things I’ll make at home. I won’t be able to find elephant ears or all the herbs, but my herb guy at Atwater Market can get me some great Vietnamese leafy greens. Even morning glory? Maybe.
Goodbye mangoes. Hello fiddleheads. There’s always an upside.
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