Foodie Trail : Vietnam

For some reasons I was least excited with my food adventure here in Vietnam compared to other countries that I visited recently.

All meals were provided (part of the package) during the the first part of the trip (Hanoi-Sapa-Hanoi), so there's really nothing to shout about. Well, food were great, I don't remember ever feeling hungry.

We saw the largest buffet set up ever..not even in Malaysia's biggest hotels!  I've never seen so many many different kinds of food served in a buffet.

Many of these 'stalls', but we concluded that they all tasted the same, chicken, beef, seafood, all same taste.

 

I think I spent more time taking pictures than eating.

But I won't post much here cos the food were nothing to shout about. Typical buffet food.  

Vietnamese Spring Rolls - eat all you can..

I'm not saying that the food were unsatisfactorily.  They were just typical tour package food.  I guess they can't take the risk of taking us to road side stalls. 

So grand.

Lunch on-board - Halong Bay Cruise

Hanoi-Halong Bay-Sapa after some time every meal seemed pretty standard. Fried cabbage.  Clear soup with chopped vege.  Fried fish.  Pork. Prawns / Squid.


Well, we did go goo goo gaa when these were served after our visit to Mekong Delta canal.

But..the foodie in me was yearning for some adventure.

Saw these in a village in Sapa.. did we try?

Nah..we only opted for a pork skewer ..

And sweet potato

In Ho Chi Minh, we had more flexibility as only lunch was provided.  So we were free to explore at night.  A friend took us to Nha Hang Ngon, a great place for typical Vietnamese street food.  The total bill was about 1.4 mil VND!  That's about RM200+ for about 11 of us.  Pretty good deal.  Finally, I got to taste real Vietnamese food!  Nha Hang means Restaurant - I only found out towards the end of the trip :D

Some info about Ngon - HERE

Just in front of our hotel, we spotted this shop that serves BBQ seafood.  Different types of clams, snails, scallops, you name it they have it.  Ermm..actually we can't name anything cos they won't understand. So, we could only point to what we want :D

  
Typical Vietnamese way of eating..sitting on stools by the road side.  This is what I want when I travel..


We came here twice!  We even witnessed live, how the DBKL equivalent authorities came to 'perform their duties'.  In seconds, stoves, trays, stools, tables were moved back into the tiny shop.  We stood up from our stools to make way but were told to SIT.  Haha..apparently the authorities won't touch tables seated with customers.

At the night market, we tried Vietnamese popiah..so-so only for me.  I didn't like their strong coconut taste.

 

Also tried the baguette, something very popular amongst the locals.

 

Tasted quite good at first bite, but not something I will miss though.

On our one night stop at My Tho, we were on our own with nothing to do. Lonley Planet recommended two places apparently good for Hue Tieu.  Just did a quick internet search and found out that Hue Tieu actually means My Tho soup noodle.  Go HERE 

Definitely better than our version of Pork Noodle!

Well, my travel mates will tell you that I was complaning ALOT about eating anything that starts or ends with Tieu or Pho.  Can't blame me... it had been over 10 days.

An Aussie Burger at a back packers joint in Can Tho called Cappucino...was heavenly!

Tried more hawker stuff at Can Tho.

Not sure what's the name of this food but his stalls was the busiest.  Locals come on foot and motobikes to take away packets from him.

It's glutinous rice with quail eggs and 'etc' toppings...taste wise..so-so only

And finally...our highlight in Can Tho was a hot pot dinner on-board a boat sailing along Mekong river!