Spring rolls and fish soup
My favorite thing about Vietnam so far is the food. We went to the most amazing restaurants in Ho Chi Minh and amazingly the meal is usually less than $25 USD. Luckily, our old neighbors Mick and Denise now live in Ho Chi Minh and were able to show us around. They took us out the first night to a little hidden gem where we had spring rolls, mango salad, and a seafood hot pot. For the rest of the nights we went off the usual lonely planet or tripadvisor recommended spots. We hit up the BBQ Garden for cook your own skewers and veggies, Rex Hotel rooftop for drinks and beautiful views of city hall, gardens, and the traffic below, and Hoa Tuc for papawa salad and great stirfrys. I am sick of the handcramps from chopsticks but never sick of the food. I can eat it for the next month with no problems. Sadly though I think I am allergic to raw tamarind which is a shame because it is one of the best flavours I have had so far...almost like a spicy light soy sauce. It is perfect for salad dressing, stirfrys, etc.
Vietnam as a tropical local also has amazing fruit (watermelon, mango, papawa, lychees, jackfruit, passionfruit, dragon fruit, etc). We even tried two new kinds...green berries which taste a lot like green grapes and pomelo which tastes like a mild grapefruit. If we didnt get enough for brekkie, we got the rest of our daily allowance in smoothies, juices, tropical flavored teas, and delicious cocktails.
We liked the food so much that we decided to take a cooking class. The class started with a morning trip to the market to pick out the vegetables and foods we would need. We learned how to make spring rolls and homemade dipping sauce. Yummy! But I need some practice on my rolls. Then we made what the Vietnamese do best...soup. The soup was a tomato and pineapple fish soup. They sure do know how to make some powerful aromatic soup. And then for the main it was carmelised pork in a clay pot. And of course we got to eat it all at the end with recipes to take home with us.
Vietnam as a tropical local also has amazing fruit (watermelon, mango, papawa, lychees, jackfruit, passionfruit, dragon fruit, etc). We even tried two new kinds...green berries which taste a lot like green grapes and pomelo which tastes like a mild grapefruit. If we didnt get enough for brekkie, we got the rest of our daily allowance in smoothies, juices, tropical flavored teas, and delicious cocktails.
We liked the food so much that we decided to take a cooking class. The class started with a morning trip to the market to pick out the vegetables and foods we would need. We learned how to make spring rolls and homemade dipping sauce. Yummy! But I need some practice on my rolls. Then we made what the Vietnamese do best...soup. The soup was a tomato and pineapple fish soup. They sure do know how to make some powerful aromatic soup. And then for the main it was carmelised pork in a clay pot. And of course we got to eat it all at the end with recipes to take home with us.
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