Boots in the Oven

Fooding in Phú Quốc

Phú Quốc is an island, right?  So, unsurprisingly, the thing to eat there is pizza.

Steak.

Potatoes?

OH!  Seafood!  Right!  Yes.  And it turns out these guys boast some of the best squid in the whole world.

There are beautiful restaurants on the beach if you are in the mood for ambience and romance. Tables are set up on the sand, so kick off your sandals and just jam your toes right into the ground. It's a good, freeing feeling.

We only did this one night. The rest of the time we were on Phú Quốc, we went to the night market. 

(Actually, not this night market; there's not really any food here.  There's another market a block away where all the restaurants are. This one just has pretty lights.)

We chose the place with the nicest-looking fish table and grabbed seats. That's the best advice I can give you - everyone will try to get you into their restaurant, but just smile heartily, look over what they're offering, thank them, and move on to the next place until you finish the rounds. Then go back to wherever looks best.

And order up a seafood feast.

Fresh sea urchin, with the traditional-style dip of local black pepper and lime - this is my new favorite all-purpose dip.

Grilled scallops with black pepper, peanuts, green onion, and fish sauce.

You pick it, they grill it!  (Luckily, this isn't as interactive as Mel's Char Palace - that link should work inside the US - please tell me if it doesn't - the seafood is already dead and cleaned for you.  Phew.)

These prawns were the size of my forearm.

They even do takeout, if, say, you're sunburned and sleepy.

No, this isn't the place we ate, no matter how tempting the name.

Maybe they should hire a PR person?

Fun find for you!  This isn't unique to Phú Quốc - it's all over Vietnam, in fact - but now when you see these big jars full of what look like pickled eggs, you'll know what you're looking at.

These are pickled, salted limes. Try them mashed with soda water and sugar for a refreshing and slightly odd-tasting pickle/sweet drink called Chanh muối.

Last bit of Phú Quốc eating: SeaStar made Logan a cake for his birthday!  Totally unprompted!  We had to show our passports when we checked in, and they must have made a note that we'd be there for his birthday. Isn't that sweet? We were definitely far from home, but this nice little touch made us feel cared for.

Thanks for the wonderful food, Phú Quốc!  Next, we blast off into the countryside in search of the island's specialties.

Phú Quốc: Vietnam's Island Sister

Ah, Phú Quốc.  One of those destinations that had been on our personal "must-visit" list ever since we discovered that it's the ground zero/ne plus ultra/pinnacle of fish sauce production AND has pretty beaches.

We happened to be able to time our visit for the week of Logan's birthday!  SCORE!

We found us a terrific beachfront resort, the Phú Quốc Sea Star, rented us a little motorscooter, and proceeded to relax and eat seafood for several days.  Disgusting.

So, there was a lot of this.

It was too bad SeaStar's restaurant wasn't very good.

Pretty though.

Scooter in hand (actually, that phrase doesn't work very well here.  Scooter under butt?), we rode off on roads of varying quality into the middle of the island.  There's a LOT of red dust in the dry season, so be sure to dress appropriately.

Rachel as highwayman. No caravans are safe from her marauding!

We drove through lots of small fishing villages, over rickety bridges, dodging chickens and dogs.

Children often rushed out into the road, waving enthusiastically. I was the designated wave-back girl, because Logan was busy driving and all. I still ain't no holla back girl.

You really don't have to go very far on Phú Quốc to get out of the tourist zones - I think this is why Logan loved the place so much.

Fishing is still a large industry on the island; after all, where do you think all that fish comes from for the famous fish sauce?

We were lucky to get out in a boat on the water to fish for squid one evening, but not too lucky; the weather was terrible, most of the people on our boat got seasick, and we had to turn back early. I thought all the Korean ladies vomiting would improve our chances of a catch (you know, chumming the water and all), but no such luck.

The island's main town, Dương Đông, is small and situated along a river. It takes barely any time at all to drive through.

Heck of a spot for a game of soccer.

Oddly, we saw roosters being stored under baskets in the median in town - I'm not sure if they're fighting cocks or what, but they were in incredibly good shape.

Preen you sexy fowl you.

It's great to take some time in a place that just runs at a different pace.  The island is getting an international airport in 2013, though, so I wonder how fast things will begin to change there. For now, for us, it was perfect.

The Great Phở-down 2012

We spent a few days in Saigon and since I'm clearly suffering from some sort of brain lesion, a fine chunk of that time was used to track down and obsessively eat a single food: phở.

Phở from Phở Anh.

Much like with xiao long bao in Shanghai, we sought out the most famed, the oft recommended and the randomly spotted, then pitted their fare against each other in a battle to the death. (Note: very few people actually died.)

I'm confident that most of you are well acquainted with the concept of this particular soup so I won't bore you with an in depth diatribe about its origins, history, development, height, weight, and sexual preferences.

Instead, I'll give you a brief rundown on the criteria and rubric we used to make our assessments:

I. Broth:

Phở broth is the biggest part of the show. It's the area that allows for the most variation, establishing depth, character, and giving the soup a chance to knock you on your ass with delicious. Since we were in Ho Chi Minh City we were looking for southern style phở, darker, sweeter, and with more garnishes and floaty bits.

    a. Every phở broth is proprietary but basically they're all made from simmered beef bones (roasted or not or some combination), other cuts of beef or oxtail, fish sauce, and various vegetables and spices that can include onion and ginger (charred or not), cinnamon, star anise, clove, coriander, fennel, and black cardamom (all toasted or not).

Phở from Phở Ngân.

The most important part here is balance. all of the constituents should support the whole, with no single flavor or ingredient dominating the bowl.

    b. My favorite broth has a medium level of oiliness. Enough to give it richness and body, but not so much that it requires chemical dispersants. (Note: If you're a particular lover of beef fat you can order a bowl of nước béo (extra-fatty broth) on the side.)

II. Noodles:

This one is easy as almost every phở place uses the same style of prescribed rice noodle (called bánh phở, or phở noodle, cleverly enough); it's all in the prep and presentation.

Phở from Phở 24.

    a. Not too many, not too few. The noodles should take up somewhere around a quarter to a third of the bowl.

    b. The damn things shouldn't be in one big clump. If you can't cook noodles I don't trust you with the rest of it.

    c. Not too soft, not too firm. Phở noodles shouldn't be mushy or gummy but they should be a bit softer than Italian style al dente.

III. The Meaty Bits:

All of the phở we ate was phở bò (beef) not gà (chicken). In the interest of consistency (and also because it is the most awesomely-bestest choice available) we ordered all of the soups đặc biệt, which means specialty.

Options, options, options...

    a. With đặc biệt you get all or some of the following: tái (sliced rare/raw steak), chín (sliced well-done steak), nạm (flank steak), vè don (crunchy flank), gầu (brisket), gân (tendon), sách (tripe), and bò viên (beef meatballs).

The steak should be flavorful and tender; the brisket should be moist, not dry and mealy; the tendon should be soft like a savory jujube, not gross and crunchy like a piece of gristle; the tripe shouldn't be too funky; and the meatballs should have a pleasant sproing and squeak a little on your teeth.

Phở from Phở Hòa Pasteur.

PROTIP: No matter what kind of phở you get, always order hột gà on the side. Hột gà (just means chicken egg) will get you a creamy yolk that gets dumped in the soup and softly poached by the broth. It brings the phở experience to a whole new level.

IV. Garnishes:

In the south they like their phở with plenty of stuff to mix in. The more variety the better really.

Phở from Phở Khoa Thu.

    a. Herbs: A good phở place should present you with a glowingly fresh and crisp plate of vegetable material. Look for: Holy basil, cilantro, scallions, saw tooth coriander, bean sprouts, sliced chilies, and lemon or lime wedges.

The bean sprouts should snap; the herbs should be fragrant and unwilted; the citrus should be glistening with juice and the chilies fiery hot.

This is the face of a man pleased to serve you phở.

    b. Condiments: Three condiments should be in evidence- nước mắm (fish sauce), tương đen (hoisin), and tương ớt (chili sauce). Ideally, some of them will be house made. At the least they should have vetted some excellent brands. A phở place with shitty condiments is gonna have shitty phở. End of story.

These are the places that we tried and what we thought about them:

Phở 24 Score: C
271 Phạm Ngũ Lão St., District 1, HCMC

Summary: This place is a huge chain with many locations around town. When we were here in 2007 we had a great experience. Sadly, this time around it was pretty forgettable; thin broth with minimal spicing. Meh.

Phở Anh Score: B+
8-10A Ky Dong St. (near Le Van Sy), District 3, HCMC

Summary: Phở Anh has very good soup. Medium oiliness; nice spice with a fragrant cinnamon smell and a touch of black pepper; rare tender beef. Fresh chilies were dried out and the brisket was a bit tough.

Phở Hòa Pasteur Score: C+
260C Pasteur St, District 3, HCMC 

Summary: This place is a Saigon institution. It has great ambiance and a friendly staff. Their herb offerings are fresh and generous and they make a mean lime soda. Unfortunately, the phở itself lacked depth, the cartilage was crunchy as a jawbreaker, and the meat to noodle ratio was all off. Also they over blanched their beansprouts.

Phở Ngân Score: A+
258B Pasteur St., District 3, HCMC

Summary: Phở Ngân was a dark horse candidate. We were drawn here after seeing quite a bit of chatter in Vietnamese on Foursquare. Man am I glad we did- these guys knocked it out of the park. The stock is redolent of star anise and other sweet spices; it's rich and balanced with bottom, middle, and top notes all playing their proper support roles. The accouterments were lovely and they even had great iced tea.

The kicker though was the brisket. I'm normally not the biggest fan but the slices in this phở were so good that they reminded me of some of the best bbq I've had in Texas, you know, except boiled and in soup. The gelatinous tendon was also tops of all the ones we tried.

Phở Khoa Thu Score: A
Head down Ben Van Dong Street in District 4 and make a left onto Nguyen Khoai Street. The stall is located 300 meters down the road on the left hand side.

Summary: We found this place based on a recommendation from our friends over at Gastronomy Blog. Thanks guys!

Khoa Thu wins hands down for most fun place to have phở. The outside setup is charming and inviting and the people that run the place couldn't smile more.

It doesn't hurt that the soup is damn fine as well. Quite heavily spiced, it is also the sweetest phở we had. It has an excellent beef and star anise flavor. Whatever you do, don't miss out on their house made chili sauce. Hot and garlicky, it's perfect to keep on the side and dip pieces of the meat in separately.

And as a bonus, this adorable lady is set up to squeeze you glass after glass of cool and refreshing nước mía, or sugarcane juice.

I hope our little taste test adds to your fun the next time you're in Saigon. And remember, if you don't agree with any of our assessments, you're just wrong.

For more info check out these other very well done guides to phở: One on ordering and one on pronunciation.

Bánh Xèo Ngọc Sơn - Now THIS is a pancake.

Bánh Xèo.  Sure, yeah, whatever.  It's just, like, a fried rice-paper crepe with some bean sprouts and pork and shrimp or whatever.  Maybe some coconut milk.  Nuffin' fancy, right?  I mean, we all know pancakes, amirite?

WRONG!  GO TO District 5 in HCMC!  SIT DOWN in Bánh Xèo Ngọc Sơn (you might have to go up a floor or two - the place is pretty popular)!  

ORDER a Bánh Xèo!  You will get... THIS. (Oh, right - it doesn't automatically come with the Bánh trứng, the rice paper for wrapping. Order that, too.)

Look at that beast!  Perfect crispy middle!  Perfect lacy edges!  Not the least hint of sogginess or overfrying or grease overload, all hallmarks of lesser versions!  You can even see the outline of some of the shrimp inside, where they caramelized against the wok! 

Hack off a chunk, with your chopsticks or a fork or your fingers (they're going to get greasy, anyway, so you might as well just dive in, I don't know why suddenly you'd be this shrinking violet), and wrap up with some herbs in a leaf of lettuce or mustard greens.  MUSTARD GREENS! Then in the rice paper, which you don't even need to wet.

Logan tends to make them prettier than me, but he went to cooking school. See, that tuition plus year in Italy were good for something.

Dip in nước chấm (chile fish dipping sauce - Bánh xèo Ngọc Sơn's is particularly good) and shove into your mouth. Remember to chew, as this is how you'll enjoy the textures - crispy fried pancake yielding to softer, more steamed areas; crunchy bean sprouts; chewy pork slices; the snap of shrimp.

Repeat until you can't repeat any more.  We ordered a second Bánh xèo for backup.

These people know what they're doing.  The woman downstairs works up to seven woks at a time, constantly turning out perfect pancake after perfect pancake.

Bonus, just for you - video!  How many bánh xèo do you think this lady has made, to have technique this perfect?

We walked back to our hotel in District 1 from here.  It took about an hour through some fascinating neighborhoods, where we passed late-night fruit markets, blaring karaoke bars, teenagers on scooters sharing ice creams, and parents waiting to pick up their children from English night school.

Highly recommended.  And another indication that sometimes Foursquare can really come through with the food recs in an unfamiliar city.

Bánh Xèo Ngọc Sơn: 103 Ngô Quyền in District 5.

 

ALSO!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my not so little any more brother, David!  We'll take you out for a hoedown sometime soon, I promise.

We're Going Back to Sài Gòn: The more things change...

Oh, were we excited to get back to Ho Chi Minh City! Back to the streetfood of dreams, back to our favorite market in the world, back to the constant exhilirating games of Frogger as you scurry between motorbikes on the busy boulevards...

But it turns out things have changed in Sài Gòn since our visit in 2007. The city is more developed, tourist paths are easier, and good food is a little trickier to find.  

The scooters are still there, maybe even in more force than five years ago. Facing down a wall of them at a red light still makes my skin tingle in the beginnings of an adrenaline rush.

Helmets have gotten more stylish; you can get versions that mimic baseball caps or newsboys.

Stylin'. And responsible.

Nobody's as comfortable on a scooter as the Vietnamese.

Streetfood's still there in District 1, though prices have gone up and some of the banh mi joints don't look as good.

Typical restaurant.

A fresh juice is a nice way to break up your day a bit - though this stand didn't go to the trouble of filtering out the passiontfruit seeds.  Sip and spit, sip and spit.

And Ben Thanh Market. Chợ Bến Thành is where the difference was most wrenching, for us.  Five years ago, the tourist stalls existed alongside places where actual Vietnamese came to buy fruits and meats and fish pastes; now those stalls are being almost entirely crowded out by places selling the same tourist clothes (sleeveless Beer Chang shirts; Hammer pants) that you can buy anywhere in southeast Asia.

The food court area is still there, but there are way more Western tourists sitting down and demanding pork with rice when that's not even what they make, and way fewer locals.

We went back to stall 1138 for their Mì Quảng, a dish I've been dreaming about since I had it in June 2007. Here's the version from then (taken with an inferior camera and five fewer years of food photography experience under our belts!):

And now.  No cracker, not as much variety, and though you can't see it in this picture, not as much flavor.

Damn sight better photo though...

(Luckily, we found a REALLY good one elsewhere. It pays well to walk around this food area and see what looks good and what the various specialties are - try to tune out the calls of the women running the stalls and pushing menus into your hands, though I know it's difficult! And remember that you can order things from multiple stalls, no matter where you are, as long as you order at least one dish from the stall you're sitting at.)

Better Mì Quảng, from stall 1030.

I still love bánh bèo, though it was interesting to learn the Saigon version is different from the style that's traditional in Huế.

As far as the night market goes at Chợ Bến Thành, I'd have to say don't bother.  The number of restaurants is down to two or three, and those are filled with tourists that have been bussed in and seated together at long buffet tables. Gone are the hanging live frogs and the seafood tables; all the menus look the same now.

We hung our heads and walked a few blocks away to have a mediocre sticky rice with chicken. This one came with unformed eggs that are found in a hen after it's been killed. Logan had been dying to try them ever since we first spotted them in Mexico. They taste basicaly like egg yolks but a little richer.

This is all not to say that we didn't enjoy our stop in HCMC. We had amazing phở, and I finally learned what the fuss is about bánh xèo (posts to come). Next time, I think, we'll just have to make our base outside of the tourist center of District 1 (I'm looking at you District 4!)