Monday 11 February 2013

Vietnam

My favorite dish in Vietnam, fresh/fried rice paper rolls!
 
 
Here are some healthier uncooked rice paper rolls stuffed with mint, veg and tofu strips.
 
 
We also got to see how rice paper was made, here they are drying them out in the sun, including having a go at flipping these transparent sheets.
 
 
 
PHO!! Noodle soup with rice noodles, mint and fake meat from Loving Hut Hanoi.
 
We got chatting to a really nice local lady at this loving hut, she explained what the special Tet (New Year) 'cake' was and how to eat it.
 
 
Finishing my bowl of Pho (looking a bit undernourished after a month in China)

 
 More rice paper spring rolls!
 
 
 
 
Tet- Vietnamese New Year, we spend their new years day on Cat Ba Island near Halong Bay and were giving tons of delicious food. 
 
Chuc mung nam moi
(Happy New Year!)
 
 
We bought this savoury 'cake' at Loving hut, where we had our delicous Pho.
A nice local business lady started chatting to us and explained what banh chung was. I still cant promounce it properly. Its a really big tradition in Vietnam, they make these pork filled rice coated parcels and wrap them in Banana leaf before steaming for hours. they last 10 days from being made.
 
We had 3 vegetarians on the table on our little island in Halong Bay, and the one meat eater said our veggie version tasted better. It was a spicy pork style filling wrapped in rice, really filling!
 

So we shared some... 
 
 
 
 
Our favourite lunches, with prison style trays was in Hoi An, a good bicycle ride out of the tourist trap center. the food was insanly cheap, though the restaurant looked very shabby.
 
The bottom corner is 'fish' style fillet with seaweed around the edge and 'chicken drum stick' with tinu lemon grass 'bones'.
 
 
 
In Hue we ate at a hotel we had found from cycling around and looked it up on happy cow.
 Hot tofu dish, spring rolls and Pho.
We also tried the fig dish, so famously reviews, my partner liked it, but I was undecided.
 
 
 
 
Fresh Coconut water on the beach in Hoi An
 
 
Cashew nuts growing on a tree, seems like such a waste of that 'apple' for just that tiny nut at the end.
 
 
Chilli Lemongrass tofu (bad photo, tasty food);
 
 
After a month without soya milk, ah Vietnam I love you!
 
 
 Had a lovely conversation with a shop keep girl in Hanoi about how 'vietnamese people love soya milk and she buys it fresh in huge glass bottles everyday for her family, and its still warm when delivered'
 
I only tried various brands of cartoned milk, but I was happy that I could finally have milky tea!