Thursday, March 13, 2014

Today was a gastronomical adventure: Korean at lunch and a large variety of Vietnamese dishes for dinner. So, instead of 1 dish, I’m treating you to a feast today – a feast of many food photos! But first, some Thursday updates...

I Skyped my family in the morning over tea, then planned my day’s lessons. For lunch, I had Korean Dolsot Bibimbap at my favourite little cafe nearby and I also met with my new private student there, a Japanese housewife whose husband was transferred to HCMC to work.  She’s very sweet and wants to use the tv show “Friends” to learn English, so our lessons will often centre around it!

I had an hour off to hang out with Patrick, then I worked in the evening.  Afterwards, I went out with 3 of the Vietnamese teachers who work at my language school and one of their boyfriends.  We’re all around the same age (actually ¾ of us are all ’89 babies!) so it’s fun to hang out with them.  We laughed a ton, ate delicious food and I learned some new Vietnamese words (i.e. ngon = delicious!)

We ate at an outdoor restaurant specializing in lẩu (hot pot).  It was hidden away within a quiet, but quaint and interesting neighbourhood of small streets that I never would have thought to visit otherwise! Dinner lasted a whole 2 hours, with 1 dish after another being brought out! It was all ngon! :D When we arrived, we had a bowl of peanuts and a bowl of Amberella fruit (with the usual chili salt to dip it in on the side).  

Sour-sweet Amberella fruit with a salt-chili "dip"

The first dish was a platter of pretty white clams that were grilled in butter, garlic, scallions and topped with peanuts.  Next we got thick, soft baguettes brought out and a piping hot dish covered in tin foil.  As you open the foil, the steam and delicious smell escapes.  Inside was fried tofu, veggies and assorted seafood in a thick tomato-chili broth - a bit sour, sweet, salty and spicy all at once.  We dipped the baguette in the saucy broth instead of eating it with rice. The third dish we were served was a whole fried white fish with flavourful seasoning.  We all picked through it with our chopsticks, not wanting to waste any of it! Apparently throughout many fishing villages in Vietnam, it’s taboo to flip the fish at the table to get more meat from the other side.  We didn’t care though :p It’s easier to flip and eat! Following that, we had a lull where we could digest a bit before the final main dish.  We were served a large chicken and vegetable hot pot (lẩu in Vietnamese) with rice noodles to share.  With 5 of us, the total was just 100,000VND each – about $5 each. 

Clams with butter, garlic, Vietnamese basil/herbs and peanuts

Baked and saucy seafood, tofu and vegetables in tin foil

Grilled fish

Chicken hot pot

Although I missed trivia night, it was still an epic-ly delicious evening, discovering a new spot in the city, trying new food and bonding with new friends <3 I drove back home with a Vietnamese friend, a “teacher by day, xe om driver by night” :p And just for the update, I'm now officially "wanted"... Kidnapped by my xe om!