Lunch after the tour of Reunification Place was at a restaurant around the corner, Bún Bò Huế (meaning literally Noodle Beef Hue = Beef Noodle Soup, specialty of Hue in Central Vietnam, where my dad is from)
The menu offers two kinds of soup (yes they are both soups, there are about 10 different kinds of noodles each with their own name...it's quite hard to keep track of.) You can see on the menu:
- lớn = large for 25,000 D
- nhỏ = small for 15,000 D
- bánh Huế = flour cakes from Hue, four kinds of flour cakes: again each one has large size for 25,000 D and small for 15,000 D. The bottom is a listing of the drinks.
I'd already tried the noodle soups and sometimes for me, I cannot eat soup when it is so hot outside...so I ordered 1 of each bánh...(haha yeah maybe a bit much, but hey I gotta figure out which ones are which, and no food went to waste in this experiment...)
You eat these with nước mắm - popular Vietnamese fish sauce that makes all the difference in some dishes - and they all have beef in them, but are sometimes made with shrimp or pork. When we get these in the US, many times they come wrapped in banana or lotus leaves, which is how they can be cooked and steamed, and then it's also fun to open up!
Top - bánh lọc (had this in the US, the stickiest and probably my favorite)
Bottom - bánh nậm (also had this in US). Across them is spicy pork.
Top: bánh ít (small and round, stuffed with beans). Had not had this before, kind of too bland for me. Haha, also the only one that does not have meat...coincidence?!
Bottom: bánh bèo (had this a lot in US too).
Well glad I got that all figured out...haha great food experiment! Lunch for 10 people = 250,000 D. Fo realz, that's around $1.40 a person
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Dinner on Sunday night was out with Chi Cindy on Dong Khoi Street, a fancy street with expensive shops, hotels, and the Opera House. Walking down the street is like walking down a really nice shopping street in the US, except sometimes the windows will show the traditional Vietnamese clothes, and women in ao dai are handing out leaflets for beauty and spa salons. (Manicure or Pedicure for $4 each! I paid half that at 30,000 D...but am in search of a spa pedicure which will probably be more expensive than $4).
In front of the Opera House (Nhà hát lớn Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh = literally "house singing large, City Ho Chi Minh") - in my next post I will have a video of Dong Khoi Street...!!
Chi Cindy wanted me to try Thai food: (R) Fried and fluffed fish with mango (L) Shrimp and tofu pad thai...mmmmm delicious!!
Dessert was like Vietnamese che with jelly, coconut milk, and fruit:
**
Tuesday 5.19.09
I had lunch after school with Anh Nam, Anh Keisuke, and Chi Ah-Kimmie, three of my classmates, at a Pho 24, chain restaurant, on nearby Le Tan Ton Street - urgh, I did not want to be at a chain restaurant but all the other local places were completely swamped with diners! One bowl of pho was 38,000 D and it was just okay, I have had better pho for breakfast from the housekeeper. So no pics because it just was uneventful, but afterwards I went with Anh Keisuke to Cho Ben Thanh (Ben Thanh Market) to walk around, browse the shops, and practice Vietnamese.
We stopped at TuttiFrutti (right next to the market and Pho 2000) for dessert to cool down from walking around. I think the other place I went to earlier in my trip had better toppings, and I don't know how the prices compare, but it was still good! 113,000 D for both (25,000 for 100 grams):
Later that night I met up with Chi Linh (met through a mutual friend), her cousin Dan, and Gina, one of their friends, at Sushi Bar - a great sushi place located on (again!) Le Than Ton Street.
Next post will have video of me going from my house to Cho Ben Thanh, where I walk around the outdoor night market. Then I paid 20,000 D for xe om driver to take me from the market to the restaurant.
Linh, Dan, and Gina are American citizens (considered here to be "expats" or "tay balo" in Vietnamese slang for "Western backpacker") and are all English teachers at different levels (high school, college, and elementary school, respectively) and so it was really great to talk with them about teaching English and basically how they are able to live here. Gina has lived here for 2 years and doesn't speak much Vietnamese - a testament to how much English is spoken in certain areas (read: in District 1, more expensive than local) of the city. Dan and I also made plans to watch the NBA basketball championships together - as long as it's not at 4 am local time. Go Cavs!! (But I digress...)
It had a level that had the traditional floor seating - a first for me! Super cute, and amazing, delicious food! We had miso soup, eel rolls, salmon sashimi, fatty tuna rolls, tempura, and 2 mixed sushi plates. The whole meal for 4 was 760,000 D = $42, so about $10 per person. Probably one of the more expensive meals that I've had on the trip, but definitely worth it!!
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Wednesday 5.20.09
Dinner with Em Phuc and his sister Em Nhung, both lab assistants/students at the nearby University of Natural Sciences. I meet with them about once a week and speak Vietnamese with Em Phuc for about an hour and then we all go out to dinner. It's been really fun to get to know them and we're making plans to go visit the countryside one weekend. Excited but 45 minute ride (one way!) on the xe máy may kill me =/ haha
I told them that I wanted to eat gỏi cuốn (summer roll; rolls made from the white rice paper and not fried but served fresh and cold) and so they took me to a local restaurant in District 10 that I recognized to be near the tennis and swimming place...
Gỏi Cuốn - 1 for 3,000 D...so we got 10!
Gỏi đu đủ (papaya salad) with dried beef = 8000 D. You can see the little glass for tea and the yellow dessert menu (kem = ice cream)...so you can read in the pic that kem ly (ice cream in a glass) = 8000D See at the bottom? Fried ice cream for 5000D...guess what we then ordered...
Kem Chiên (fried orange icecream) = 5000D (yumyumyum) and the other plate is sticky rice with beef and peanuts
Fish meat balls! Total was 88000D for 3 people!!!
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