Vietnamese Food - Good vs. bad

[Leonardo63]

That says it all: you are not sohpisticated - no offense intended - enough, in my opinion for me to continue dialoguing this topic with you ...

I showed this thread to my Korean friend because we have been talking about SEA food, and he said "Oh my....I can not say what I think" I asked why? he said "No no...no can say" and changed the subject. He is the nicest, most humble and sensitive soul I know. I keep trying to get him to do some cooking in his store but he said "Americans like American-Chinese" food, it better anyway" ...

[Pruitt]

He won't make Kimchi for you?

Pruitt

[Leonardo63]

Originally Posted by Pruitt

He won't make Kimchi for you?

Pruitt

I will have to ask.

[boomer400]

Originally Posted by Leonardo63

That says it all: you are not sohpisticated - no offense intended - enough, in my opinion for me to continue dialoguing this topic with you ...

I showed this thread to my Korean friend because we have been talking about SEA food, and he said "Oh my....I can not say what I think" I asked why? he said "No no...no can say" and changed the subject. He is the nicest, most humble and sensitive soul I know. I keep trying to get him to do some cooking in his store but he said "Americans like American-Chinese" food, it better anyway" ...

Hmmm, well, as a Los Angeles resident with good access to Asian food , Chinese (in many varieties), Japanese (in many varieties), Vietnamese (in many varieties), Thai, Korean, Filipino, Malaysian, Pacific Islander, Cambodian, and others also in many varieties, I can say personally, every one I've tasted has had my appreciation, likes and dislikes. To be honest, I've found favorites for each and every branch. If it's "authentic", that's great and even better if I like it. As an American with Asian ancestry, it's true that most common Chinese restaurants have to adapt their cooking to American tastes. On the other hand, I've found also that many Americans like their Chinese food just fine cooked in an authentic fashion.

To be honest, I don't like Americanized Chinese food as, more often than not, it's done poorly and doesn't taste good or right. If it tasted good, I wouldn't care. And my "American" buddies agree, they can tell the difference between good and bad food whether it's prepared "authentically" or not. For that matter, some of the modern style Chinese food that is prepared in a modern manner doesn't suit me either, even though it may have been a hit over in Hong Kong or Shanghai. It seems the modern interpretations are an acquired thing. So far, the worst "Chinese" food, I have ever had was in New Mexico but that's not surprising either; I was surprise to even see such a restaurant there. Maybe I'm spoiled living so close to San Gabriel where there's a new real sitdown restaurant every week it seems. It seems to me that the fusion of fast food prep and Asian food a la buffet style doesn't necessarily equal "Asian" food whether it's Chinese, Korean, or Vietnamese.....

And according to what I see, plenty of gwei-lo like "authentic" Korean food here. The Korean barbecue restaurants always have plenty of them. Even the Korean tofu specialists have their non-Korean fans. So keep bugging your Korean buddy, Leo63, he may break down (although, watch out) his kimchee might bust your tastebuds)! Maybe he can make some bulgogi or chosun jungol for you. Or a really simple bimbambap!

[DeltaOne]

When I posted this thread, I did not intend it to become a pissing match over food. It was a simple question: what was the best versus the worst thing you ate while in Vietnam? That can include the native food or the armed forces food. It would also be good to hear what was the most exotic thing you ate.

[lirelou]

Ate rat at a betrothal party in Vietnam three weeks ago. The young man marrying the girl is a nephew of my wife, and the party was held at the girl's home between Can Tho and Cai Tac on an island that requires a short ferry ride. We arrived late, and the men were all seated on the floor in the front room. As I entered, the husband of another niece gave me a big smile, called out my in-family name (sounds like 'Yoong Uc') and invited me to eat 'con Chook" (Chuot), which I recognized as a challenge. Hey, would the 'long nose' eat real down home country food? Dong passed over a bowl of chopped up stir-fried rat. I took what looked like the upper back and shoulders and dug in. Apparently, they had stir-fried chicken in the same oil, and left the rat in too long, so the meat was dried up and somewhat chicken tasting. Had to bite around a lot of bone to get the meat off. Kept washing it down with warm "333" beer, which I discovered tastes better warm than cold. Rats are commonly eaten in rural Vietnam, and they are country rats, with a healthier diet than city rats. Still, everyone giggled at the sight of an old long nose eating rat, and kept demanding that I play the "Mot, Hai, Ba, (1, 2, 3) Yo!" drinking game with them.

Stir-fried rat: I don't think the Kentucky Fried Colonel has anything to worry about. Later that evening, I passed a new MacDonald's and a Kentucky Fried Chicken as I rode into Can Tho on the back of a motor bike, and they were both mobbed with customers.

Oh, for any Filipino-Americans, Can Tho also has a brand new "Jolli Bee" filipino-style fried chicken place as well.
Vietnam is changing in the cities, but out in the country, off the beaten path, much remains as we knew it.

[boomer400]

Ok, vip hot lon (duck) and hot ga lon (chicken) in egg for breakfast this AM; no ba mi ba so had to have bacon, eggs, and salsa to cover it. And follow it with red bean congee. My wife says when she had her chuot dong in the Delta in Ca Mau, her friend was very suspicious (she didn't know at the time) and asked, "if it's quail, where are the wings?"

We see the palm tree grubs in the store occasionally (which her parents claim is quite creamy and tasty) and she saw crickets there but she never partook. That's kind of exotic, in my youth, I'd probably be willing try it without pause but now, probably have to take a little backbone stiffener along with.

A funny story :
The team was in one little town and after a hard days work being bush doctors decided to go out to dinner. The problem was they had come back late so they had to search around. Finally, they got a tip about a place that was open late and was recommended. It was down a dark alley and the only open seats were in the alley itself. There was a single lamp overhead but still was very dark. In any event, they ordered the specialty dish and started eating. Apparently, it was very good and spicy; they all commented on it and were trying to figure out what the ingredients were. One guy just said it's peppers and it's good so just eat it and stop analyzing everything. Eventually, dinner was done and the plates and bowls were being cleared. As the table cleared off, they realized that the small black peppers in the broth were actually flies which had been "zapped" by the small light overhead and had fallen down into, onto dinner.....annnd, yum, yum.

[eddie3rar]

When I did the jungle course at Pulada , during a mega pissup the Iban tribals cooked up this meat, the meat was bright pink before cooking and bright pink after cooking. I ate everything and washed it all down with a gallon of beer. About 3am I woke with incredible stomach pains and incredible need to ****. Moving towards the exit was hard, guts about to explode, Sleeping guys and gear were all over the floor and there was a huge possibility I'd explosively **** all over them. Had to absolutely clamp my arse cheeks together to stop from spraying and take tiny shuffling footsteps until I got clear of the shed, then tried to make it to the shitters. Made it almost to the showers before I shat everywhere. Damn disgusting.

[jeffdoorgunnr]

Originally Posted by lirelou

Ate rat at a betrothal party in Vietnam three weeks ago. The young man marrying the girl is a nephew of my wife, and the party was held at the girl's home between Can Tho and Cai Tac on an island that requires a short ferry ride. We arrived late, and the men were all seated on the floor in the front room. As I entered, the husband of another niece gave me a big smile, called out my in-family name (sounds like 'Yoong Uc') and invited me to eat 'con Chook" (Chuot), which I recognized as a challenge. Hey, would the 'long nose' eat real down home country food? Dong passed over a bowl of chopped up stir-fried rat. I took what looked like the upper back and shoulders and dug in. Apparently, they had stir-fried chicken in the same oil, and left the rat in too long, so the meat was dried up and somewhat chicken tasting. Had to bite around a lot of bone to get the meat off. Kept washing it down with warm "333" beer, which I discovered tastes better warm than cold. Rats are commonly eaten in rural Vietnam, and they are country rats, with a healthier diet than city rats. Still, everyone giggled at the sight of an old long nose eating rat, and kept demanding that I play the "Mot, Hai, Ba, (1, 2, 3) Yo!" drinking game with them.

Stir-fried rat: I don't think the Kentucky Fried Colonel has anything to worry about. Later that evening, I passed a new MacDonald's and a Kentucky Fried Chicken as I rode into Can Tho on the back of a motor bike, and they were both mobbed with customers.

Oh, for any Filipino-Americans, Can Tho also has a brand new "Jolli Bee" filipino-style fried chicken place as well.
Vietnam is changing in the cities, but out in the country, off the beaten path, much remains as we knew it.

Been a long time since I ate Jolli Bee..............I actually think they had better food that the colonel.............The rat I ate was ground and fried as a hamburger...........

[boomer400]

Originally Posted by lirelou

...Stir-fried rat: I don't think the Kentucky Fried Colonel has anything to worry about. Later that evening, I passed a new MacDonald's and a Kentucky Fried Chicken as I rode into Can Tho on the back of a motor bike, and they were both mobbed with customers.

Oh, for any Filipino-Americans, Can Tho also has a brand new "Jolli Bee" filipino-style fried chicken place as well.
Vietnam is changing in the cities, but out in the country, off the beaten path, much remains as we knew it.

Did you ever see what the prices were of MacDs and KFC? I wonder if they take a price cut or are similar to US prices? And do they offer anything local like the Hawaiians stores sometimes offer long rice or such?

As an extension of DeltaOnes' question, who has any preference for VN "desserts"? Anyone like che or che xuoi, sweet xuoi? Or even sam bo luong?

[The Exorcist]

Originally Posted by lirelou

Kept washing it down with warm "333" beer, which I discovered tastes better warm than cold.

Interesting... I wonder if the same would be true of San Miguel?
On second thought, I think I'll stick with Tsingtao.

[lirelou]

Boomer, I really didn't check the prices, but I vaguely remember a poster from a MacD in a Saigon mall that, if my memory is correct, was about 80,000 Dong, or $4.00 for a Big Mac. Might have been more. This in a neighborhood where a coffee house coffee is $6.00 US, but you can get a VN style coffee for 30.000 dong ($1.50) out on the sidewalk across the street.

[boomer400]

Ahh, the famous VN coffee, my fave with a nice banh mi sandwich. My better half was saying the prices of stuff in Saigon were just like here. It was only in the boonies that stuff became generally cheap, the problem was getting there as the roads are/were so bad. Are people still laying their rice in the middle of the road so it can get cracked/dehulled?

[lirelou]

Boomer, I assume the sandwich was the Banh Mi Thit, and yes, people are still laying their unhulled rice out on the edge of the provincial roads. On my first trip back to Nha Trang, I noticed that someone had also laid brine shrimp out on an unused feeder road to the Binh Tan bridge that leads to the Cam Ranh airport. And occasionally you'll see a house with racks of Bang Trang drying in the sun. You can get cheap prices in Saigon if you eat on the street and avoid the fancy restaurants and tourist traps. You can even find cheap prices for food and booze (and $12 rooms) in the backpacker area along Bui Vien street. I have it on good authority that a Special Forces team would recommend the Binh An guest house at 147-149 Bui Vien, that is, if they had ever been there. They also warned that you can find rip-offs right next to places that have cheap prices. There's no uniformity, so check before you quaff. Too much noise in that area for me. As for the coffee, I also like the custom of serving complimentary jasmine tea to wash down the remnants of your coffee. The funny thing about Saigon is that the ore upscale the coffee house is, the less likely they are to serve the jasmine tea.

[Sidewinder CC]

I think I ate rat meat once. After a night of drinking downtown Bien Hoa I stopped at a vendor along the side of the road selling hogies (SP?). I bought one. It had tiny slivers of dark meat, veggies, and sauce. It was very good. I told my mama san about it and she it was rat meat.

I never did like the ghetto food the ladies of the night would eat. I was invited to one of the nice lady's home and she prepared supper for us. It was half cooked (essentially raw) chicken and some other nondescript stuff. When I tried the chicken I spat it out. She went ballistic and kicked me out of the house. The problem I had was that it was past curfew. Had to spend the night in Bien Hoa sleeping at some dude's house that was kind enough to take me in.

The hired hand girls at Lai Khe would eat baluts and some kind of meat wrapped in leaves at their lunch break. I wasn't about to try that.

My favorite bar food was at the Sherwood Forest Bar at Lai Khe. It was a soup made in a clear broth, with pieces of green onions, and bits of chicken in it. With a loaf of locally baked French bread and a bottle of wine it made my day.

The mess sergeant at the 3rd Bde Headquarters/Headquarters Co. mess hall, SSgt. John Hogarty, was a good dude. He would make us omlets whenever he could get fresh eggs. Once in awhile they would get real ice cream. That was special. The rest of the food at that mess hall tasted like someone had eaten once. He tried, but the food the Army supplied him was terrible so he had little to work with.