Thursday, March 04, 2010

Disappointing Aspects of Phu Quoc

Phu Quoc

I spent two weeks in Phu Quoc and everything seemed perfect with great weather and beautiful food, especially the seafood. But as always, there were some issues that came up

Phu Quoc

I went out for lunch on one particular day, walking along the beach just up from the bungalows we stayed at to try to have some different food instead of going into town. Unfortunately, it was a mistake to choose the Lien Hiep Thanh Hotel and Restaurant right on the beach. I ordered grilled squid with salt and chilli, spring rolls and sour broth with tuna. It sounded great as these are specialist dishes from Phu Quoc and most places I've been they had been so nice and yummy. Well, they served us boiled squid instead of grilled and I told the waiter that it was not what we ordered in a polite way but he denied it, telling me this is their restaurant's grilling technique. I was a bit upset and I ended up taking it back to the kitchen myself and they promised to make a new dish for me. Ten minutes later, the same plate came back with the half bitten piece of squid. I couldn't say a word as they were so hopeless and they waiter tried to make a joke but it turned out all stupid. The sour broth with tuna which should be great as it's simple to make was tasteless, the tuna wasn't cooked enough and, if that wasn't enough, the spring rolls tasted like they were from the super market. Totally sucked down there at the Lien Thanh!!!! No tip and worst meal of my life.

Phu Quoc

On another point, I was expecting the food at the night market to be cheap but it didn't work that way. Most restaurants at the night market were more expensive than restaurants in town and in the hotel. A prawn cost $4, 4 pieces of squid cost $5, a pice of tuna cost $5. Hello!!! this is Phu Quoc, an island where you can catch fish anywhere.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow.. i will keep these tips in mind, i'll be going there in July!!! Thank..

Anonymous said...

That sounds much more expensive compare to Nha Trang when I was there last time. Thanks for sharing.
Trang

Anonymous said...

Thats not grilled squids, it looks like steamed squids for me. Bad!!!! Someone I know also talk about this place which was not impressed them much
Toan

Tuyen Tran said...

"No tip and worst meal of my life."

Are you expected to tip in Vietnam? I did it out of habit when I was there in 2008 because I'm from the US, but I never thought tipping was expected there.

Mgz said...

DO NOT TIP OMG. So the average Vietnamese like me will suffer cuz we don't tip :(

Anonymous said...

Your blog is so interesting, I come here every month to read it. THANK YOU Tu ! Michel in Canada