Nha Trang

 A short and sweet break is always great especially when it means returning to my hometown to visit friends, family and eat amazing food. I never get tired of eating seafood and Nha Trang is famous for the stuff so it's the perfect place for me. Seafood is involved in most dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I have a kind of 'eating routine' when I go home. I start my morning with a bowl of fish noodles soup or Bún Bò Huế then drive to some random cafes to meet old friends. After that, I stop at a favorite place for a snack where they make crunchy rice crackers and steamed rice pancakes topped with stir fried spring onions and dried shrimps. I try to get some exercise in so I can eat more so I normally play tennis for a couple of hours at my old club. After that, I'm hungry again.

One of the other best things about going home is eating home cooked food, getting spoiled by my mum, my sisters and sister-in-law. I know there will always be lots of excellent food awaiting me. Sweet and sour fish broth, steamed squid, deep fried tuna with special dipping sauce (fish sauce, chilli, garlic, lime and sugar), salad and deep fried pork belly. I pretty much always have to have a nap when I eat at home. Normally I am encouraged to eat way too much. Nothing like the hospitality of home.

In the evenings, I catch up with my good friends for dinner. We go to the new part of the city for special seafood feasts;  barbequed prawn, squid and fish with salt and chilli, fresh jelly fish salad and steamed crabs.

And if that isn't enough, I always return to Hanoi with a polystyrene box full of snap frozen fish and squid which keeps me going until I'm in Nhatrang again

Nha Trang Snack: Banh Khot

As a coastal city with a very long white sand beach, Nha Trang has so many advantages for tourists compared to other seaside cities such as Danang, Hai Phong or Qui Nhon. Unfortunately, Vietnam Airlines has a virtual monopoly on routes to Nha Trang which means it's not cheap to go there for a short vacation. Once you are there, however, it's very affordable. The city has excellent street food dishes alongside its famed seafood options.



Most street food vendors in Nha Trang are specialising in dishes and snacks related to seafood. An example of this is banh khot (grilled pancake). Most people from the south make this cake but they usually make it plain or with eggs. In Nha Trang, it is made with squid, shrimps and eggs as well. They serve banh khot with two sauces, mam nem and a special nuoc mam. Mam nem (fermented fish residue) has a powerful smell but great flavor which is the best for banh khot, and nuoc mam (plain fish sauce) is also a great option. Other ingredients in both sauces can include mango, pineapple, sugar, garlic, water and Nha Trang Sim chili. Nha Trang Sim chili is very famous in Vietnam because it's not very big, has a very hot taste and fragrant aroma.



When making banh khot, the batter is poured into lightly oiled griller cups over a coal brazier.  Once the batter starts to bubble, the squid or shrimp or egg (or all three!) is added on the top, taking a few minutes to cook through. To make this cake sounds very easy but it requires a lot of preparation, especially cleaning up the seafood, make the dipping sauces and the fuel up to the coal braziers. Banh khot is a popular street food snack in Nha Trang, with most people eating it as a late afternoon snack or after dinner for supper. It's actually quite filling and heavy if you have about 8 or 10 of them with egg.

In Nha Trang, the best vendors are along Le Thanh Ton Street and at the beginning of 2/4 street, opposite the Cham Towers on the way out of town.

Nha Trang Cake

Almost every year, I go back to my hometown, Nhatrang for Tet (Lunar New Year) for at least a week to meet old friends, family and also to eat and relax. This year was a bit different compared to the last couple years because I had to work in between. It was very interesting wandering around with my clients and proudly talking about my hometown's amazing food. And for sure, I showed my clients all of my favorite places. Now they have some of my secrets.


One of my favorite dishes is called Banh Can. I ate it many times during my 2 week holidays for both breakfast and dinner. I love the way they cook the cake with either egg or seafood or mixed together. There are a number of people who don't really like this dish very much but I think its kind of unique. The rice flour batter is poured into little clay cups over a hot brazier, a quail egg is broken onto the top, sometimes a whisked chicken egg. Also I have enjoyed the cake with squid or shrimp steamed on it for a little while. The dipping sauce can be a challenge for some people; but I love "Mam Nem" a fermented fish sauce with a milder flavor than "Mam Tom". Added to the sauce is shredded green mango, stir fried spring onion, chilli and minced pork balls are served on the side. I love the rich and spicy taste of the dipping sauce and the smokiness of the grilled cake in my mouth. It creates a great flavor combination. This dish is not available in Hanoi. Perhaps that's a good thing as I would probably eat far too much of it.

Steamed Prawns With Beer

This is a very easy dish to cook; all you need to do is drink half of your beer and use the other half of the bottle to soak the prawns for about three to five minutes. But the amount of beer depends on how many prawns you are going to cook as the prawns must be just covered by beer.

Anyway, after three to five minutes soaking, put the pan on the heat and start cooking. Cooking time depends on the amount but normally, as a guide, for half a kilogram of prawns, it takes about 15 minutes. The prawns should come to the boil and then simmer for the remaining time on a lower heat.

Afterwards, you should have nice firm sweet prawn with a fainst hint of the beer. Dip in a simple paste of salt, pepper, lime amd chili.
Again, this recipe is from my good friend - Ly, who owns the very popular 86 Seafood Restaurant in Tran Phu St in Nha Trang.

Steamed Prawns In Coconut Juice

I think seafood a pretty popular choice for the most of the world's population. And for me prawns are the most special as we can cook it in so many ways. I usually cook seafood according to my best friend's recommendations; her family owns a well-known seafood restaurant in Nha Trang called Gio ("Wind") at 86 Tran Phu Street.

Yesterday, after a morning street food tour with my clients, I stopped by my regular seafood shop at the Nghi Tam market to buy some prawns for dinner. I decided to cook steamed prawns with coconut juice for dinner. This is one of my favorite dish and not very difficult to make, only needing a few minutes to cook. I got the recipe from my friend in Nha Trang. Let me know what you think.
Ingredients: Coconut juice, prawns, garlic
Boil the coconut juice, add the garlic (lightly mashed) and prawns for about 7 minutes.
Serve it with mixed salt, pepper, chili and lemon.
Don't forget to have a glass of white wine or beer when you enjoy this delicious and healthy prawn dish.

Banh Xeo

Last night, I looked up my Nha Trang food photos and my mouth was watering at the Banh Xeo (steamed rice pancake) photos. I decided to make it tonight for dinner. Huong, my cleaner, went to the market and got some prawns, pork, vegetables and squid and I went to buy rice flour, different kinds of herbs, beanshoots and some more pork.

It's nice to make something different for a change at home. It took 30 minutes to get everything ready and quite easy as the flour had instructions on the bag. I do know how to make this cake as I ate and saw it alot when I was in my city. The dipping sauce is the most important as it determines the taste of the whole dish. Ms Huong made a dipping sauce using the WildRice restaurant recipe. It tasted great but in Nha Trang we make it a little bit different, slightly fruitier with more pineapple and lemon. I will make this sauce next week when I have another go at Banh Xeo next week.

When I'd finished and had more than enough myself, I gave my landlord some cakes and he just loved them, as did my housemate and Huong. This was the first time she's ever made this cake, and even though she thought it was difficult to make, Huong said she's going to try it at home for her family.

It really is a great dish from the south of Vietnam.

Food In Nha Trang, Tet 2008 Part I

There is a variety of food in Nha Trang but seafood is most people's first choice as Nha Trang is a coastal city. I was really surprised about how many restaurants have opened in the last 6 months. There must be hundreds of them. Now almost every corner of the city seems to have one small shop or restaurant. Eating freshly cooked seafood on the beach is something special in Nha Trang. There are lots of vendors selling seafood on the beach . They generally buy their fresh seafood in the morning and start their business at 11am the same day. In the afternoon, there are also lots of seafood stalls along the main street, Tran Phu Street. They have lots of fresh lobster, big sea crabs, squid and many other seasnails and clams. I tried the food there once and absolutely fell in love with it. It wasn't expensive at all especially compared to Hanoi or Ha Long Bay.

Besides the seafood, other local specialties are also very famous. Spring rolls, chicken noodles and the most famous noodle soup with fish. I think in Nha Trang, whatever the locals cook that is related to seafood gives the city its reputation. Most Ho Chi Minh City residents who come to Nha Trang visit Nam Beo restaurant. The owner started her business over 10 years ago in a very tiny house but it was really good and the business has grown quickly. Her soup is still very good but don't go there early in the day especially during festivals because you have to wait for such a long time or stand right next to her for your self service. I was there during Tet and I was stuck there for half an hour and I was shouting at them to prepare my noodles. But actually, there were too many people and she only has a few staff to help her. Anyway, I love going back there to get a real fish noodle soup with fish cakes.

Banh Xeo-steamed rice pancakes with seafood is such a delicious dish cooked with prawns, squid and with egg if you like. Everyone knows Banh Xeo Mien Trung in Hong Bang Street as it is the most famous place for this dish in Nha Trang. This shop also has been open over 10 years and still doing really well. The difference between Banh Xeo in Nha Trang and other parts of Viet Nam is the cake is round but small with seafood, beanshoots and quite crispy. The dipping sauce is very simple with some chilli, pineapple, sugar, lemon, fish sauce and some water mixed up. They will serve you the pancakes with a big plate of fresh vegetables including different herbs, salad and some bitter veggies. It's my favourite dish!!!

To be continued