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

Food In Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City- Nha Trang City

It's really hard to write a small post about food in three different areas, which is the reason why I'm just going to mention about what is most popular in these places and hope it can give you an idea. A very special point which makes the south of Vietnam different is that the people down there cook with lots of sugar, and in the north it's too much MSG. In the centre of the country, people cook with lots of salt or fish sauce.

In Ho Chi Minh City, most people go out for an easy and quick lunch then go back to the office or go home for a nap before heading back for work again. I think Bun Mam is one of the most popular dishes in Sai Gon which can be eaten everywhere, even sitting on the street? Why not, or even in a restaurant, this is the dish that lots of people choose whenever they come to Saigon.

In Hanoi, people are more used to eating at home. After work, people hurriedly go to the market to buy some food and go home, cook and eat with their family. This is a good thing to do, but it's time consuming. However, a popular dish to have out of the home in Hanoi is Pho Ga (Noodles with chicken), the special point of which is that people can eat it as a snack or as the main course, and the location is not a problem at all.

Similarly to Hanoians, Nha Trang people tend to have three meals per day at home. But when they go out to eat Nem Ninh Hoa (Ninh Hoa spring rolls) is the most famous that everyone knows about, cheap and good. It doesn't matter whether it's lunch or dinner because it's a really healthy dish with lots of veggies.

I think people have started eating out for lunch more now in big cities, or they're prepared food for the whole day in the morning, so that they can save their time and they still can enjoy their meals at home. Vietnamese people usually take a short nap after lunch and that's why there is little action on the street at lunch time.

Daily Breakfast

There are heaps of options here in Nha Trang for breakfast but you also can have many of them for your lunch or dinner. These dishes only cost you about 10,000Vnd.

Hue style Beef noodle soup is my family's choice almost every morning. I love this dish because its special, spicy and not very heavy. It's served with beef, pig's blood, pig's feet and some veggies.

There are quite a few different fish noodle soups and they are all great and cheap, at only about 7000 Vnd. One of them consists of steamed fish and fried fish cakes with long noodles and vegetables. Another one is also served with the same ingredients but with different noodles which are long and round and without veggies. Glassnoodles are also popular at some noodle stands.

Fried eggs and stewed beef with onion and carrot pickle seems like a strange choice for breakfast. You can have it with some bread if you want which can be dipped into the stewed beef sauce. We call this dish Bo La in Vietnamese and it's only available in Nha Trang. Do not miss this dish if you have the chance.

There are lots of small restaurants selling noodle soup with beef, pork, or chicken. They are all quite similar but with different vegetables. If you eat noodles with beef they would serve you lots of different herbs, salad and fresh or cooked bean shoot and green onion with some black sauce and chilli sauce mixed with fresh lime. Chicken and pork noodle soups are served with only mint and beanshoots.

My Quang is another noodle choice for your breakfast. It's served with a very special and colorful yellow thin noodle, with cooked beanshoots, fish cake, dried onion, dried pig fat, crushed peanuts on the top, vegetables and very nice stock. And of course, do not forget to add some more chilli. This is Quang Nams' special dish.

Steamed rice pancakes called Banh Beo is a nice small dish which is served with dried shirmps, dried pork crackling, a little bit of sugar and spicy fish sauce. Banh Hoi is a really nice thin mixture of noodles which are served the same way as Banh Beo but tastes slightly different. Make sure to ask for extra crispy crackling which makes the difference. Called Banh Nam, another steamed rice pancake is cooked with minced shrimp, pepper, dried onion, and served with the same fishy sauce as the other steamed rice pancake. There is a vegetarian Banh Nam as well which is cooked with green beans. Banh Xeo is another kind of steamed rice pancake but I prefer them a little bit crispier than usual. It's cooked with bean shoot, shrimps, squid, and small quail eggs, served with vegetables and a sweet, spicy fish sauce, which is yummy.

Ninh Hoa Spring rolls is such a super dish which you have to roll with your own hands. It comes with heaps of different veggies, crispy rice paper and long sticks of grilled pork. Dip in an orange sauce after adding some pickled shallots and carrots, cucumber, green mango and star fruit. There are two different chili sauces, and I think you should try some sweet chilly sauce if you can't eat really spicy sauce or mix them together. But before you try rolling your own Nem, you should try some Nem chua which are delicious. You have to unwrapp all the leaves to eat just a small roll inside made from pork. This is the best dish in Nha Trang which has been really famous in this city for years.