Binh Quoi Tourist Village buffet 2010 trip

This was a special treat, a weekend outdoor; restaurant, Binh Quoi Tourist Village It is out in the suburbs of Ho Chi Minh on a beautiful groomed piece of land that looks like an idealized version of Vietnam. There are ponds and fake structures that are beautifully constructed to give the illusion that you are in a small village. 

As you exit the car park you travel down a path to a booth where you pay for the buffet to come. The restaurant is a little walk down from the payment booth; as you get to enjoy the gardens and ponds. If only all of Vietnam was so clean and unspoiled by real life. I felt like it was a Disney version of Vietnam.
 The restaurant is series of open huts where the food is cooked and most of the tables for the customers are out in the open. It was not a rainy day set up. To the left is the barbecue hut where there was numerous regional styles of barbecue and types of meat
.
. 

A plate barbecue goodness, we piled the plates high and dug in.

Some of the covered eating area

Another of the cooking stations

 A really interesting cooking station where the cook was making a rice puff. I did not taste one but should have tried it.

A cook making a Vietnamese rice roll

This food station was on a raft on a pond. In the back ground you can see the floating lights they placed in the pond.

 A water wheel display setup one of the ponds in the gardens, After eating we walked around the gardens and enjoyed lighted displays.

 This was the sink for the bathrooms; great looking presentation. No the toilets were indoors and western style. It took me a few minutes to figure out the set up for cleaning my hands but after seeing someone else use it, I understood.

Lastly a view of some of the night time flora that they had lit up for us to enjoy. Overall this was a great experience along with good food that had the three regions of Vietnam well represented. Would love to have a place like this here but we do not have the weather for it in Vancouver.

Restaurant in Siagon 2010 trip

Great variation on a salad roll

We took family out to one of the many restaurants that dot the city of Ho Chi Minh. It was nice but it did not impress me in any special way. Good food that was done right but nothing beyond the ordinary.

I would say I like the use of the lacy rice wrap on the dish at the right as it adds a nice texture to the dish and makes dipping much easier. 

I have had this type of wrap used on spring rolls too and I have to say that it does impress me as it becomes very crunchy. I have yet to find a maker of this type of wrap in Canada that provides it fresh.

I love how the individual strands stick together and remain a sheet as you dip the roll.

Interesting dish noodles with pork and a dumpling; covered with roasted peanuts and fresh rich cracker.

I remember this large pork meatball well as I did not really like it. Large, porky, and lumpy; enough said.

To finish the meal I had a pork and prawn soup; tasty and satisfing as you expect from most Vietnamese soups.