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
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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.

Ben Thanh Market, Ho Chi Minh 2002 a quick bowl

Not my picture

When in Saigon you will most probably be taken to the famous Ben Thanh Market to shop and see an example of the many large markets through out Vietnam. When I was there in 2002, the market still had no prices on items and you had to haggle to get a good price. Of course that changed by the time I went back to the market in 2010; they have fixed prices so that it is easier for the tourist crowd. One area you do not see too many tourists is the small food booths. It is not the cleanest eating area but I like it for a quick bowl of soup.

Trying to take picture of bug crawling over noodles

It tasted great even though the noodles came with bug foot prints

Tet 2003 in the village

    Tet is a very important celebration in Vietnam; a combination of Christmas and New Years eve in which the country basically stops to participate with family and friends. It is celebrated at the lunar new year and lasts about 10 days. People travel back to their family villages to prepare and enjoy the holiday. I will focus on the making of the rice cakes that my wifes' family makes for the holiday. The whole family takes time to prepare the rice cakes that will be eaten over the last days of the holiday.

Most are savory but there are sweet ones too

Most being made here were savory with pork and mung bean

I love them fried a few days later, crispy

Had to add Tet decorations in the home

Sister-in-law did a lot of the flower

A meal we had at a relatives house, very good

Year of the Pig

Party in the family village 2002

Prepared food ready to serve

In any real discussion of Vietnamese cooking it is good to remember that most of the Vietnamese start out like any North American, by eating the food of his people / family. It is a special treat to be able to taste the cooking of the average Vietnamese family. I have the privilage of being married to a Vietnamese wife, as such I get to taste the simple but very tasty food found in their family home.

The chopping of the meat on a old door

Cooking the pork skewers, very tasty

Back in 2002 we had a reception in my wifes' family home in Northern Vietnam in a provice near Ha Noi. Not a large party but it had 600 hundred people over two and a half days. It went late into the night and started up a few hours after. The cooking was done by relatives and they cooked constantly as people just kept on comming. It was loud and it seemed all of Vietnam was invited.

Modern kitchen appliance?

Making some tea

Modern kitchen on the septic tank

Stir-frying

The pork was marinated and the fat left on to keep it juicy. The taste was so good a simple tasty preparation and a cooking over a open fire; made for a delicious crispy meat. I could eat it for days. I often did as they would cook extra for eating later. In 2002 the family did not have refrigeration so the meat was hung up until it was reheated for eating the next day.

Preparing for the feast, in their version of a sink

Pounding spice

Chopping all the meat

Pork reading to be cooked

cooking something good

Quan An Ngon Restaurant - Ho Chi Minh - Jan, 30th 2010

 

We have been to Quan An Ngon Restaurant in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) a couple of times in the past when it was in another location. I have to say their new location is fancier than the old place but the food is about the same. I think the place is nice but the food is not really the finest I have tasted in Vietnam and for being a fancy restaurant they treat you like cattle. The seating is terrible and the service not the most attentive. They need to step up the service experience to match the building, the building was spectacular but as a customer I did not feel spectacular. We even had to share a large table with other people, not very special. The food was good but the restaurant in Hue did it better. One thing that impressed me when I ate at the old location was the connection between the food being prepared and the customer. In the old location the cooking was done at small stations around the restaurant were the customers could easily observe the process. This connection gave the restaurant a more street food feel that was an experience that is lost on most customers at the new location. Yes, there is still cooking stations but the customer is not able to easily see them in the new location. I think they need to bring back that connection at the new location or go high class with a higher level of service. Please forgive my opinion as this is a great restaurant to give the average tourist a great introduction to Vietnamese food and I have my own bias as I have eaten a lot of local dishes all over Vietnam over the five times I have come to Vietnam. Review from TripAdviser.

Now to the food, first up was a dish that was my favourite in Hue; a stir fried clams with crispy rice crackers to eat the clams. As you can see the clams are not as tiny as the ones used in Hue as such the texture is not quite the same but the dish still had a good taste that was enhanced by the crispness of cracker. It was not as spicy as the dish in Hue but as this was made for a Saigon palate it was to be expected. The dish was technically corrected but it could not match the one in Hue for taste or presentation. I would suggest they chop the clams to give the dish the right texture. I think if we attempt this dish we will have to chop the clams as we will will never be able to get a consistent supplier of the clams we saw in Hue.

Next up for me was a traditional beef stew (bo kho) a favourite I have enjoyed for years. Their version did not disappoint as it hit all the proper favour points and the ingredients were good. As it was a stew there was not much to do with the presentation but they could have classed it up a bit. I love this kind of stew with rice and bread but of course I had to pick one so I had the bread. From the origins of this dish (French) I am always impressed with were the Vietnamese have taken the taste to; it is rich, meaty and so fragrant with the spices they use. I love this dish as it appeals to my ancestry while it tantalizes my taste buds with the exotic tastes of Asia; fusion food developed before the modern concept was acknowledged. It is the re-interpretation of an imported dish that lifts the dish beyond its simple beginnings. 

The group I was with had several dishes that they ate by themselves so I will not include here but one dish I tried after getting over a little reluctance. The dish was steamed blood clams, so called because the inside bloody looking. I tasted one but it just tasted like salty blood; sorry but I did not like them that much. The rest of the group loved them and ate them all so it must have been me and my cultural food bias. The picture is not the best as I was trying to take the picture as I ate.

To finish the meal I had a great tofu pudding drink that was soft and delicious. The texture and taste were heavenly and a great finish to this meal. Anytime I can find a way to enjoy tofu I am happy.