Week 8

We've had another great week here in HCMC. Sunday we sustained ourselves with brunch at the Riverside Cafe before heading out to the Cholon District of the city - otherwise known as Chinatown. The Riverside Cafe is a peaceful oasis on the banks of the Saigon River within a sprawling apartment complex where the cafe is just one of many amenities. The Binh Tay Market in Cholon is very busy and our rapid tour revealed an array of household items for sale - much of it wholesale only. There is a lovely fountain in the center of market. We also briefly wandered the surrounding streets, though we opted to skip the local temples and pagodas this time. It has been unseasonably warm here and one of my most vivid recollections of the Cholon area, in addition to the market fountain, was searching for cold beverages.


Monday found us dining at the historic Caravelle Hotel which is located in the heart of downtown - also known as District 1. Our dinner companions included James Beard nominated French cookbook author and chef Patricia Wells and her husband Walter - former executive editor of the International Herald Tribune. After drinks at the rooftop Saigon Saigon Bar we headed to a private dining room for a lovely 7 course meal. The Caravelle is about to celebrate its 50th anniversary and the chef presented us with many items I'd never had before like soft shell crab; crispy veal sweet bread on beetroot carpaccio with sauteed wild mushrooms, brown butter and mushroom aioli; Jerusalem artichoke soup with seared deep sea scallops and basil brioche; salmon confit on saffron celery puree, roasted fennel, baked tomato and bouillabaisse vinaigrette; and red wine braised veal cheeks with tomato onion jam. For dessert - spanish white chocolate soup with plum and red wine aspic on mixed fruit compote and reduced milk sherbet. At the close of the evening Hal headed off to the airport to collect his parents - Hal and Lucy - and I headed back to the apartment.

Tuesday after letting Hal and Lucy acclimate we lunched at the fabulous Quan An Ngon - roughly interpreted it means "delicious restaurant". Picture three rectangles next to each other - around the perimeter are situated cooking stations featuring vietnamese specialties - a station for noodle dishes, a station for rice dishes, and station for spring rolls, a station for salads...you get the idea. It is like having all the best authentic street food brought together under one roof with a menu created for your dining pleasure. There is nothing better than sipping a cold Tiger beer whilst sampling your favorite dishes and discovering new ones. If you ever go, here is the address: 138 Nam Ky Nghia in District 1. Not that you'll need it - all the taxis know where it is.

After building up our strength we headed over to the War Remnants Museum. It was interesting to read about the French and American history here in Vietnam. Although, as you can imagine, it was all pretty grim I found the section of the museum dedicated to the photographers who covered the war the most interesting. It is something you should see if you are ever here.

Another local favorite restaurant here in the neighborhood is called the Dragon's Nest. I'd like to post some photos of it but I keep forgetting to bring my camera! I'm not sure the food is anything special but we like the ambiance and the fact that we can ride our bicycles there. We'll have to have a neighborhood photo essay soon - things like the supermarket, our favorite fruit vendor, and the local restaurants. One of my neighbors told me about a great organic farm in Dalat called Organiks. On Saturday morning between 7:00 - 9:00 am they will deliver to my door green beans, lettuce, celery, red peppers, mushrooms, potatoes, onions, strawberries, peas, corn, mulberries, black beans, garbanzo beans, mint, cilantro, cucumbers and pasta sauce - all for 407,000 VND (about $23US) including the delivery fee. Crazy. It is going to be hard to go to Hannaford after this.

We do eat out here a lot more than we do in Maine - it's hard not to when you can feed four people with drinks for 255,000 VND - that's $15 US dollars for those of you who aren't up to dividing the VND total by 17,000 to get the US equivalent. Something else we'll have reverse sticker shock with when we return.