2008 February Archive at gas•tron•o•my

Archive for February, 2008

Cơm Tấm Bì Chả Sườn Trứng Ốp La

Published

on February 29, 2008

. 12 Comments

A special dish for a special day. Happy February 29th everyone!

I’m not sure what your plans are, but I celebrated over a hefty plate of cơm tấm bì chả sườn trứng for lunch today. A bed of warm broken rice (cơm tấm) accented with a slab of grilled pork chop marinated in sugar and fish sauce (sườn), a slice of pork loaf topped with egg yolks (chả), and a mixture of pork skin and thinly shredded pork (bì ). Pork prepared three different ways in one dish truly is magical! The mountain of meat and rice is topped with a runny, deep-fried egg (trứng Ốp La), a scallion and oil mixture, and a lovely fish sauce vinaigrette (nuoc mam).

Hungry yet?

Seafood a la Sidewalk

Published

Gastronomer

on February 28, 2008

in Restaurant Review, Saigon, Seafood and Vietnamese

. 0 Comments

February 15, 2008
Cuisine: Vietnamese, Seafood

Ton That Thuyet Street
District 4, Ho Chi Minh City

Phone: none
Website: none

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Fruits of the Sea - clockwise from top left - condiments for dipping, blood cockles sauteed in tamarind, grilled mussels, clams sauteed in garlic (25,000 VND per dish)

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My friend Luscious loves food with a passion, so I’m working overtime to introduce her to the very best of Vietnamese cuisine during her month-long stay.

We’ve had lots of great food thus far, but the one eatery that made her squeal with utter delight was the seafood shack we stumbled into in District 4.

The blood cockles smothered in sweet and tangy tamarind sauce knocked our socks off. There were definitely numerous oohs and ahs as we hungrily dug into the plate. The Astronomer bought some baguettes from the vendor down the street to sop up the divine sauce because it’s criminal to discard something so perfect.

The clams with garlic were also finger lickin’ good! What’s there not to love about tender clams dressed in hunks of sweet garlic? These morsels were not as intense as the cockles, but truly just as tasty.

Our last course of the evening were the grilled mussels. I find it rather funny that chem chép nướng means exactly the same thing from seafood shack to seafood shack—grilled mussels topped with scallion oil and crushed peanuts. Where’s the creativity? The grilled mussels tasted just like they did at previous sidewalk seafood eateries; smoky, crunchy and yummy.

We walked back to the apartment with greasy lips and happy bellies.

Lunching with Bà Sáu

Published

Gastronomer

on February 27, 2008

in Saigon and Vietnamese

. 8 Comments

Bà Sáu, my grandma’s younger sister, rocks my world. I hope to be just as cool as her when I get old.

Like the majority of people in Vietnam, Bà Sáu rises early. A couple Friday’s ago, she woke me up at the ungodly hour of 8:30 to invite me to lunch at her house. Even though I was groggy as heck, I was fortunately conscious enough to accept because Bà Sáu is a culinary genius. Seriously.

On this afternoon, The Astronomer, Luscious and I feasted on fresh cha gio (egg rolls), bo bia (spring rolls with jicama, carrots and Chinese sausage), leftover banh chung from the New Year, watermelon, and preserved pineapple candies.

This is the second time The Astronomer and I have been treated to Bà Sáu’s famous cha gio, which contain pork, shallots, taro root and are about the size of one’s pinky finger. The Astronomer pops these cha gio into his mouth like bonbons. Learning how to make these babies is on top of my to-do list, so look out for a recipe in the future.

Her bo bia was killer as well. I was certain that bo bia was the one Vietnamese dish that was superiorly prepared in America. However, I changed my mind with one bite of Bà Sáu’s rendition. Whereas the carrot and jicama slaw is usually sauteed until softened, Bà Sáu leaves a bit of crunch in the vegetables which elevates the dish to new heights.

While we were eating up a storm, Bà Sáu was downing a Tiger Beer. She says that beer aids in the digestion of meat. I told you she was cool.

The best thing about Bà Sáu is that she’s sort of a bully when it comes to feeding her guests. She insists that we gorge until our bellies can handle no more. At one point during lunch, we ran out of bun (rice vermicelli noodles), so she sent her daughter out to buy more even though we were full and begged her not to.

Another awesome thing about Bà Sáu is that after she’s stuffed us to the max, she packs up extra food and fruits for us to bring home and enjoy later.

She’s the best.

Meric

Published

Gastronomer

on February 26, 2008

in Asian Fusion, Cambodian, Restaurant Review and Siem Reap

. 6 Comments

February 9, 2008
Cuisine: Cambodian, Asian Fusion

Sivutha Boulevard
Siem Reap, Cambodia

Phone: 855 63 966 000
Website: www.hoteldelapaixangkor.com/meric.php

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Course I: Pomelo and grilled pork salad

Course II: Grilled chicken and yam bean salad

Course III: Grilled beef skewer with green papaya salad

Khmer organic white rice

Course IV: Bar fish and eggplant with coconut milk soup

Course V: Stir-fried calamari with Khmer curry and peanut

Course VI: Braised beef shank with palm sugar and star anise

Course VII: Assorted Khmer sweets

Birthday “cake”

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I celebrated the big 2-6 climbing on ancient temples around Angkor Wat and enjoying a luxe dinner afterwards at Meric. I would normally skip swanky joints for homelier ones, but since it was my birthday, I had to live it up. Plus, Conde Nast Traveler named Meric one of their Hot Tables in 2006:

Named after a type of pepper grown in the Kampot region of Cambodia, this slick dining room at the trendiest new property in Siem Reap, the Hôtel de la Paix, has immediately become the boom town’s best table. New Zealand native Paul Hutt, one of the most inventive chefs in Southeast Asia, moved here from the Shinta Mani Hotel, and if his menu there was brilliant, here he’s really hit his stride. Think Khmer cooking for the twenty-first century, which is to say regional dishes made with local produce and given a high-shine Pacific Rim gloss. “What I love about Cambodia is the incredible freshness of the ingredients and the subtlety of Khmer cooking, a very misunderstood Asian cuisine,” says Hutt. His menu evolves constantly; among the latest dishes were steamed maan (fermented fish) with Khmer crudités, lake krill from nearby Tonle Sap, a salad of ambarella (between a quince and a crab apple), and stir-fried frog with basil (entrées, $18–$22).

Our entire party of six ordered the Khmer tasting menu—a seven course Cambodian feast priced at $28. The presentation at Meric is really something special, every course was served on slabs of stone and garnished with banana leaves.

The first course was a large spoonful of pomelo and grilled pork salad. We weren’t sure whether to eat it in one bite or to make it last by using additional silverware. The salad was very similar to the pomelo salad I had in Da Nang at Buddha Bay, minus the squid. From the fried shallots to the pork slivers to the fish sauce-based dressing, the salad was more or less a Vietnamese goi.

The grilled chicken and yam bean salad came next. The yam beans, also known as jicama, created a crunchy and refreshing base. The chicken was shredded and simple, while the herbs shined through.

The grilled beef skewer with green papaya salad served with Khmer organic white rice was a crowd pleaser. The beef was marinated in lemongrass and tasted smoky from the grill. The pickled green papaya salad contrasted well with the fatty beef. The white rice was the finest jasmine I’ve eaten in all of South East Asia.

The bar fish and eggplant with coconut milk soup was lovely as well. The fish’s texture was sturdy like chicken, while the eggplants were nice and tender. The coconut milk brought about a milder and creamier curry soup.

The stir-fried calamari with Khmer curry and peanuts was probably the least memorable of the dishes due to its lack of oomph. Diced green peppers and peanuts can only take a dish so far. According to the chef, this dish isn’t purely Cambodian. While the Khmer do eat squid, it’s usually grilled and not stir-fried.

My favorite course of the evening was the braised beef shank with palm sugar and star anise. Reminiscent of Vietnamese bo kho, this rich and savory stew was brimming with moist pieces of beef and richly flavored with star anise. The yolk from the hard-boiled egg soaked up the salty broth, creating an orb of deliciousness.

For our final course, we were presented with an assortment of Khmer sweets including a banana cake, a sticky rice cake topped with custard, and a shot glass filled with sticky rice with black eyed peas and coconut milk. The cakes were served with a caramel-y palm sugar sauce that seduced me completely. My favorite combo was the banana cake dipped in the palm sugar sauce—caramel and bananas go hand in hand.

Scenes: Central and Old Markets

Published

Gastronomer

on February 21, 2008

in Markets and Phenom Penh

. 2 Comments

Since we only had one and a half days to explore Phnom Penh, our traveling crew stuck to the highlights. Central Market is painted a vibrant golden yellow, spacious, and has incredibly high ceilings. There are vendors housed both inside and outside market—clothing and accessories were sold inside, while produce and prepared foods were sold outside. We arrived at the market during naptime, so many of the vendors were zonked out.

Whereas Saigon’s Ben Thanh Market is noisy, bustling, and somewhat maddening (especially with all the vendors trying to hawk their goods), Central Market is organized and calmer. However, the selection at Central Market is less diverse.

Disinterested in knock-off clothing and accessories, we mostly explored the food-related vendors outside. Here is a basket of fresh green peppercorns! A little too strong to be eaten alone, but paired with the right items, say banh trang phoi suong, they really pack a lot of punch.

The Astronomer has a weakness for baked goods, so we picked up one of these sweet buns to share. I tried my best to extract the Khmer name from the vendor, but couldn’t quite pick it up. Language barriers stink. I guess the name sweet buns will have to suffice. Wrapped in red tissue paper, the sweet bun tasted like a cross between Jiffy cornbread and steamed pork buns minus the pork (banh bao). The sweet bun was fluffy, but one-dimensional in flavor. Definitely good for carbo-loading.

A posting about markets just wouldn’t be a posting about markets without some proper carcasses! Here are some dead chickens with really dirty feet.

Some Khmer men perusing the fresh seafood selection.

I was thrilled to see fresh baby corn because I have only encountered the canned stuff previously. I wanted to pop one in my mouth, but Central Market isn’t an East Bay farmer’s market where everything is game.

The gate leading to Old Market. Old Market has a few produce vendors, but the majority of the stalls offered hair care services, like shampooing and hair straightening. We did not stay here for long because our coifs were already in tip-top shape.