2008 June Archive at gas•tron•o•my

Archive for June, 2008

Nem Nướng

Published

on June 30, 2008

. 5 Comments

Nina introduced The Astronomer and I to her favorite Nem Nướng joint for lunch a while back. Quan 33 (33 Ly Tu Trong, District 1) is located steps away from her digs and a stones throw from Ben Thanh Market. Location this good inevitably means higher prices, especially since the folks who run the restaurant do not reside in the same building. The majority of restaurants in Vietnam also serve as the family home, which means monthly rent is a non-issue and prices are much lower as a result.

This bowl of bun nem nuong thit nuong went for a hefty 30,000 VND. Although it was much pricier than bun elsewhere, the nem nuong was everything Nina said it would be—flavorful, smoky and not too fatty! The nuoc mam here is also very good, which is essential for moistening all the ingredients and tying the whole package together. Having Nina around to introduce me to central Vietnamese classics like nem nuong (and corn cha gio!) has been a treat.

And just in case you’re in the cooking mood, here is Wandering Chopstick’s recipe for Nem Nướng.

Saigon Cinnamon Rolls

Published

Gastronomer

on June 29, 2008

in Bakery, Breakfast, Dessert and Saigon

. 0 Comments

Here’s my latest idea for bringing in the bucks. First, move to a developing country with a large-ish exapt population. Second, buy yeast and an oven. Third, bake lots of western-style treats i.e. whole-grain breads, coffee cakes, cookies, etc. and sell it to homesick expats for a bundle. Genius, right?

Too bad Harvest Baking beat me to it in the Saigon market. Shucks. I could have been a billion-dong-aire.

Since The Astronomer loves baked good with all of his nerdy heart, I gifted him with a month of baked goods a la Harvest Baking for his birthday. This past month, we’ve indulged in coffee cakes, cookies, cinnamon bread and best of all, cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting! By the way, I requested that our batch be trans-fat free. 65,000 VND for three cinnamon rolls is steep-city, but they’re totally worth the monetary and caloric splurge. Look. At. Them.

Harvest Baking is a delivery-only establishment so all orders must be placed online (harvestbaking@yahoo.com). Do it.

Vegetation Profile: Lychee

Published

Gastronomer

on June 27, 2008

in Saigon and Vegetation Profile

. 7 Comments

The Lychee (Litchi chinensis), also spelled Litchi or Laichi and Lichu, Chinese: 荔枝, Hanyu Pinyin: Lìzhī, is the sole member of the genus Litchi in the soapberry family Sapindaceae. It is a tropical fruit tree native to southern China. It is also commonly found in India (Muzaffarpur), Bangladesh, southern Taiwan, northern Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The fruit is a drupe, 3–4 cm long and 3 cm in diameter. The outside is covered by a pink-red, roughly-textured rind that is inedible but easily removed. The inside consists of a layer of sweet, translucent white flesh, rich in vitamin C, with a texture somewhat similar to that of a grape. The edible flesh consists of a highly developed aril enveloping the seed. The center contains a single glossy brown nut-like seed, 2 cm long and 1–1.5 cm in diameter. The seed, similar to a buckeye seed, is not poisonous but should not be eaten. The fruit matures from July to October, about 100 days after flowering.

Lychees are extensively grown in the native region of China, and also elsewhere in South-East Asia, especially in north of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, southern Japan, Taiwan, and more recently in California, Hawaii, and Florida[1] in the United States, the wetter areas of eastern Australia and sub-tropical regions of South Africa, also in the state of Sinaloa in Mexico. They require a warm subtropical to tropical climate that is cool but also frost-free or with only very slight winter frosts not below -4°C, and with high summer heat, rainfall, and humidity. Growth is best on well-drained, slightly acidic soils rich in organic matter. A wide range of cultivars is available, with early and late maturing forms suited to warmer and cooler climates respectively. They are also grown as an ornamental tree as well as for their fruit.

Lychees are commonly sold fresh in Vietnamese, Chinese and Asian markets, and in recent years, also widely in supermarkets worldwide. The red rind turns dark brown when the fruit is refrigerated, but the taste is not affected. It is also sold canned year-round. The fruit can be dried with the rind intact, at which point the flesh shrinks and darkens.

Vải thiều is a well-known cultivar in Vietnam. It roots in Thanh Ha district, Hai Duong province and recently exists in Luc Ngan district, Bac Giang province. The fruit is notable for its small globe, red shell, tiny or no seed, very sweet taste and special flavor.

It’s lychee season in Saigon and timing couldn’t be any more perfect because I was just getting tired of eating rambutans! Fruits in Vietnam arrive in waves with distinct varieties available during the rainy and dry seasons. One day, there were no lychees in sight and the next, BA-BOW, lychees everywhere! With so many vendors selling the same fruits, the consumer really benefits from the competitive pricing.

Lychees are wonderful for a number of reasons—they’re juicy, easy to peel, have a lovely sweet/tart taste and their peels don’t attract ants like rambutans do. Although it’s quite nice eating fresh tropical fruit, sometimes when I’m feeling particularly lazy I yearn for the peeled and de-seeded stuff sold in cans. I know I’ll regret making such an absurd statement when I return to the States.

Saigon Sweets Shoppe

Published

Gastronomer

on June 26, 2008

in Bakery, Banh Kem Su, Dessert and Saigon

. 5 Comments

Bon Bon Bakery (19 Ba Thang Hai, District 10) is a lovely sweets shoppe that The Astronomer and I discovered when we first moved here. It’s located near my old place of employment so we used go quite often during our 1.5 hour lunch break. These days, we only swing by when we’re in the neighborhood shopping at Maximark, a western-style grocery store that carries the essentials like peanut butter and cereal.

This family-run shop isn’t much to look at, but they whip up great Vietnamese cream puffs (banh kem su) for 3,000 VND. The outer shell is light and airy, while the vanilla custard filling is creamy, sweet and chilled. Each puff is stuffed to order, so the shell never loses its nice texture.

The pineapple tartlets (top picture) with sticky preserves are quite addictive, especially at 2,000 VND a pop. I have always adored Vietnamese pineapple preserves (mut thom) because it’s so ridiculously sweet. The pastry tones down some of the jam’s intensity, which helps me to consume more tartlets overall. Bon Bon also makes coconut tartlets, but I’m too enamored with the pineapple ones to try them.

After my trip to Hong Kong, I’ve been on the lookout for egg tarts. I’ve only tried two Saigon varieties thus far—one from Pham Nguyen Bakery that was mediocre and another from here. Bon Bon’s egg tarts aren’t kept warm like those in Hong Kong, but if they were, they’d be almost as tasty. Just out of curiosity, I asked the baker where her recipe came from. She didn’t give me an exact answer, but she said that egg tarts are a Vietnamese dessert. Ohhh, are they?

The Astronomer’s 24th

Published

Gastronomer

on June 25, 2008

in Chinese, Dim Sum, Hot Vit Lon, Saigon and Vietnamese

. 9 Comments

This past weekend, we celebrated The Astronomer’s big 2-4. There are a million and one spirited things to do in Saigon, but when it came down to it, all The Astronomer wanted on his special day was to gorge on dim sum, consume local libations and sing his heart out. Oh, he also wanted to hang out with babes. Lots of babes.

The babes came into the picture early in the morning. While we were waiting for our friends to arrive for dim sum at the New World Hotel, we saw a bunch of Miss Universe pageant contestants who happened to be staying there. Check Miss Adventure’s site for the full babalicious recap. According to Hawk, Miss Korea is a fox.

Here’s the birthday boy posing in front of a flat screen TV advertising the dim sum special at the Dynasty restaurant that we took advantage of. Only $4.99 for all you can eat! Awesome deal.

Here’s what we ate. The har gow AKA shrimp bags were excellent, as were the tripe, banh cuon and fried turnip. The Astronomer’s favorite were the deep fried dumplings doused with sweet and sour sauce. The food was good, but the service was shoddy for a five-star. In a way, dim sum wouldn’t be dim sum without terrible service, right?

Here is Vernon’s lovely Vietnamese teacher Hanh posing with Miss Vietnam. By the way, Miss Vietnam is wearing heels. Really high heels. And Hanh is short.

After dim sum, The Astronomer and I went home and passed out. Then we went running. Running post-dim sum is one of the grossest things ever. When evening rolled around, our friends gathered at our apartment for late night festivities. First stop, sidewalk seafood!

This no-name joint on Ton That Thuyet Street in District 4 (which we’ve visited a number of times before) attracts a fun local crowd and stir-fries up some mean seafood, especially the clams with tamarind sauce. They also make and bottle their own liquor. Who knows what was in it, but let’s just say that it did the job nicely.

Good friends, good food and good spirits. What could be better?

Peter and Nina. Aren’t they the cutest? Nina is currently ranked my #3 favorite Canadian. #2 is Lainey of Lainey Gossip and #1 is Alanis Morissette. Avril Lavigne is #4.

Two Cathys and one shot.

Hot vit lon. Our Vietnamese guests Hanh and Vuong placed an order for fetal duck eggs in tamarind sauce, so I had one too. Mmm! I mean it. We also ate clams with garlic, blood cockles with tamarind and grilled shell fish with scallions and peanuts.

Group shot minus Nina.

After dinner, we hopped a cab and zoomed to New Karaoke in District 3. Hanh made us reservations so when we arrived our room was ready to go!

I got the party started with a sweet sweet performance (if I do say so myself) of “Dress You Up In My Love” by Madonna. The lyrics appear on the flat screen, while the music blares from a fairly advanced sound system. The most awesome part was the video footage that accompanied the lyrics. Instead of a lame music video, there were scenes of Vietnam—Hue, Hanoi, Saigon! While I was belting out Madonna, Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum popped up. Awesome, right?

Oh, and the other super-cool thing about singing karaoke in Vietnam is that your performance is rated afterwards. I scored a 92 with my Madonna performance and a 100 with “Gangsta’s Paradise”!

Here’s The Astronomer cheerily singing “Drive My Car” by The Beatles. He scored in the high eighties for this performance.

Here’s Peter singing some Linda Rondstadt. Nina did not know the words, but Peter’s vocals were so strong that he carried the tune alone.

Here is Hanh singing a Vietnamese number. Later in the evening she treated us to a performance of “Itty Bitty, Teeny Weeny, Yellow Polka Dot Bikini.” How come all Vietnamese people know that song?