I have a sick fascination with airplane food.

Even though I was heading to Hong Kong, a veritable cornucopia of food, I was eagerly anticipating the on-board meal. As someone who prides herself on never wasting space on unworthy food, I’m a bit embarrassed by my enthusiasm for mile-high cuisine.

As the squeaky cart rolled my way, I awoke from my nap, adjusted my seat upward, pulled down my tray and waited for the steward to ask the magic question: pork or fish? “Fish!” I peppily declared. The Astronomer chose pork with dramatically less pep.

Fish proved to be a great choice. The hunks of flaky white fish were smothered in a classic Chinese sweet, gingery and spicy sauce. The ordinary white rice paired with the savory fish and the steamed bok choy made me feel like I was already in China. The carrots looked a bit iffy, so I passed them onto The Astronomer. Aren’t I muy generosa?

Sides included a warm roll with a pat of salted butter from New Zealand and a shrimp, lettuce and cucumber salad. The roll was excellent, while the salad was pretty, but boring (see: Mischa Barton). The first dessert, tiny pearls of tapioca topped with bland squares of JELLO, was mildly interesting. But the second dessert, a mini Kit Kat bar, was far tastier.

The Astronomer’s main was a slab of pig topped with scallions and a single chili. The chop sat on a bed of shrimp and saffron rice along with chunks of squash and some broccoli. My space was too precious to try the pork, but according to The Astronomer, the pork tasted much better than it looked. The rice and veggies weren’t bad. Like all saffron-infused dishes, the rice’s appearance shined brighter than its actual flavor. The Astronomer’s other side dishes were identical to mine.

We arrived in Hong Kong fueled and ready to pound the pavement in search of the best eats in town. If you thought Bangkok was impressive, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

Practically every vendor in town sells the same dish each day. This type of specialization usually results in a dependably consistent product. However, I recently found a lunch lady outside my office at 23 Hoang Sa Street in District 1 that changes up her menu daily without sacrificing quality. Score!

Goi cuon (spring rolls) with hoisin sauce are an everyday staple, but it’s always a surprise which broth and noodle dish she’ll be serving up. Here’s what The Astronomer and I ate on our first visit under her tasty awning.

Goi Cuon (2,000 VND per roll)

Bun Moc - vermicelli rice noodles in a mild pork-based broth with slices of pork and various forcemeats (12,000 VND)

Banh Canh - noodles made of rice and tapioca flour in a mild pork-based broth with slices of pork and various forcemeats (12,000 VND)

Che Thap Cam - dessert drink with seaweed, basil seeds, grass jelly and mung beans (5,000 VND)

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The spring rolls were solid, much better than your average street stall rendition. The hoisin sauce, which can either make or break goi cuon, was also very good.

Both main dishes employed the same broth with different noodles. The Astronomer requested bun, while I went for slippery banh canh. During The Astronomer’s “I’m going to eat a new dish each night” phase when I worked at the Saigon Times, he tried bun moc and found it bland. Luckily, this version was anything but boring. The broth was deeply porky and deftly salted. A varied collection of meats and the deep-fried shallots rounded out the dish.

This was my first time having banh canh with a broth made of something other than crab, and I liked it quite a bit. The noodles, which can sometimes be slimy, had a lovely bite like Japanese udon.

I finished off lunch with a tall plastic cup of che. I love the texture of basil seeds between my molars.

Having a standout lunch option five paces from my office is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it’s good because I have a dependable source of fuel, but it’s not so good because I don’t bother exploring new eateries. I’m sure I’ll find a suitable balance for the sake of gas•tron•o•my.

This lunch lady rules.

Cuisine: Vietnamese

91 Cach Mang Thang 8 Street
District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Phone: none
Website: none

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Fried Finger Foods - cha gio (6,000 VND), banh xep (7,000 VND), xui mai (1,000 VND), banh tom thit (7,000 VND), banh bao chien (8,000 VND)

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I hate to typecast myself, but the fact of the matter is that I have become a bit of a Deep-Fried Guru for gas•tron•o•my. The Gastronomer doesn’t allow just any old lipid to roam those squeaky-clean arteries of hers, so if a grease-laden meal doesn’t look ultra delicious (see Jollybee), she just might choose not to partake. Nevertheless, someone has to report on the less healthy offerings in Saigon, so I sacrifice myself for the sake of our readers. Don’t worry, I’m not suffering too much. Although I could pass on Western-style fast food, I find cha gio, street donuts, and other local deep-fried delicacies totally irresistible.

It’s not surprising, then, that I am a frequent visitor of a take out eatery called Banh Xep Chien Don on CMT8. The goods are always displayed on a table out front to attract passing motorists, and they’re usually fresh out of the frying oil. Prices are a bit higher than you might expect, but it’s totally worth it—these are some tasty treats.

My personal favorite is the cha gio—definitely a contender for the title of “best in Saigon.” As always, these pork-filled wonders are best piping hot, but even when they’ve been sitting out awhile they’re still excellent. Never soggy or burnt tasting, the cha gio have a perfect meaty, greasy flavor [note: The Gastronomer wanted me to edit this sentence on the grounds that it “doesn’t sound appealing.” Well, trust me, they’re greasy in a good way]. What really sets them apart is the dipping sauce. It looks like chili sauce, but it’s actually sweet and sour, which is much, much better in my opinion. I haven’t tasted a sauce like this anywhere else in Vietnam. While I enjoy dipping my cha gio in nuoc mam, I find this flavor combination to be even more delicious.

The same sauce is served with each of the shack’s other offerings. I frequently order banh xep, a solid, crunchy snack that is a better deal than the cha gio from a size perspective but tastes a bit more ordinary. These are quite similar to the banh goi I ate in Hanoi, but I find them superior due to the lack of mushrooms.

The banh tom thit are another hearty treat for meat-lovers. They’re basically breaded deep-fried ground pork logs, but the “chefs” insert a single shrimp with its tail sticking out the end to spice things up. Even more intriguing are the banh bao chien, which are essentially the standard soft white buns (albeit the version with no egg) submerged in hot oil until they’re golden brown. Wolfing down a couple of these will fill you up in a hurry.

The only real letdown are the xui mai—I had high hopes for these little fried dumplings but found them bland and totally uninspiring. The one time I tried them they were cold, so I know I should give them another shot, but with four other tempting choices, why risk disappointment?

Okra (American English: [ˈoʊkɹə], British English [ˈəʊkɹə], [ˈɒkɹə]), also known as lady’s finger, bhindi (Hindustani) and gumbo, is a flowering plant in the mallow family (along with such species as cotton and cocoa) valued for its edible green fruits. Its scientific name is Abelmoschus esculentus.

The species is an annual or perennial, growing to 2 m tall. The leaves are 10–20 cm long and broad, palmately lobed with 5–7 lobes. The flowers are 4–8 cm diameter, with five white to yellow petals, often with a red or purple spot at the base of each petal. The fruit is a capsule up to 18 cm long, containing numerous seeds.

The species apparently originated in the Ethiopian Highlands, though the manner of distribution from there is undocumented. The Egyptians and Moors of the 12th and 13th centuries used the Arab word for the plant, suggesting that it had come from the east. The plant may thus have been taken across the Red Sea or the Bab-el-Mandeb strait to the Arabian Peninsula, rather than north across the Sahara. One of the earliest accounts is by a Spanish Moor who visited Egypt in 1216, who described the plant under cultivation by the locals who ate the tender, young pods with meal.

From Arabia, the plant spread around the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and eastward. The lack of a word for okra in the ancient languages of India suggests that it arrived there in the Common Era. The plant was introduced to the Americas by ships plying the Atlantic slave trade by 1658, when its presence was recorded in Brazil. It was further documented in Suriname in 1686. Okra may have been introduced to the southeastern North America in the early 18th century and gradually spread. It was being grown as far north as Philadelphia by 1748, while Thomas Jefferson noted that it was well established in Virginia by 1781. It was commonplace throughout the southern United States by 1800 and the first mention of different cultivars was in 1806.

Until I moved to Saigon, I never knew that okra or đậu bắp made an appearance in Vietnamese cuisine. I always associated the vegetable with southern specialties like gumbo.

In Vietnam, đậu bắp is most commonly found in a soup called canh chua alongside pineapples, tomatoes, and upright elephant ears (bac ha). I’ve also encountered it sauteed and served as a side dish at restaurants specializing in broken rice and paired with raw meets at DIY grilling eateries.

In my experience with Vietnamese-American home cooking and restaurant fare, đậu bắp is pretty much non-existent. Is it just me or has đậu bắp lost its importance in Vietnamese food abroad?

Bánh lỗ tai or ear-shaped cookies are one of The Astronomer’s and my favorite Vietnamese snacks. Although they contain sesame seeds, their flavor is not purely sesame. They are a bit sweet, a smidgen salty and very addictive. Trust me. There are two types of bánh lỗ tai on the market—the thick variety and the thin kind. I’ve tasted both and there’s no question in my mind that the thick one is much tastier. Unlike chips and other cookie counterparts, bánh lỗ tai’s texture is hearty and satisfying.

I bought the batch above from the cookie dealer on wheels in District 4 who sells 100 grams for 7,000 VND. And just like everything else in Saigon, these cookies taste extra delicious after they’ve chilled in the fridge.

I don’t cook much in Saigon, but these gorgeous squid inspired me to get into the kitchen and whip up something fresh and delicious. During Tet, The Astronomer and I won some noodles at the Saigon Times New Year’s celebration and they’ve been sitting in the cupboard since then. Not wanting them to go to waste, I decided to make mi xao muc (pan-fried noodles with squid).

The ingredients included two good-sized squid, salt, pepper, scallions, two tomatoes, half a pineapple, okra, green beans, fish sauce and dried egg noodles. This dish was made to my taste, so I don’t have exact measurements.

And here’s the final product. I call this dish Traffic Stopping Squid Noodles due to the red, yellow and green color scheme. Cheesy, I know, but totally delicious too!

April 20, 2008
Cuisine: Chinese

99 Nguyen Du Street
District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Phone: 823 7799
Website: none

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All U Can Eat Dim Sum (120,000 VND per person)

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I like everything about dim sum except for the time of day it is consumed. For me, mornings are about whole grains and fresh fruit, not soy sauce and porky oiliness. Don’t get me wrong, I love the swine, just not before 1 PM.

The Astronomer, on the other hand, is always hankering for meaty dumplings. I gave into his wishes a few weeks back because he did lots of research to locate the best dim sum in town.

We headed to Huy Long Viên with Hawkins and Hanh (The Astronomer’s Vietnamese teacher) in tow on a sunny Sunday. Although I wanted to avoid overeating, the all-you-can-eat deal was just too irresistible to pass up. Plus, everyone was doing it and I’m a follower.

Unlike traditional dim sum joints with rolling carts and brash women, here we ordered off a menu and the food was made to order. It was civilized and all, but missing the rowdiness that I love about dim sum places.

The shrimp, beef and pork wrapped in thin rice paper sheets and drizzled with a soy broth were some of my favorites. The shrimp and scallop dumplings were also damn good. However, after a solid hour of dim summing, each container of steamed dumplings started to taste like the previous. And that’s when we knew it was time to get out of there.

The all-you-can-eat option also comes with unlimited desserts. The only item that appealed to Hanh and I was the mango pudding and sadly, they were out. Unfair!

We left Huy Long Viên filled with too much meaty goodness in our tummies. To work off our feast, we headed to a nearby playground…

Here’s Hawk having a dizzying time.

And The Astronomer doing the same. I stayed on the sidelines and snapped away. By the way, playground equipment in Vietnam is much more fun because there’s always an element of danger.

April 18, 2008
Cuisine: Vietnamese

5A Tran Nhat Duat Street
District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Phone: 8484240
Website: www.chacahanoi.com.vn

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Chả Cá Hà Nội - fried fish fillets with dill and spring onions (89,000 VND per person)

Fixins - vermicelli rice noodles, peanuts, fresh herbs, rice crackers, limes, fish sauce and shrimp paste

Ca Cuong Drops - a pheromone liquid from a tiny gland behind the wings of the male Ca Cuong, a beetle that lives in the rice fields (28,000 VND per drop)

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Ever since The Astronomer made his way to Hanoi and tried Chả Cá without me, I’ve been suffering from palette envy. In order to even the score, we headed to Chả Cá Hà Nội in Saigon with our friend Hawkins a few weeks back. I’ll make my way to Hanoi one of these days, but until then, this southern version will have to suffice.

Even though the restaurant is named Chả Cá Hà Nội, it actually serves a number of other dishes, but we came for the house specialty. Before the star of the show arrived, our waitress brought out an array of accouterments including spliced spring onions, noodles, toasted peanuts, herbs, limes chilies, shrimp paste and fish sauce.

Wandering Chopsticks sent me an interesting article a few months back about the joys of pairing water beetle musk with Chả Cá, so we ordered a squirt of ca cuong out of curiosity. I was expecting our waitress to extract juices from an actual beetle, but instead she had a sterile little bottle filled with clear liquid.

I tasted the fish sauce both pre and post beetle droplet and couldn’t tell the difference between the two, which was rather disappointing. We could have shelled out 28,000 more dong for another drop, but were too skeptical (and cheap) to do so. Next time, I’ll just ask the waitress to squirt the musk directly onto my tongue and have the beetle essence permeate the dish that way. To the left is a picture of our waitress adding a drop of water beetle essence into our nuoc mam.

The fish arrived sizzling on a frying pan and was placed on a table-side burner to continue cooking. Our waitress added a pile of greenery including fresh dill and scallions to marinate with the fish.

After the fish and herbs were perfectly melded, we excitedly assembled our bowls of Chả Cá Hà Nội. I began with a cool pile of noodles, added in toasted peanuts and broken bits of rice cracker, spooned on the hot fish and herbs, drizzled on some shrimp paste and squeezed in a smidgen of lime. The end result was not only pretty, but spectacularly delicious too.

I sometimes feel that Vietnamese food can get a little redundant due to the constant employment of pickled vegetables, fish sauce, fresh herbs, etc., but Chả Cá is definitely a unique treat within the genre. What sets this dish apart from other Vietnamese standbys is the pungent shrimp paste and strong shot of dill.

According to The Astronomer, the version we had down south was just as good as the one he enjoyed in Hanoi.

On our final day in Nha Trang, we did a bit of sightseeing and mud bathing. We spent the morning hours seeking out the city’s famous giant Buddha, but stumbled upon a small Buddha first.

Fat, peaceful and happy.

We’re getting closer—the giant Buddha from afar.

At last! We found the giant Buddha.

The temple grounds were adorned with signs engraved with the Buddha’s teachings. This one was one of my favorites—speak like the Buddha, think I like Buddha, work like the Buddha.

Before jetting off to the mud baths, we bought some xoi chien to snack on. They were filled with “meat” that resembled the stuff Taco Bell serves up. Texturally interesting, but not all that tasty.

After our therapeutic mud session, we bought some good ‘ol banh mi and swam in the ocean one last time before catching our flight back to Saigon.

For dessert, Matt and I shared a caramel sundae from an ice cream shop by our hotel. The whipped cream tasted like artificial butter flavoring, which we liked a lot.

Just as we landed in Saigon, I received a call from Ba Sau (my grandma’s sister) inviting me over for dinner. When Ba Sau calls, I always oblige. We ate a lotus stem salad with shrimp and pork…

Cha gio...

Xoi gac!

Fried rice…

And chicken curry with rice vermicelli noodles. I am one lucky girl.

We started off day two with complimentary breakfast from our hotel. I ordered a pineapple crepe and a banana smoothie. The crepe was all sorts of bland so I dipped it in The Astronomer’s honey, which made it much better. After we finished breakfast, we headed off on a snorkeling tour!

The Astronomer and I had such an awesome time on our snorkeling tour in Phu Quoc, that we had to sign up for another one in Nha Trang. While I usually dislike tours, I think that snorkeling ones are wonderful because there’s usually lots of interesting people to meet, beautiful sites to see, and good food to be had.

The Astronomer loves being out in the open sea. Just look at him—the boy is deliriously happy. The coral along the islands off the coast of Nha Trang weren’t as colorful as the ones in Phu Quoc, but we still had a great time swimming and floating around. The Vietnamese girls on our tour liked to squeal before getting into the water. What a riot.

After snorkeling, we were served lunch on board. This here is shark with tomatoes. Shark, as you can imagine, is a meaty fish.

The squid with pineapple was my favorite. The squid was much more tender than what we had for dinner the first night.

I ate two plates of tofu with tomatoes by myself. I just love how deep-fried tofu soaks up flavors like a sponge.

I used the fish forcemeat with black peppercorns (cha ca) and a baguette to make a lovely sandwich.

Matt says that the shrimps were damn good, but I was too lazy to take the shells off. Lame, right? Sorry.

I did not try the ramen noodles with vegetables because I was too busy eating tofu and baguettes.

Now this is my kinda dessert. These types of bananas are called chuoi gia, which means old bananas. They taste very similar to the ones the U.S. imports from South America.

After lunch we were treated to live music! This was THE best part of the whole trip. I had an especially good time because they honored my requests and played both “Hotel California” and “My Heart Will Go On.” Eee!

Who has four thumbs and loves cover bands? These guys!

After the concert, the crew busted out the floating bar and handed everyone a bottle of wine. A boy from Australia got super drunk and made out with a British girl. I never thought I would encounter such shenanigans post-college, but I guess we’re never too old to whoop it up!

Good friends sharing a bottle of wine on the open sea.

A slightly tipsy Astronomer swimming back to the boat.

And just in case you wanted to drink what we drank—the wine is from Dalat and made of mulberries. Look for it the next time you’re at Beverages and More.

Once everyone was thoroughly wasted, we had a fruit party! We invited all of our bestest friends—pineapple, watermelon, oranges, dragon fruit, guava and even water apples.

Our last stop before heading home was the Nha Trang aquarium. This unagi looks more scary than delicious.

Shark.

After our day of snorkeling fun, we returned to our hotel and went for a run. Later that evening, we walked around town in search of dinner. “Spaghetti Street” was calling our names, but we passed. We ended up at another seafood emporium because I didn’t do proper research before my trip.

Our first course was a plate of onion rings. These were sliced really thinly and battered lightly. I prefer fatty onion rings with a thick panko crust like the ones at Buddakan.

Our main course was a deliciously prepared fish with woodear mushrooms and glass noodles. Mmm boy.

I ate the fish straight up, but The Astronomer chose to wrap it properly with rice paper, green mangoes, cucumbers, herbs and lettuce.

We closed out the night with some fried rice. It tasted just like my mama’s, minus the Chinese sausage.