January 26, 2008
Cuisine: Vietnamese
607 Nguyen Kiem Street * CLOSED *
Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City
Phone: none
Website: none
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Banh Xeo (25,000 VND for 10)
Bo La Lot (28,000 VND)
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“Look for the flames on the left-hand-side of the road,” instructed Zach.
With such spot-on instructions, The Astronomer and I easily located this banh xeo and bo la lot joint in an unfamiliar part of town.
Phu Nhuan District is a good 30 minute ride from District 4, but one bite of their banh xeo, and the long trip is completely worth it.
Unlike the giant, paper-thin, slightly soggy, ton-o-bean sprouts banh xeo served up at 46A and Long Huy, the ones in Phu Nuan are more like those I ate in Da Nang.
The banh xeo are made in front of the restaurant in small griddles over large flames. The smoky environs lend a welcomed char to the saffron beauties.
Measuring four inches in diameter, these banh xeo are wonderfully crispy and filled with grilled pork pieces similar to thit nuong, a few bean sprouts, and a smattering of whole mung beans.
Wrapped up in mustard leaves and dipped in nuoc mam, these banh xeo were so so good. Without the help of Zach’s ESL students, we would have never found this place.
The Astronomer and Zach are both very fond of bo la lot—grilled seasoned beef wrapped in betel leaves. The ones made here are grilled out front next to the banh xeo and have a nice ratio of meat to leaves.
Whereas I like to eat bo la lot without adornments, the boys take the time to wrap theirs in lettuce, herbs, and rice paper and dip them in nuoc mam. Either way, they’re a great complement to the banh xeo.
About: With Julia Child’s death in 2004 at age 91, her grandnephew Prud’homme (The Cell Game) completed this playful memoir of the famous chef’s first, formative sojourn in France with her new husband, Paul Child, in 1949. The couple met during WWII in Ceylon, working for the OSS, and soon after moved to Paris, where Paul worked for the U.S. Information Service. Child describes herself as a “rather loud and unserious Californian,” 36, six-foot-two and without a word of French, while Paul was 10 years older, an urbane, well-traveled Bostonian. Startled to find the French amenable and the food delicious, Child enrolled at the Cordon Bleu and toiled with increasing zeal under the rigorous tutelage of éminence grise Chef Bugnard. “Jackdaw Julie,” as Paul called her, collected every manner of culinary tool and perfected the recipes in her little kitchen on rue de l’Université (“Roo de Loo”). She went on to start an informal school with sister gourmandes Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, who were already at work on a French cookbook for American readers, although it took Child’s know-how to transform the tome—after nine years, many title changes and three publishers—into the bestselling Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961). This is a valuable record of gorgeous meals in bygone Parisian restaurants, and the secret arts of a culinary genius – Publishers Weekly