Street Food
09 Nov 2007

Bánh Mì Thịt Nướng

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Everyday
Cuisine: Vietnamese, Sandwich

Binh Van Dan Street/Ong Lanh Bridge
District 4, Ho Chi Minh City

Phone: none
Website: none

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Banh Mi Thit Nuong (5,000 VND)

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One of the best parts about living in Vietnam is the opportunity to build relationships with small restaurant owners and street vendors through repeated visits to their establishments. In my case, these relationships tend to be rather superficial due to my limited language skills—usually restricted to an exchange of knowing smiles and a well-placed “Rat Ngon!“—but nevertheless they are quite satisfying.

I recently made a new friend on the drive to work: a man selling banh mi thit nuong from a cart that he pushes daily over Ong Lanh Bridge between District 4 and District 1. I’m a big fan of banh mi—the classic Vietnamese baguette sandwich with meat, pate, fish, or egg—and an even bigger fan of thit nuong, but until recently I had not been lucky enough to enjoy the two combined into a single treat. It turns out banh mi thit nuong is eaten almost exclusively in the morning, and due to my Western prejudices, I’ve been clinging stubbornly to cereal as the breakfast food of choice. However, I think I’m coming around.

Banh mi thit nuong vendors typically carry a small grill directly on their cart and cook up fresh pork slabs throughout the morning. My man cooks the meat in small pieces on skewers—bite-sized tidbits that are perfect for a sandwich. He expertly slices open a baguette with scissors (this rivals the ubiquitous rubber band magic for the most impressive feat I’ve seen from a street vendor), loads in the thit nuong off one skewer, adds a bit of bi (a mixture of pork and pork skin) and a generous helping of scallion oil and do chua (pickled vegetables), and tops it all off with a dousing of nuoc mam.

It really doesn’t get any better than this. Thit nuong with nuoc mam is, in my opinion, one of the greatest partnerships ever devised in the culinary world. After my initial discovery of this vendor, I started a banh mi thit nuong eating streak lasting at least 6 or 7 business days. Every morning we pull up behind him as he walks toward District 1; I say “chao anh!” and he turns around with a smile. With The Gastronomer’s help, I have learned that he has one child and sells approximately 50 sandwiches per morning. Sometimes we pass him before he has started his walk, so we now also know where he lives. This bodes well for my future breakfast prospects.

The Gastronomer has so far passed on this terrific opportunity to enjoy thit nuong on the way to work, preferring to stick with her old fibrous standbys from Trader Joes and Maximark. In this respect, at least, I may be more Vietnamese than she is. I’ll admit that grilled meat in the morning still feels a little strange, but I can’t deny that it’s delicious. Why limit yourself to only two truly exciting meals per day?

Street Food
07 Nov 2007

Cruising the Mekong Delta

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The Astronomer and I played hooky two Fridays ago to visit the Mekong Delta. We traveled with a tour group (Sinh Cafe) because the southern part of Vietnam isn’t as accessible as the larger cities. For a measly eighteen bucks, we enjoyed a two-day, one-night excursion and a souvenir t-shirt.

We began our tour at 8 AM at the Sinh Cafe office in Saigon. We arrived in the Mekong two and a half hours later and boarded a boat to see the Cai Be floating market. Unfortunately, it was quite late by Vietnam standards and most of the buying and selling action had died down.

The second stop on the tour was at the Thanh Phong candy “factory” where we saw coconut candy, rice paper and rice crispy treats being made. The coconut candy tasted like dulce de leche with only a hint of coconut, while the rice crispy treats reminded me of Kashi puffed cereal. We were told that the rice paper would be used to make egg rolls.

After the factory tour, we boarded the boat to explore the delta a bit more and then headed to lunch. Lunch was included in the package and consisted of soup, rice, pork chops, egg rolls, and some veggies. I ate way too many sweets during the candy tour, so I gave my chop and rice to my hungry traveling companion. The soup was a simple vegetable and pasta combination that seems to be a Mekong Delta specialty.

Course I: vegetable and pasta soup

Course II: pork chops with rice, vegetables and egg rolls

Toward the end of lunch, a three-piece Vietnamese band performed songs using traditional instruments. I really liked how the singers contorted their voices for the Cải Lương numbers.

Post-lunch we hopped on the boat once more to further explore the Delta. The surroundings were beautiful and peaceful. After an hour or so, the boat dropped us off in the city of Vinh Long where we boarded a bus that took us to the city of Can Tho via ferry.

For dinner, The Astronomer and I ditched the tour group and sought out some good ‘ol street food. Can Tho is the largest city in the southern portion of the country, but sadly doesn’t have a large selection of street eats. We stopped for a bite at a stall selling bun mang on Tran Viet Chau Street.

The damp Mekong air put us in the mood for a hot bowl of duck noodle soup.

Duck Noodle Soup (10,000 VND)

The bun mang really hit the spot; I especially enjoyed dipping the duck in the ginger fish sauce. The Astronomer drowned his blood Jello in the ginger fish sauce to make it more palatable—whatever floats your boat. After dinner we went to the hotel and crashed.

Day two of the tour began bright and early. The hotel buzzed our room at 6:30 AM and we departed to see the Cai Rang floating market at 7:30 AM. The market is mainly for wholesalers rather than regular folks, so we didn’t make any purchases. The large pole on each boat signifies what the boat is selling.

After a three-hour tour of the markets and surrounding areas, we arrived at a fruit orchard to relax. There were many hammocks set up along the shady trees, which The Astronomer really dug. We also enjoyed some fresh fruits.

The penultimate stop on the Mekong Delta tour was at a rice husking factory. As a proponent of whole-grains and fiber, I must admit that I was saddened by this whole affair. We saw a huge machine that essentially stripped the nutrients from the rice—how depressing.

Before busing back to Saigon, the tour stopped at a restaurant in Can Tho for lunch. The prices were high and the portions were small. Double whammy. Time constraints made it impossible to ditch the group during this meal. The Astronomer ordered the beef and fries, while I had some frog!

Beef and fries with baguette (30,000 VND)

Frog sauteed with onions, glass noodles, and mushrooms (30,000 VND)

This was my first encounter with frog, which I thought tasted like a cross between chicken and fish. Ribbit! My mom says that I should eat a lot of frog in Vietnam because American frozen frog just isn’t as good. Yes, ma’am.

Mekong Delta
06 Nov 2007

Vegetation Profile: Bitter Melon

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Momordica charantia is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family Cucurbitaceae, widely grown for edible fruit, which is among the most bitter of all vegetables. English names for the plant and its fruit include bitter melon or bitter gourd (translated from Chinese: 苦瓜; pinyin: kǔguā), in Jamaica it is generally known as cerasse. The original home of the species is not known, other than that it is a native of the tropics. It is widely grown in South and Southeast Asia, China, Africa, and the Caribbean.

The fruit has a distinct warty looking exterior and an oblong shape. It is hollow in cross-section, with a relatively thin layer of flesh surrounding a central seed cavity filled with large flat seeds and pith. Bitter melon comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. The typical Chinese phenotype is 20 to 30 cm long, oblong with bluntly tapering ends and pale green in color, with a gently undulating, warty surface.

Bitter melon or khổ qua is a staple in down home Vietnamese cooking. I have encountered it stuffed with ground meat at com binh dan establishments and simmered in a soup at my grandma’s sister’s house. I’ve even seen it stuffed with meat and simmering in a soup simultaneously. Regardless of the style of preparation, bitter melon seems to be an acquired taste that just doesn’t vibe well with me. The melon’s texture is pleasant, but its flavor is way too harsh.