As I sat in a small restaurant savouring my first ever bowl of pho in Vietnam, I was brought straight back to my childhood. One of my earliest childhood memories brings me back to when I was really young, I'd say no older than six years old, and I was spending the day with my grandparents. I used to love taking the metro, and asked Nonno Nicola if we could take a ride to China Town. Without hesitation, he said yes, and we were off! Once we arrived in China Town, I insisted we go to my favourite pho place, called Pho Bac. Whenever I went with my mom, she'd never allowed me to order any size bigger than a small, so naturally, accompanied by only my grandfather, I ordered myself an extra-large, and proceeded to devour... only about half of it!
Pho Bac became my go-to pho place in Montreal, a place I would return to over and over and over, and pho quickly became one of my all-time favourite foods. As soon as I decided to move to Korea to teach English, Vietnam quickly propelled itself to the top of my list of places to visit in Asia. The thing is, I didn't know anything about Vietnam, all I knew is that I needed to find the most delicious bowl of pho in the world, and it would likely be there.
It's no wonder, then, that over the span of my six days in Vietnam I indulged in five phos, and remain quite satisfied with every single one of them.
As soon as I checked into my hostel on my first day in Hanoi, the receptionist directed me to a small restaurant two doors down. The restaurant actually had a lineup at the door, but I waited and then sat down. The pho was served quickly, and was absolutely delicious! For no more than $3 CAD, you're bound to leave satisfied.
Over the course of the week, I returned to this one restaurant, but got more pho from another restaurant, my hostel (served free for breakfast) and a huge food market in the centre of Hoi An.
Though you can certainly find it throughout the country, pho is from Hanoi,and the people of Hanoi tend to eat it at any time throughout the day. In fact it is quite common for it to be eaten for breakfast, and if you wander around Hanoi's Old Quarter, you're bound to sniff the soup's savoury aroma as people often prepare it in the street.
In fact, in Vietnam you can even find what is considered "deconstructed pho," which is essentially all the ingredients that go into the soup, just without the broth, also quite delicious (and healthy).
Vietnam, however, is about much more than just pho. A staple of Vietnamese cuisine is its fried noodles. I tried the Vietnamese fried noodles with vegetables (though you can get it with beef), and they were quite flavourful!
Another staple from the Vietnamese restaurant I used to go to in Montreal was spring rolls, and I couldn't believe I waited until my last day in Vietnam to taste some spring rolls there, but when I finally found some (at the same food market) in Hoi An, I needed to try them for myself.
Hoi An actually served up quite a few surprises. The city, located in the centre of Vietnam, is somewhat of a foodie paradise, as it boasts a huge food market in the centre of the city where you can find pretty much anything.
On my first night in Hoi An, and then once again during my second day there, I tried a dish that I knew nothing about. I was starving after just getting into the city and not having eaten for hours, and I walked into an outdoor restaurant and saw a menu consisting of three items. I wasn't going to order pho again, so I decided to try out a dish called "cau lau."
The dish seemed quite strange at first. It featured some brussel sprouts, some greens, some pork, some strange (but good) noodles and some crunchy bacon-like things, all sitting in a thin layer of broth. The dish was meant to be mixed up, and it was actually quite tasty once you mix it all together and add some lime.
Once I got back to my hostel, I wanted to learn a bit more about this strange dish. I quickly discovered that this dish is so unique that you will never find it outside of Hoi An. The reason for this is that cau lau is made by using water from an ancient Cham well located just outside of town, and thus cannot be reproduced anywhere else in the world. Naturally, before leaving, I had to try the dish a second time.
Perhaps the "dish" I was most impressed by in Vietnam, something I now crave on a regular basis, is the banh mi sandwich. Every single traveller I met in Vietnam agreed that this sandwich was one of the best sandwiches they'd ever eaten, and it's not hard to understand why.
Vietnam had been colonized by the French, and the French left their imprint in many aspects of the country, the food being no exception. Baguettes and bread are very common throughout Vietnam, and a banh mi sandwich can essentially contain anything, though there's one variety that you'll find more often than others.
The banh mi sandwich will usually include some form of meat, though pork, beef or chicken are the most common meats used (I tried one of each), and will then be stuffed with an assortment of vegetables, such as cucumbers, cilantro, pickled carrots and white radishes. Typical condiments used include spicy chili sauce, sliced chilies, Maggi seasoning sauce (no clue what that is), mayo and cheese.
I actually ate at one of the most famous banh mi restaurants in Hoi An called Madam Kanh, the Banh Mi Queen, which is apparently where the sandwich was first invented. I agree with everyone else: one of the most incredible sandwiches I've ever eaten.
Finally, one more element of Vietnamese cuisine that stood out was not a food, but a drink. Vietnam is quite a coffee-drinking nation, and one of the unique Vietnamese coffees you can get is something called "egg coffee."
Egg coffee. Sounds weird, doesn't it? Egg coffee is simply made by whisking together some egg yolks with some sugar and condensed milk, and adding this mix atop the coffee. Sprinkle in a bit of sugar, and I assure you, it will taste like heaven. We even visited the restaurant where the drink was first invented, which actually looked like a hole in the wall from the outside but was quite popular inside.
Indeed, it was an exhilarating food journey through Vietnam. I had some high expectations going in, but in a mere six days, the food was not only able to meet expectations, but to exceed them. Go to Vietnam and try the food, it's a foodie paradise!
-Daniele
