Food in da Vietnam and Cambodia

I happened upon a lot of photos of the food and drinks I had while in Vietnam. Seeing as this is as much of a food blog as anything else, of course I will oblige with these rather special and delicious choices of yum-yums.

If there is one thing that truly rocked about the food and drinks of Cambodia and Vietnam, it’s the abundance of fruit crushes. Every thing we had was very fresh and extremely authentic in taste, consistency, and actual fruit (as opposed to bad fruit + condensed juice + ice ala every crush selling place in Australia) some selections are below. One strange oddity was that there was no milk in the country, and almost all drinks used long life milk or condensed milk - making for some very, very sweet coffee indeed.

To quote a colleague of mine, food in Cambodia is ‘oh my god, this tastes like crap, what meat is this?’ This was true, as the flavour was robust and the use of spices liberal, but the quality of the meat was so bad that I could not actually stomached a dish of Luk-Luk beef because the semi rare flesh looked less than fresh. Added to the fact that Australia produces some of the finest beef in the world, and that Cambodian’s idea of a butcher is a cart swarming with flies in forty degree heat in the middle of market square…

I think my other mate had the right idea when he stuck to curry, because our young ward was struck down with a stomach bug so very soon after our arrival. Luckily this punter’s guts are lined with manly Australian corrugated iron from all the mercury in our meat pies.

The food however was disappointing. No restaurant bar the pho` ones we visited could put out a consistent service or flavour. There were almost no foods that were so delicious as to be unavailable here in Australia.

When we arrived at Cat-ba Island, there was an absolute abundance of seafood, so much that my mouth watered and eyes squinted at the alien crustaceans I would soon devour en-mass. However to my horror and amazement, there were plenty of produce but one common theme – the utter lack of chefs.

It would seem that there is an almost derelict lack of high level chefs and even country fare cooks in the over populated tourism city of Cat-Ba. We were only staying for one night, and after surveying about ten or so restaurants, they seemed to share one common theme. All seafood were either boiled or cooked in a broth. There was no French Fusion Crab Curry. There were no Dry Chili and Spice Crabs. There was no Ginger and Shallot Crab with Friend Egg Noodle base. There only thing that did not involve a large boiled crab was variations of lemongrass, mint, coriander, basil, and fish sauce. While in Australia the Vietnamese fusion restaurants were doing so well that I was utterly shocked to find in Vietnam, tradition ruled.

Now for both countries, the street food is the highlight. The subsequent renal kidney failure is one of many disadvantages that may occur. Here are some highlights of the food we had. (Did not blog at the time, so pics not withstanding)

1. Pho` - I never realized pho was a breakfast food. Now I know. Almost daily we had the delicious and delectable pho from the local street stalls and restaurants. There is few things I have had in my long life of eating that could equate to the fresh taste of silky flowing Pho freshly made and swimming in a clear but rich soup of beef broth,. The meat was subpar as always, but the sheer delight of the noodles made my day each morning.

2. Pork Pho` from central Vietnam – worthy of mention because this was made from thick gelatinous noodles similar to Udon. It was also cooked using clear pork soup (an extremely difficult feat for those who tried making pork soup before), and served with slices of pork hock (front paw). The result is a chewy and delicious combination entirely different to traditional Pho`.

3. Vietnamese Spring Rolls – there is something about deep friend rice paper and the combination of mince, carrot, celery, rice noodles, and fish sauce that really kept us eating this artery buster daily for about a month. By the ends of which despite 5 – 6 hours of walking per day, I actually put on some weight. It is quite delicious though, the fact that oil used to cook this was probably never changed in the month and month made this a cancer inducing roll of tiny delicious death.

4. Vietnamese Pork Rolls – after our ward falls to stomach bugs, my other two companions refused to eat food off the streets. I was undeterred and gun it with all I got. The result was a discovery of the most delicious bread rolls. Freshly baked French style (hard bread, hi heat oven, crusty on the outside and soft within) with cured roasted pork (get it before 10 am to ensure fresh slices), pickles and vegetables. The ingredient that really made it (or gave my friend gastronomic acrobatics) was the preserved liver sauce, ala pâté` of pork that smeared the bread and gave it a robust, fortified and unforgettable taste of pure bliss. I love Viet bread rolls, I love it here, but the ones in Vietnam really rocked your taste buds.

There were probably more isolated cases of delicious food, but overall our experience culinary was a little disappointing seeing as we knew no locals, and the tourist packed places we visited all had little more than tourist faire. If and when I visit again, I am going to get a list from the parents of my students and do a systematic gastro workout of the area.