Culinary adventures of Saigon.

Food adventure : Stupid, crazy.... you decide!

My Vietnam trip was just becoming interesting with exploring(read as wandering aimlessly) and food experiments!

I read about this amazing restaurant "Khu Du lịch Tháp Ngà (Bình Xuyên 2)" 10 miles south of HCM city and wanted to try it. Apparently its very popular with locals and the restaurant is so massive that a tributary of NHA Be River flows through the restaurant, you are chartered on a golf buggy if you have to go to the restroom and all the waiters and waitresses are on roller skates so that they can serve you faster.

There is one specialty about this restaurant that I know of, that is - when you order a fish dish, you are not given the dish, rather you are given a fishing rod so that you can catch your own fish and the amazing chefs at the restaurant will cook the fish as per your request. The thought of catching your food intrigued me! Naturally I wanted to try this restaurant.

Thursday, August 27th 2015 Daya and I hired a Yamaha moped and went in search of this restaurant. I had just looked up the directions for this restaurant and I vaguely remembered the turns. Thankfully my sense of direction didn't let me down.  We found the place alright.

We parked our bike and went inside the restaurant, UNFORTUNATELY not a single soul knew how to speak ENGLISH. We mimed "table for two" and luckily the host understood and we were helped on to a golf buggy which took us to out table.

Now the best part, since no one knew english we had to mime everything so that our waiter understands, we tried to mime fishing rod, and his response was like Kimi Raikkonen - NOTHING. We tried google translate and guess what he doesn't know how to read!!

We just gave up and started ordering randomly from the menu! First off, Beer and  starters : Since the menu had pictures we ordered a spring roll, hoping it would be decent. We tried to ask him what meat it was and his response? - "a blank stare". we gave up and asked him to get it!! The rolls looked decent and the only catch was we had no clue what meat it was! I took a small bite and my pallets were super confused. It wasn't Beef, it wasn't chicken, it wasn't pork, it wasn't fish either, I hope, I seriously hope that it was a duck or an octopus but what the hell do I know!  I'm praying that it was not a dog or a cat!

Special Spring rolls!

Since I had already tried Saigon beer, it seemed like a safe bet for me so I ordered one. Apparently in south east Asia people put Ice in their beer. Note to self, Beer with ice is so goddamn good! 

Saigon Beer with Ice.

Next up, main course! we were stressed and we started to look at the menu for familiar names, there was a Singaporean Vietnamese fusion dish, so we ordered it! The dish looked awesome and it did taste really good, however we had no clue what was in it! From what I could see there were 4 different kinds of meat and I was able to figure out 2 of those. The dish had chicken, pork and 2 other unknown meats! The dish was really good though!

Vietnamese - Singaporean Fusion Noodles!

Unfortunately Daya's stomach could not agree with this fusion so he ate just the noodles without the meat - more for me YAY! 

All in all it was one heck of a crazy experience and I loved it! Here are few more photos from the restaurant. 

Days posing during the meal! 

People trying to catch their food in the delta. From what I remember only one guy caught a fish and others were jealous! Cant believe we were not able to do it :(

Canyoning - Da Lat, VietNam

Canyoning!

First, some backstory. I'm in Sapa, VietNam and I meet couple of cool dudes from the UK, Andre and Damian. You do make a lot of friends when you travel and its amazing. Almost always the conversation starts with "How long is your trip?? where are you heading next?". Although this was not our initial conversation, we did talk about it later on.

Andre was like: "so, how long is your trip and where are you heading next??" I was like: "hmm, no solid plans yet but we are heading south we will most probably go to Da Nang and later Da Lat." As soon as I said Da Lat, Andre eyes widened and said where are you staying in Da Lat, I'm like no idea man, and he was like, "dude! you have to stay in this place called "Hobbit Hostel" its the best place ever and while you are there sign up for canyoning. we did it and it was amazing, out guides were super energetic, over enthusiastic 20 something Vietnamese blokes and they make you do some crazy stuff, we had the time of  our life". I'm like oh awesome let me try it.

Fast forward 2 days, I'm on a night train from Da Nang to Nha Trang, hoping to catch an early bus to Da Lat. We have no clue where to stay in Da Lat, we search for Hobbit hostel and give them a call,
"hello, is this Hobbit Hostel??",
"Yes" says a voice from the other end of the phone,
"Okay, we are looking for a place to stay in Da Lat, and we need two beds in a dorm for 2 days",
"yes, yes! we have beds, please come. I can text you the address" says the voice.
"Awesome, we will reach Da Lat at 2 in the afternoon, please confirm 2 beds",
" Yes. I confirm, no problem. 2 beds for 2 nights" says the voice.
Satisfied that our stay got sorted I hang up the phone and go to sleep on the very comfy Vietnames SE7 train "t tick tidi - t tick tidi" ringing in my head.

So, anyways we reach Nha Trang in the morning and walk to the bus station and reserve two tickets to Da Lat. we head over to "Winner Cafe" from across the street to get a good cup of  cafe sua nong (Vietnamese hot coffee with condensed milk).

Afer and hour or so, we go to the bus terminal and get on to the bus, I have no clue whats with me and buses, although I had a massive cup of coffee I still dozed off in the bus. I woke up to the beautiful landscapes of Da Lat.

After disembarking from the bus in Da Lat we head to hobbit hostel. A nice energetic chap greeted us and showed us the room. we take a quick hot sower and come down to reserve canyoning tour. Unfortunately since Daya knows how to swim only on land I was the only one who signed up. we head to the night market trying out pizza da lat and walking aimlessly inside the markets of Da Lat.

Come next day at 6 45 in the morning I head down to the common area to make some coffee, an over enthusiastic bloke enters, introduces himself as "Tree" and escorts me to a white van and we take off! the van makes couple of stops to pick up few more people before stopping on a narrow strip of a very bumpy road 30 min outside the city.

we scramble out of the van, 10 of us excluding our guides "Tiger" on a "Banana" "Tree".  Tree and Tiger were our main guides, Banana was the camera guy!!

Group

we were helped to put on our life saving gears and started our 2 km hike to the water fall. First up Water sliding!

The group started to slide, one by one; few went head first and few went legs first. Me being myself, wanted to try the risky one, so I went head first. The experience was amazing, you cant see where you are going and you just have to ride the waves. You just have to relax and ride the waves until you plunge into the water. we did couple more slides and soldiered on.

Water sliding - head first

Next up, abseiling! Tree gives us a small pep talk and explains about abseiling. "Its easy just keep eye contact with tiger and listen to what he says, let go of the ropes when we say jump and yeah dont forget to smile for the phoooo-thoooo " he says. Few people tried first, couple landing awkwardly in water. Its my turn next, Tiger hands me the rope and asks me descend slowly, I immediately slip and later get good grip and slowly descend. half way though they ask me to stop and look down! Banana was there with a camera taking pictures, Thumbs up for the camera and I soldier on. oh did I mention I was in the middle of a water falls, and the water force was overwhelming. Anyways, I slowly run out of the rope and I have to let go and jump. Tree and Tiger start shouting 1..2...3... let go  and I thrust the wall and let go, before I know it I was in the water trying to walk to the shore. I wait for couple others to finish and we move on to a cliff.

Mid point - Abseiling the first water fall

Bracing myself. letting go!

"Okay, you have to jump here! 11 meters and/or 7 meters you choose, first do the 7 m jump later 11 m" says Tree. Couple of guys went for the 7 m jump, I descended and Tree was standing there with his go pro trying to catch the jump on his camera. "can I dive??" I asked, "can you dive?" he asked back. "Yesss" came  out of my mouth involuntarily. Having learnt how to dive from some of the best coaches in BAC (Basvangudi Aquatic Center)  I felt fairly confident, but the conditions were controlled back then,I was in a swimming pool and it was 25 feet deep and now somewhere in the middle of a forest near Da Lat and I have no clue how deep this thing is; wrestling with myself, I just went for it! just do it I thought and I dived. WOW, the feeling was amazing!

7 m dive, Tree in foreground. 

Hiked back up to try the 11 m jump! Banana was waiting for me, "do you want to do the 11 m jump?" he asked, hesitantly I said yes. He tells me to relax and shows me from where I should start the run up and from where I should jump. Having taken a deep breath I start the run up and jump! oh yessssss!! it was long jump and I loved every second of it! I hiked back up to try the 11 m jump again, fuckin adrenaline is getting to me :) having more confidence I make the jump without hesitation, and oh yeah!! orgasmic!

11 m Jump

the whole group moves on to the next and last bit of the canyoning adventure! abseiling in the washing machine! At least that's what Tree told us! It was easier than the first abseiling and we make it one by one. The water swirls at the bottom and its hard to get out!! Now we know why its called the washing machine! we take one final picture together and hike back to the van.

Abseiling in Washing Machine.

Washing Machine.

One final picture!

All in all it was one heck of a day!! After a satisfying meal we head back to our respective hostel/home stays. 

Tiger, Banana and I @ Hobbit Hostel

Da Lat - you surprise me!

Culinary delights of - New York City Streets : Biryani Cart

A small cart at the intersection on 6th avenue and 46th street which delivers traditional mouth watering biryani and amazing koti rolls.

Biryani Cart - 6th and 45th NYC

I was walking in Manhattan for the second day, I had already seen central park, times sq, grand central, NY central library, High line, Wall st, trinity church, at-least 30 different Starbucks and had eaten Chinese, Italian, French and American food. I was craving for some spicy Indian food. Like the previous day, I called Rohit "maga(dude) find me some good Indian food cart in Manhattan", "Go to Biryani cart" was his immediate response. I looked up the place and realized I was close by. I headed straight to 6th Av and 46th St. To my surprise there were no customers, so I went to the cashier/chef and asked whats popular, "biryani and spicy buradi.....", "awesome, one order of spicy buradi, and one order of biryani". As I was waiting for my food I looked up the yelp reviews, this place was not as popular as halal guys or Prosperity dumpling, biryani cart had ~300 reviews and 4 stars. However this place had multiple awards (Time out New York - 2010 critics pick, people's choice award 2009, Vendy award 2008 and multiple articles/shows in various magazines and cable shows). I must say, this place was impressive. This place is pretty cheap too $6 for a biryani or two koti rolls.

The biryani was good, super spicy I must add. Although there were very few chicken pieces in the biryani, the flavor of the rice was amazing. The spicy buradi was not from this world. I genuinely think these koti rolls were better than the ones we get in India(Bangalore). The combination of mint chutney, red sauce and white sauce was mind blowing.

Spicy Buradi

Chicken Biryani. 

All in all, the koti rolls were amazing and the biryani was amazing flavor wise and not so good quantity wise. one thing I can definitely say is that, this place is better than over-hyped halal guys.

Culinary delights of China town - New York City : Prosperity Dumpling

On a cold December evening, I was walking aimlessly in Manhattan thinking were to eat, I called Rohit who was working in New Jersey to suggest some popular place in Manhattan, he did a quick search and asked me to go to prosperity dumpling. I looked up the yelp review (~2300 review 4.5 stars) I was impressed. I went to 103rd street station caught a metro and went straight to china town. My phone was running out of juice, so I quickly called Rohit again and asked him for directions, Rohit was like " go to canal and eldridge...." beep beep and my phone died. Okay I now know the intersection, I asked an elderly gentleman across the corner - " how do I get to canal and eldridge? " "go straight and take a right on canal walk for two blocks and you get eldridge". I thanked the gentleman and followed his instructions and Prosperity was easy to find.

Prosperity dumpling (Image - yelper : Moises V)

A small hole in the wall place, completely mental and chaotic inside. The menu is quite large with close to 50 items. the menu included all sorts of soups, pancakes and different types of dumplings. I'm not a pork person, although I don't mind eating pork. I prefer chicken instead. so as soon as I entered  the place saw this person taking orders. The owner/chef/cashier is a no nonsense person - "hey you, what do you want??"  I was deciding what to get, still looking at the menu "one order of 26(steamed chicken dumpling) and one order of 27 (chicken soup dumpling)", "okay, 5 minutes" was his response. As I was waiting, few others were ordering. Looked like every one were taking #17(fired pork and chive dumpling). "My god  #17 should be super popular!" I went to cashier and said "one order of #17 please" and he gave me a box with 4 fried pork dumpling and said "26, 27 and 17  - 7.25 Dollar" I paid him the money and opened the box. oh man, the dumplings were huge in size, in flavor and full of meat, I couldn't believe you get 4 dumpling for 1$. I'm so glad I tried pork dumplings. picked the rest of the order and headed back home. Me and rohit OD'd on dumpling that night!

Fried Pork and Chive dumpling

Steamed chicken dumpling

Chicken soup dumpling

All in all, Prosperity dumpling lives up to the HYPE. A must try place in china town.

Mexican Bulldog Margarita

Today, Its Anirban's birthday!! so its time to partyyy!! I wanted to try a new drink and this came up on my search! Its a margarita with a corona and its awesome.

So, this is what you need to make four drinks.

4 fluid ounces of silver Tequila
2 1/2 fluid ounces of Grand Marnier
4 fluid ounces of simple syrup
4 scoops of ice
1 fluid ounce fresh lime juice
3 fluid ounces of orange juice (you can add just 1 1/2 - 2 fluid ounces! I like my drink a bit orangey)
4 beers, Corona baby!

You will need a blender to make this drink!! A simple shaker won't do!

Add taquila, grand marnier, simple syrup, ice, lime juice and orange juice to your blender and blitz.

Take a tall glass and salt rim it. throw a lime wedge into the glass and add about half a glass of  margarita mixture, quickly drop the Corona into the glass and voilà your amazing drink is ready.

Thanks for stoppin by!! have a gday!

Heart Healer.

I've  been thinking of healthy drinks for a while and I thought its high time I should try one. So I went on the internet and searched for some veggie drinks. This drink came up in search and luckily I had all the ingredients for the drink. 

The Heart Healer is a veggie juice with powerful antioxidants and properties that improve heart function, hence the name :)

- Tomatoes are rich in the heart protecting and cancer preventing antioxidants. 

- Carrots adds a sweetness to the juice and many more antioxidants. 

- Celery helps reduce high blood pressure and improves heart health. 

- Kale is a nutritional powerhouse.

Ingredients:

2 medium tomatoes

4 carrots

4 stalks of celery

4 branches of kale.

Super easy juice, just add everything to the blender and press start.

PS: To be honest, I didn't like the juice as is! so I cheated, ask me how???
Well I added 3 table spoons of sugar, haha. I wanted to add honey but unfortunately I didn't have honey at home! 

Mediterranean Omelette

Today, I woke up to the text message informing that my group meeting was cancelled!! OKAY!! What should I do -  let me treat myself by indulging in an amazing omelette.

So, to make this omelette all you need is couple of eggs, one cherry tomato, half onion, some spinach and Parmesan cheese!

To make this amazing dish, you need to saute your veggies. In a medium skillet, saute your quartered cherry tomatoes, minced onion and diced spinach. You want to cook your fillings before you add them to your omelette because they wont cook further! Add some oregano if you'd like, I didn't! why?? I didn't have any in my kitchen! Add a pinch of salt and pepper! Take them off the heat and put them into a bowl after the tomatoes are broken down a little bit, make sure they are not completely mushed.  Add about 2-3 table spoons of Parmesan cheese to this mixture.

Next, your omelette! take two eggs, whisk them. Add salt, pepper, 2 tea spoons of milk and whisk them again. Pour the liquid on to the skillet, once the edges are set; use the rubber spatula to push the edges in and allow the uncooked egg to come in around the edges! By doing this you will form curds in your omelette! When you believe your eggs are set, add your filling. Just put it over half your omelette! slide your spatula underneath the uncovered part of the egg and flip it over! And there you have it, a delicious Mediterranean omelette! Perfect if I do say so myself!

Thanks for stopping by! have fun! cheers!