Saturday 18 April 2015

Saturday Snapshot - Vietnam Part 1 - The Food

There was so much to love about our recent holiday to Vietnam, but one of the stand-out highlights for us was the food. 
We ate well and we ate often.
A few margarita's may have happened too!
Pho - I made the mistake of eating the chilli (like I would at home).

We booked a morning cooking class whilst in Saigon.
It involved a trip to to the markets to check out all the fresh, local produce.


Our first lesson at the Saigon Culinary Art Centre was how to create carrot flowers!
I was only drinking iced tea - really!!
  
We then went on to make seafood spring rolls, morning glory salad with pork & prawns and deep-fried egg noodles with seafood & vegetables.
It was a fabulous way to start our holiday in Vietnam.
Mai loved a camera shot too!
It was all delicious!
I also enjoyed drinking the lotus & jasmine tea's.

On our last night in Saigon, we treated ourselves to a meal at Maxim's.
The decor was wonderful, the jazz groovy & the margarita's sublime!

The prawn spring rolls (above) were scrumptious.
But the whole red snapper in ginger and onion (below) was out of this world!
The BBQ'd prawns weren't bad either!

 Rambutans are a cousin of the lychee.
I managed to have several of these for breakfast everyday, along with dragonfruit (pitaya), passionfruit, pineapple and watermelon.

Our first lunch in Hoi An was the local specialty - 'white rose' shrimp dumplings.
The flavour was very subtle & very satisfying.
Happy hour margarita's for two by the pool, Hoi An
We fell in love with the Hoi An Special Spring Rolls - they became our lunch time special.
Along with a glass of cold Tiger beer.






Mai Fish, Hoi An do a mean kumquat margarita! A great way to watch the sunset.

In Hanoi (below) we joined a night tour of the local street stalls.
We ate 'rats tails' (so called like the American hotdog - for its shape not its contents)!
Rats tails were minced pork with coriander, cucumber & chilli wrapped up in a long skinny roll.
 It also included a tour of the local markets.
The highlight was eating from one of the DIY street BBQ stalls.

Mr Seasons loved the Iced Vietnamese Coffee with condensed milk.
But while in Hanoi we also tried their famous Egg Coffee.
Yes - coffee and egg together!
 They blend the yolk into an espresso with a splash of condensed milk.
A liquid tiramasu say some! 
Too sweet says me.
One cafe also served them with a meringue made from the egg whites floating on top.


Our last night in Hanoi saw us dining fine on stuffed squid & pork ribs in Hanoi special spices.

The desserts at Porte d'Annam were pretty special too.
 Needless to say, the diet started this week!
This post is part of Saturday Snapshot and Weekend Cooking.

12 comments:

  1. It all looks so good. Its great that you were able to go and learn how to make some of it back home as well. Wonderful skill to learn. I would love to wander through the food markets there and just look/

    Sean at His and Her Hobbies

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  2. Everything looks so colorful! The food (and the margaritas) look tempting. Thanks for sharing...and here's MY SATURDAY SNAPSHOT POST

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  3. OMG we were in Saigon in February this year and also attended the Culinary Cooking class!!!
    http://junkboattravels.blogspot.ca/2015/04/saturday-snapshot_17.html

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  4. I'd love to go on that trip with you! What an amazing array of food! I like Pho, and know not to touch the pepper. ;) Love Vietnamese ice coffee too.

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  5. That all looks so good Brona. I'd love to go to Vietnam one day. The spring rolls look particularly intriguing- both the ones from you cooking class and the Hoi An Special Spring Rolls. I don't like coffee, so wouldn't be tempted, but fruity cocktails- hello!

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  6. Love those carrot flowers. What fun! I've never heard of a rambutan. Thanks for sharing your visit to Vietnam.The market photos are gorgeous!

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  7. I love shrimp, so it looks like I need to visit Vietnam. You showed lots of tasty shrimp dishes. And out of curiosity, how do you eat that fruit? It looks dangerous! :)

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    1. The spiky skin is peeled off (carefully!) to reveal the white lycee-like fruit with pit.

      The seafood in Vietnam was so fresh and tasty - it featured it most of our meals in Vietnam.

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  8. Ha on eating the chili. Yikes! The food looks so wonderful -- especially in the markets. How fun that you took a cooking class. Yummmmm.

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  9. I'm really fascinated by the variety at the markets. Such wonderful pictures. And that coffee - sign me up for some!

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  10. I love the idea of a cooking class while on vacation! Great photos!

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  11. What a fabulous vacation!

    Shelleyrae @ Book'd Out

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