North Vietnam - Part II

Despite what our last posting suggests, we really did do more than just eating in Vietnam. As far as sightseeing went, the most compelling destination must be Phat Diem. Off the beaten track for most foreign tourists, the journey there saw us traversing rice fields, limestone landscapes and small towns on xe om (motorbike taxi) in a persistent light drizzle. An hour later, a perplexing vision loomed before us: a century-old cathedral complex that, incongruously, looks like a Chinese temple. Even within the cathedral, the altar and Catholic imageries were rendered in the typical Vietnamese style of red-and-gold lacquered woodcarving.

Ok, normal transmission will now resume. More food.

The Green Tangerine: As a finale to our trip, we booked ourselves and badnomad a table at The Green Tangerine, a well-reviewed restaurant serving Vietnamese French cuisine in a beautifully restored shophouse near Hoan Kiem Lake. Our meal started off promisingly enough with a three-layered soup that cleverly melded the flavours of passionfruit, avocado and mushroom. Our desserts also more than passed muster. Alas the experience was let down by the mains which met with comments like "cold", "tough", "overdone" and "average". It didn't help that ants decided to conduct a military expedition across the terrain of our table, which necessitated some chair shuffling and a change of table linen.

Rating (out of 10): 6.5 burps

Ca Fe Sua Nong: After a few encounters with bad morning coffee, we called in an expert - the auntie from the neighbourhood laundry and bike rental shop. And her recommendation were spot on. Ok this is a bad shot, but the ca fe sua nong (hot coffee with milk) was gooood... Sitting on low stools along the sidewalk at a busy street corner, watching the morning bustle also helps :)

Rating (out of 10): 8.5 burps!

Che Trai Cay: At night, To Tich Street is a darkened lane full of Vietnamese teenagers sitting in large circles on low plastic stools, spooning crushed ice into mugs, stabbing their mugs of che trai cay (fruit dessert) with their spoons, laughing and chatting away. Alongside, a clutch of competing spartan-looking shops are busily filling mugs and more mugs with chunks of fruit, crushed ice, and lashings of evaporated milk and syrup, then whisking them off to their eagerly waiting customers. This is the unpretentious Hanoian equivalent of the cafe culture.

Rating (out of 10): 7.5 burps!

Che Nong: One of the best hot che in town is found on the sidewalk along Hang Bo Street. We couldn't help gushing about the gloopy goodness of this che, and kept going back for more! Our favourite variety is the starchy red beans topped with a heapful of steamed mung bean and rice, which was just heavenly.

Rating (out of 10): 10 burps! (and a sigh of bliss)

North Vietnam (yes, again) - Part I

Gastronomically, Vietnam left one of the most indelible impressions of all the countries that we've visited. Its food is at once familiar and exotic. You see elements and ingredients you've known all your life, but they are combined and presented so differently as to create entirely new flavours. This resonance shouldn't surprise given Vietnam's proximity to China, and yet somehow, it does. By the end of the last trip, we made a promise to return soon. And so we did.

Bun Dao: This dish snared our attention during our last visit to Hanoi, but we didn't have a chance to savour it then. Our curiosity has been piqued ever since, so it ranked high on our list of must-try foods this time round. And it seems to be gaining popularity among the locals. While we only noticed one vendor (this shop on Ma May Street) before, there were roving bun dao vendors everywhere on Hanoi's sidewalks this visit.

From the same family as bun cha, Hanoi's second most iconic dish (the first being pho), bun dao features deep fried tau kwa (that's firm tofu to the non-Singaporeans) instead of char-grilled pork. And while you get a tangled mess of bun noodles in bun cha, the noodles in bun dao are compressed into thick pancakes (ala putu mayam), then cut into neat wedges which makes for easier handling. Another distinction is the dip, which might prove a bit of an acquired taste to some. The main flavour of the dip comes from mam tom, a strong-tasting, purple-hued fermented shrimp paste. Fortunately for the faint of heart, a milder funk-free nuoc mam dip is available on request.

Rating (out of 10): 7.5 burps!

Nuong tai: The pea soup fog in the hilltown of Sapa left little to do but foray for interesting nibbles in the market. Behold, nuong tai, a salad of thinly slivered pork rind, shredded green mango and carrot, coriander, lemongrass and sesame seeds. It's eaten with a mildly astringent vegetable. Interesting texture and taste, but nothing out of this world. Besides, the pork rind demands a fair bit of masticulation which gets tiring -- literally -- after a while.

Rating (out of 10): 5 burps!

Pho Bo: No, they aren't queuing for donuts. This is the famous pho bo shop at 49 Bat Dan Street (with a pretender to the throne right next door who only sees customers when the real McCoy's closed and locals are desperate to quell their pho cravings). There's pho bo tai (noodles with blanched beef slices) and pho bo chin (noodles with pre-cooked beef slices), but everyone's ordering pho bo tai nom which has the best of both worlds.

It's not difficult to understand this shop's popularity once you see their generous servings and taste the flavoursome beef, all for a mere 15,000VND or S$1.50. A perfect start to any morning! Overall, it still can't compare with the pho bo at 39 Cau Go Street, alas that may be a moot point since the Cau Go shop seems to have called it a day for good :(

Rating (out of 10): 9 burps!

Lau Bo: In the quiet town of Ninh Binh, gateway to the ancient capital of Hoa Lu and Tam Coc where a sinuous river picturesquely framed by limestone hills wends its way through watery ricefields, we finally got down to having another item on our must-try list: lau or Vietnamese hotpot, at a restaurant packed with racuous locals. Offered a choice of meats, we opted for beef (lau bo). It didn't turn out as tasty as hoped, but the side dish we ordered more than made up for it. Tender beef slices in hot gravy that's poured over crisp puffed rice crackers. Mmmm...

Rating (out of 10): Lau bo - 7 burps! Beef and crackers - 10 burps!

Bun Rieu Cua: The name translates to crabmeat noodles, nevermind that there's but a few wispy strands of crabmeat in the entire bowl. The soup is flavoured with tomato and mam tom (fermented shrimp paste). The unexpected star is actually the tau pok (that's deepfried dehydrated tofu to the non-Singaporeans) which is really tasty at this shop on Bat Dan Street!

Rating (out of 10): 7.5 burps!

Banh Goi: Another of bun cha's relatives, banh goi also has a clear dip with bits of pickled green papaya, as well as a basket of salad greens and herbs on the side. But in this case, the star is deep-fried puffs filled with minced pork, glass vermicelli and other goodies. You can order other deep-fried snacks too. Plenty of banh goi vendors in Hanoi, but this shop on Ly Quoc Su Street must be the most famous.

Rating (out of 10): 9 burps!

Fish mint: Not a dish but deserving a write-up all the same. Introducing diep ca or dap ca or fish mint. Pretty, you say? The taste of this innocuous looking bugger is spectacularly funky, and it's often found hiding in your basket of herbs and salad greens. Pop it into your mouth by mistake and you'll be desperately reaching for your drink to wash out the taste. Urk. Consider yourself warned.

Rating (out of 10): Ptooi! Ptooi! Splutter.

Lunch at Leeuwin Estate

Our recent spring getaway to wine country in WA. Meaning to visit Flutes at Brooklyn Estate, we ended up in Leeuwin Estate instead. Our confusion was due to the fact that Singapore's own Flutes at the Fort is located on Lewin Terrace. Anyway, pictures...

An assortment of wine-paired appetizers (oyster, shrimp, marron and bacon), a goat cheese and pumpkin tart, latte art, and a kookaburra who decided to look in.

Sarawak Laksa

The Singaporean palate has recently been introduced to the Sarawak Kolo mee. Curiously though, the feisty Sarawak laksa has yet to carve a name for itself here.

The essential ingredient of Sarawak laksa is the laksa paste, a mysterious concoction of herbs and spices. Its precise composition is a closely guarded secret known to only a few select families in Kuching, each wielding its own recipe. To make Sarawak laksa, you'll have to buy the paste from them.

The burping dog had the good fortune of laying its paw on some laksa paste, so we decided to stir up a laksa dinner this weekend.

The laksa gravy is made by simmering the laksa paste with a mixture of chicken and prawn stock for 2 hours. It's then sieved to remove the pulp from the laksa paste before the final ingredient is added: coconut milk.

It's served with thin rice noodles, topped with shredded chicken, prawns, shredded omelette, blanched bean-sprouts, coriander, a twist of lime, and a dollop of sambal belachan....Heavenly!

A Moroccan Feast

Of the many wonderful foods that we ate in Morocco, the Harira and the Djej Emshmel (Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemons and Olives) were firm favourites. Being the culinary adventurers that we are, we decided to cart back a Tagine pot from the Souks in Marrakesh to cook our own tagines at home!

The Harira is a soup prepared during Ramadan that traditionally breaks the fast. Full of chick-peas and lentils, and flavoured with a myriad of herbs and spices, it makes for a hearty meal in itself.

The Djej Emshmel is a specialty of Fez. The key ingredient in this dish are the preserved lemons (lemons preserved with sea salt and lemon juice), which imparts a unique taste and fragrance. The chicken is stewed slowly in a rich sauce of onions, spices, lemons and olives in the tagine pot until the meat is "fall off the bone" tender.

The most common dessert we had in the restaurants in Morocco was a simple yet delicious Orange Salad, dressed subtly with Rosewater and dusted with Cinnamon. Served chilled, it is most refreshing after a heavy dinner!

All in all, the meal was a success if we don't say so ourselves :). We are pleased with how it turned out. To be repeated for sure!

Che Trai Cay

Part of a Vietnamese dinner that we stirred up last week. Che trai cay simply means "fruit dessert". Every vendor in Vietnam has her own interpretation. Ours is a recreation of one that we tasted in Hoi An. A simple concoction of tropical fruits, condensed milk, coconut milk, sugar syrup and shaved ice. The magic ingedient is Vietnamese toasted coconut chips, crushed and mixed into the fruits...Yum!

In case you're wondering, the other items on the menu were Bun Cha and Ca Phe Sua (Vietnamese milk coffee). Regrettably, we were too busy stuffing our faces to remember to take any pictures...!

Cranberry Chocolate Fudge Cake

Reinventing the our trusty old favourite, the Gooey Fudgy Brownie, we concocted this cake by referring to a cranberry-chocolate cake recipe, substituting ingredients like crazy, and applying the time-honoured culinary technique called aga-ration.

The end product was not too sweet but very chocolatey. The tartness of the accompanying homemade cranberry sauce cut through the richness of the cake. What goes into it...

- Cake: Lots of Valrhona chocolate, dried cranberries marinated in Grand Marnier
- Glaze: More Valrhona chocolate, more Grand Marnier
- Sauce: Fresh cranberries, yet more Grand Marnier.

Cake could do with a bit more time in the oven or a brief stint in the fridge to firm it up a little. Sauce will be more tart next time. Or better yet, we'll serve the cake with puckery whole cranberries! But otherwise quite pleased with the results!

Dates, Flowers and Nuts

During our recent trip to Morocco, we stumbled upon a tiny bakery-cafe in Marrakech with a staggering variety of tantalising Moroccan and French petit fours on display. Needless to say, we couldn't resist sampling everything (see picture) -- only to establish that there's much truth in the saying about "too much of a good thing"...

The one distinctive flavour that features in many traditional Moroccan sweets is orange flower water, an aromatic distillation of orange blossoms. The Moroccans also love their dried fruit, nuts and honey. Check out this chappie in a souk (market) in Marrakech, surrounded by a sea of dried dates, apricots, figs and nuts...

In an entirely different world known as America, you find Date-and-Nut Bread. While quintessentially American, its flavours invite one to draw parallels with Moroccan sweets and just shout out to be given a Moroccan interpretation. The result is Date and Orange Flower Bread, made with dates, pecans, orange flower water and orange zest. All that's missing is a piping hot glass of Moroccan mint tea to transport us right back to Morocco...

Zucchini and Sweet Potato Loaf

After weeks of artery-clogging breakfasts at the office desk, it's about time for atonement. Well, okay, that, and just being sick of Spinelli's lemon scones, heh heh. Hence a low-fat fibre-loaded quick bread^ made with zucchini, sweet potato, walnuts, wholemeal flour and applesauce. Nobody said atonement had to be painful :) Tastes rather like a carrot cake...sans the cream cheese frosting of course. But not quite sold on the coarse texture of the grated sweet potato, which will be replaced with pumpkin or carrot next time!

^What's a quick bread? Quick bread is, in a way, the opposite of yeast bread. Making yeast bread requires a fair deal of time and effort -- first you have to knead the dough to coax out the gluten in the flour which imparts to bread its characteristic tensile chewy texture, then leave it aside for an hour or so to rise (called 'proofing'), then knead and proof a second time, and finally pop it into the oven. (Which is probably why people just stick to Gardenia... egads.)

In the case of quick bread, the leavening agent is not yeast but baking powder (or soda) which is quick-acting and heat-triggered, so you just toss everything into a bowl, stir vigorously, stick it in the oven, and Voila! Off to the gym! Well, okay, I may have oversimplified the process a wee bit in the interest of making my point -- yes, I do have one -- which is that quick bread is, whaddyaknow, quick to make. Of course, it doesn't taste anything like 'real' bread -- none of that yeasty flavour or elastic texture -- it's just shaped like a loaf of bread. Matter of fact, it's basically a giant muffin -- by which I mean a real muffin and not a cupcake-disguised-as-muffin -- but somehow tastier :)

When the supermarket has neither canned chicken stock nor vegetable stock, there is....Vegemite.