I also plan on starting a video blog, because I like to make people suffer by hearing my voice grate away in their ears, so I will try to start that up as well. Vlogging is quite difficult for me, because I have to learn to edit, and I have to learn how to talk to people that are not actually in front of me. It is a lot harder than it looks. The good thing is, all the stupid things I say I can edit, which I cannot do in a real conversation. I also should mention that I went to Hanoi last february, and never got around to writing the blog about it, so I will just have to go again and do the same things.
Last bit of housekeeping: This blog will not just be about travel, but also my life - minus my job or political beliefs. Anyways, onto the main component of this blog entry: food.
This restaurant took a while to find. First of all, the book I used for my research was written quite some time ago, and sand at that time, the restaurant was called May. So, on saturday, all excited to go I was. My wife and I looked it up on our phones, and off we went, all the way to D1. When we got there, the place did not look like a French villa, like the book had mentioned. Perhaps a lot of construction had been done to it. So we go in, sit down and look at the menu. It has none of the food mentioned in the book. Still, I remain hopeful. Perhaps they did not write it on the menu. So, we asked and they told us that they serve mostly western food. We were disappointed, but I ordered the May Burger, which, when all was said and done, was delicious, and my wife ordered the Creme Brulee (which is her favourite dish), which was fantastic, and her new favourite creme brulee in town. However, the bill might prevent us from going back there for quite a while. Sure, it was only 30 dollars, but that is a very expensive meal in Saigon. However, while at the restaurant, I did some detective work and found out about bloom saigon. When I looked on their website, it said that their former name was May. Case closed. Take him away, boys.
Fast forward to the next day. We were eager to renew our culinary adventures. They open at 6:00 PM so, we left around 6:30 to get there around 7:00 pm. Addresses can be difficult to find in Vietnam, because roads dont behave they way they should, but eventually we found the right address. I parkled our bike, and headed inside. We were greeted warmly by a member of the staff, and shown to a table, which was on the first floor (or second if you don't believe in ground floors). The room was small, but not overly so. As I mentioned before, the restaurant was located in what used to be a French Villa, from the time when the French colonized Vietnam. So, the room we were in was probably a bedroom at one time. It is very interesting to think that French people, so far removed from the Vietnamese people, probably lived here and slept here a hundred years ago. Unfortunately, I could not find out when the villa was built, and I did not think to ask. The room was a bit hot for me, but the very attentive server turned the fan and and moved it towards me. I cannot praise the staff enough.
On our table, there was really beautiful chinaware, a bowl and a spoon, both in the classic white and blue.The menu had a lot of options to choose from, and there was a drink menu, which had a very artistic cover. However, I very rarely drink, so I just ordered a coke, as per usual.
It is important to mention that this restaurant is run in part by ACWP, or Aid for Children without Parents, and it has been supporting them for almost 50 years. The food is more expensive than the usual Viet food, but it definitely lives up to the price, and, as I mentioned before, the proceeds go to a worthy cause. So, now for the food. I only brought 300.000 or so, so we could not afford to spend crazy amounts on food. I ordered the signature dish: Braised Pork in a Clay Pot with Duck Eggs, and Tiffany (my wife) ordered the fried rice. We had to wait a bit, but the wait is good, because the hungrier we get, the better the food tastes. When it finally came, I was hit with this wonderful fragrance that made my mouth water. If I was the entrepreneurial type, I would capture that fragrance, bottle it, and sell it as cologne for men. Usually I am not one to like too much fat on my meat. I have enough on my body as it is. But this time, I dived right in. The pork was absolutely melt in your mouth, and it had the sweet caramelized taste that was just the right amount of sweetness. The eggs were, of course, the perfect texture. In Vietnam, the egg white around the yolk tends to be a bit chewier than the rest of the egg. It is a bit hard to explain, but I am sure that the texture is different in North America. I like the Vietnamese style of egg. I cleaned up every morsel of pork in that clay pot with gusto.
I am here to talk about the signature dish, but even Tiffany's fried rice was great. The rice was not sticky like a lot of Vietnamese rice I have eaten, which sits at the bottom of my stomach in clumps, but the rice here was soft and fell apart in my mouth. Tiffany told me to mix it in with the pork, and a heavenlier combination has never been tried before. Worth every bit of the price. By the way, the price is not expensive. Our meal cost around 15 dollars for two people, but if you live in Vietnam, that is a pretty big price tag.As we concluded our meal, we said our goodbyes, and as we left, the restaurant said its goodbyes as well, because, on the wall, as we left, there was the word "Thank you" in Korean, French, English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and many other languages. It really made us feel welcome as guests in their establishment.
The address is: 3/5 Hoang Sa, Ward Dakao, District 1, Hồ Chí Minh. They sometimes open at 5, sometimes at 6. Check their times on Google Maps.
