Vietnamese Local Markets

If someone ask me where is the most interesting local place in Vietnam? I will answer without hesitation "that is local market!". That is place where you can see the most authentic Vietnamese life...locals are buying, selling, gossiping, bargaining - all enjoying with smiles. That is really a picture of a lovely life.



To "tâm hồn ăn uống" (eating and drinking souls) like Halie and I, local markets are our favorite destinations. And it is much more wonderful if lucky enough to go to local markets on 14th, 15th 0r 29th, 30th every month of lunar calendar.

3 words I can think of to describe Vietnamese local markets are colorful, lively and inspiring! (Halie, do you have any better word? ^^)


...and FRESH ingredients making DELICIOUS Food all come from these local markets ^^

...So Vietnamese local markets themselves can be tourist destinations. They are very interesting, truly authentic, really impressive, totally free...and they are almost everywhere in Vietnam - that what we call the Vietnamese market culture!

Ms. Chè - the Best Chè Seller in Huế

I know that Chè is not a nice name for Vietnamese women but I do not know her real name and I also just want to call her Ms. Chè. I think Halie has the same thought because we think she is so much special- as special as her chè ^^
(* Chè refers to Vietnamese sweet soup, normally cooked with beans in water and sweetened with sugar)

There are as many as 20 types of Chè in Hue and of course it is not hard to find a "quán chè" (a sweet soup shop) in Hue. However Halie and I do not want to go to any "quán chè" after eating chè of Ms. Chè. We have no way to find her except for being at the Healing the Wounded Heart shop (http://www.spiralfoundation.org) and hope she will pass the shop at around 8h30- 9pm.

We have waited for a long time. It seems to me that she has not sold chè for more than a month...so today when Halie called and told me that Ms.Chè was at the shop, I immediately was there after 5 minutes (three times faster than when I bike to work despite of the same distance >.<) Halie was staring at chè
One factor makes Ms. Chè special is that she changes the chè's menu almost every day or at least that is what we see every time we meet her. Today she sold "chè trôi nước", "chè bột lọc" and "chè đậu xanh dừa"

- chè trôi nước: "balls made from mung bean paste in a shell made of glutinous rice flour; served in a thick clear or brown liquid made of water, sugar, and grated ginger root" (explained by wikipedia.org)


- chè bột lọc: "small cassava and rice flour dumplings"


- chè đậu xanh dừa: made from grounded mung beans with coconut


Another factor of specialty is that Ms. Chè just cooks 2 or 3 types of chè each day and each type can be eaten separately with coconut sauce or can be mixed nicely. Eating three bowls is too much, especially at 9pm so best choice is a bowl of mixed chè or "chè thập cẩm".


It is so delicious that we all agreed to order extra two balls of "trôi nước" and enjoyed so much...

...wow thanks Ms. Chè - you are really our No.1 Chè Lady ^^

Bánh canh Nam Phổ

I really do not know how to translate Bánh canh into English, if translate word by work then Bánh canh means "soup cake" ^^ (banh means cake and canh means soup). It is actually a kind of Vietnamese noole made from a mixture of rice and tapioca flour.

You can find Bánh canh in many places in Vietnam but Bánh canh Nam Phổ can only be found in Huế. I have heard of this speciality when I was in Hanoi but like many other Hue specialities, it is not sold in other provinces. I still remember my feeling of the first time tasting a bowl of Bánh canh Nam Phổ- it is so much different compared to other Bánh canh. It is quite sweet but I can taste the sweet flavour is made from fresh shrimps. Much amount of Tapioca flour also makes Bánh canh Nam Phổ extremely special. I ate two bowls at the first time, but again Hue cuisine style means "little each time", so each bowl just content very few bánh canh - may be that is also a clever way to encourage the customers eat more.


It is not easy to find a Bánh canh Nam Phổ Restaurant even in Hue, because I have read that locals in Nam Pho village have a tradition of making Bánh canh and going around Hue and selling. They do not have any consistent spot to sell and maybe not like to be at the same place every day (Hue artistic style!). But I am lucky and I found one Nam Phổ Restaurant on No 54 Nguyen Cong Tru Str. The owner said she is very much proud to be the third generation of selling the Bánh canh.


Since I discovered this restaurant in August and then introduced to Halie, it has become one of our favourite local restaurant in Hue where we can eat many wonderful bánh, not just bánh canh but also bánh bèo, bánh nậm, bánh lọc, ram ít...And I guess it is still in our favourite list of local food spots for a long time to come!

Rice or Rice?

Would you like white rice? Or rice? or rice? As long as you like rice, you're in luck. Rice.

Veggie Heaven…or more appropriately, Nirvana

I have never been a very spiritual person, but have recently considered converting to Buddhism just so that I could eat vegetarian food every day. I suppose I could do that without converting also….but then again I do get fanatical cravings for grilled nem (sausage). So I’ll stick with occasional enjoyment of vegetarian fare. Which makes it more special anyhow.

My friend Lan introduced me to one of my favorite spots. An alleyway eatery off of Nguyen Thai Hoc, it’s a secret spot. In true Huế style, it’s open just whenever. There werw a very sad two weeks last month when the owner decided not to open, because she just didn’t feel like it and the rain was getting her down.

Except on the first and middle of the lunar month, there are essentially only two dishes: Noodles and Rice. On the first and middle of the month they also make vegetarian banh beo, nam etc (see “A shoutout to the Banhs”). The noodle soup is served with all sorts of potatoes, carrots and other veggies in a soothing broth. Rice is topped with a mountain of vegetarian YUM. The vegetarian rice plate is different that other Vietnamese rice dishes, because the toppings outweigh the rice; just my style! Its blasphemy to say this in Asia, but I’m unexcited by white rice, and prefer the yummy stuff that goes with it.

The noodle soup is pretty consistent, but for the rice dish, the toppings change a little every day. By chance, I went to the restaurant on the first of the lunar month, so the toppings were especially extravagant. They included tender green banana, a spongy fried tofu, miến (glass noodles), a dense, sweet meat-like tofu, steamed carrots and potatoes, vả (impossible to translate accurately, but a kind of fig that is often prepared thinly sliced and sautéed with sesame; it has a dense satisfying texture almost like a meat), and all sorts of herbs and spices mixed in. Vegetarian food tends to be generous with the herbs and spices to make up for the lack of fish sauce, a central ingredient of Vietnamese food. The noodles and rice can both be eaten with soy sauce, red chili, or a fermented soybean paste. An acquired taste, this is one of my favorite parts of vegetarian food. It has a thick bean paste texture and tastes very strong and stinky; very fermented, similar to a strong cheese.

The best part about Vegetarian foods is that after your meal, you feel a wonderful, refreshing, healthy full. Perhaps this is the first step on the way to nirvana…

Dear fruit, tôi yêu

Dear Fruit, I love you.
And in Hue, you decorate every street corner with colors, textures, sizes and shapes imaginable. Here as an ode to you!


You are sweet and nutritious
You come pre-packaged and your wrapping is 100% biodegradable
I'm not sad when I finish you because there is a seed inside which promises to make a new one!

You are beautiful and colorful and decorate my kitchen
Sometimes you come pre-soiced; ie citrus, or in convenient bite size portions like grapes
You keep it fresh - you do not stick around all year but are seasonal so you never get old or go out of style

You provide a taste or texture for any craving and you can be eaten salty or sweet
You come from pretty things like trees or bushes
You are always prepared for a special dining experience because you come with your own garnish

Sometimes your insides look much different than your outsides - like a surprise present all wrapped up
I can think of only one time in my life when I truly regretted eating you and that was my fault because I was in Egypt and I bought you from a man in the gutter.
Getting you involves fun things like climbing trees, going on hikes and going to the market

You go well with my second favorite thing in the world, granola
You have beautiful form and symmetry
You make flowers