Nem Ran or Cha Gio (fried spring roll)

Nem Ran or Cha Gio (fried spring roll)
This dish is called Nem Ran by northerners and Cha Gio by southerners. In Hanoi, the introduction of Nem Ran dates back to a time when Cha Ca had not existed. Although it ranks among Vietnam's specialty dishes, Nem Ran is very easy to prepare. Consequently, it has long been a preferred food on special occasions such as Tet and other family festivities.
Ingredients used for Nem Ran comprise of lean minced pork, sea crabs or unshelled shrimps, two kinds of edible mushroom (Nam Huong and Moc Nhi), dried onion, duck eggs, pepper, salt and different kinds of seasoning. All are mixed thoroughly before being wrapped with transparent rice paper into small rolls. These rolls are then fried in boiling oil.

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Chung cake

Banh Chung (Sticky Rice Cake)
Sticky rice cakes are a Vietnamese traditional dish that must be part of Tet meals. As a matter of fact, every Vietnamese family must have sticky rice cakes among the offerings placed on the altar to their ancestors.
Bang chung is made of glutinous rice, pork meat, and green beans paste wrapped in a square of bamboo leaves, giving the rice a green colour after boiling.
According to the legend, under the reign of the Hung Kings, Prince Lang Lieu created sticky rice cakes and presented them to his father. Bang chung won high acclaims from the King who awarded the prince his throne.
Making sticky rice cakes is a very meticulous job. To obtain the best cakes, rice has to soak in water for an entire day. The pork meat must include skin and fat, the green beans must be of the same size, and the bamboo leaves must be fresh. Squaring off and tying cakes with bamboo strings requires skilful hands.
Sticky rice cakes are available at any time of the year, although one is sure to enjoy them with relatives and friends during Tet. During Tet, rice cakes are served with gio lua and hanh muoi– lean meat pie and salted sour onions.

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China Beach and the Marble Mountains

Although the ruins of the American airbase still rest along the beach, China Beach is nonetheless one of the top tourist destinations in all of Vietnam. A miles long, gorgeous white sand beach lies along the edge of clear blue waters, which is rapidly becoming a major attraction for tourists the world over.

There are many major developments springing up along the coast road to Hoi An, and Danang's China Beach is set to become a premier luxury destination for travellers to South East Asia. Already completed are a number of golf courses and even a casino, as well as some incredible five star resorts.

The nearby Furama Resort is one of the best and most luxurious hotels in all of Vietnam. The hotel offers guests comfortable, luxurious accommodations, along with easy access to scuba diving, snorkeling, windsurfing, jetskis, and more. For more relaxing activities, you can check out the resort's Tai Chi classes, play volleyball or tennis in the resort's elaborate gardens, and on rainy days you can stay inside the clubhouse and play table tennis or video games.

Surrounding China Beach is another one of Vietnam's most popular attractions, the Marble Mountains. Honey-combed with caves that have housed Buddhist sanctuaries for hundreds of years, the Marble Mountains consist of five marble hills not far from the beach. Climbing the Marble Mountains is a challenging but rewarding hike. From the top, you'll be treated with a panoramic view of the beach, Danang, and the surrounding countryside.

It was inside the Marble Mountains that the Vietcong had their own base during the Vietnam War. Today, the monastery walls of the ancient Buddhist temples in the Marble Mountains are pock-marked with bullets from the area's far less peaceful recent history. A visit to the Marble Mountains is a great way to spend some time outdoors, as well as a great way to understand both the ancient and recent history of the area.

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Beef Noodle Soup

Makes 8 satisfying (American-sized) bowls

For the broth:
2 medium yellow onions (about 1 pound total)
4-inch piece ginger (about 4 ounces)
5-6 pounds beef soup bones (marrow and knuckle bones)
5 star anise (40 star points total)
6 whole cloves
3-inch cinnamon stick
1 pound piece of beef chuck, rump, brisket or cross rib roast, cut into 2-by-4-inch pieces (weight after trimming)
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
4 tablespoons fish sauce
1 ounce (1-inch chunk) yellow rock sugar (duong phen; see Note)

For the bowls:
1 1/2-2 pounds small (1/8-inch wide) dried or fresh banh pho noodles ("rice sticks'' or Thai chantaboon)
1/2 pound raw eye of round, sirloin, London broil or tri-tip steak, thinly sliced across the grain (1/16 inch thick; freeze for 15 minutes to make it easier to slice)
1 medium yellow onion, sliced paper-thin, left to soak for 30 minutes in a bowl of cold water
3 or 4 scallions, green part only, cut into thin rings
1/3 cup chopped cilantro (ngo)
Ground black pepper

Optional garnishes arranged on a plate and placed at the table:
Sprigs of spearmint (hung lui) and Asian/Thai basil (hung que)
Leaves of thorny cilantro (ngo gai)
Bean sprouts (about 1/2 pound)
Red hot chiles (such as Thai bird or dragon), thinly sliced
Lime wedges

Prepare the broth:

Char onion and ginger. Use an open flame on grill or gas stove. Place onions and ginger on cooking grate and let skin burn. (If using stove, turn on exhaust fan and open a window.) After about 15 minutes, they will soften and become sweetly fragrant. Use tongs to occasionally rotate them and to grab and discard any flyaway onion skin. You do not have to blacken entire surface, just enough to slightly cook onion and ginger.

Let cool. Under warm water, remove charred onion skin; trim and discard blackened parts of root or stem ends. If ginger skin is puckered and blistered, smash ginger with flat side of knife to loosen flesh from skin. Otherwise, use sharp paring knife to remove skin, running ginger under warm water to wash off blackened bits. Set aside.

Parboil bones. Place bones in stockpot (minimum 12-quart capacity) and cover with cold water. Over high heat, bring to boil. Boil vigorously 2 to 3 minutes to allow impurities to be released. Dump bones and water into sink and rinse bones with warm water. Quickly scrub stockpot to remove any residue. Return bones to pot.

Simmer broth. Add 6 quarts water to pot, bring to boil over high heat, then lower flame to gently simmer. Use ladle to skim any scum that rises to surface. Add remaining broth ingredients and cook 1 1/2 hours. Boneless meat should be slightly chewy but not tough. When it is cooked to your liking, remove it and place in bowl of cold water for 10 minutes; this prevents the meat from drying up and turning dark as it cools. Drain the meat; cool, then refrigerate. Allow broth to continue cooking; in total, the broth should simmer 3 hours.

Strain broth through fine strainer. If desired, remove any bits of gelatinous tendon from bones to add to your pho bowl. Store tendon with cooked beef. Discard solids.

Use ladle to skim as much fat from top of broth as you like. (Cool it and refrigerate it overnight to make this task easier; reheat befofe continuing.) Taste and adjust flavor with additional salt, fish sauce and yellow rock sugar. The broth should taste slightly too strong because the noodles and other ingredients are not salted. (If you've gone too far, add water to dilute.) Makes about 4 quarts.

Assemble bowls: The key is to be organized and have everything ready to go. Thinly slice cooked meat. For best results, make sure it's cold.

Heat broth and ready noodles. To ensure good timing, reheat broth over medium flame as you're assembling bowls. If you're using dried noodles, cover with hot tap water and soak 15-20 minutes, until softened and opaque white. Drain in colander. For fresh rice noodles, just untangle and briefly rinse in a colander with cold water.

Blanch noodles. Fill 3- or 4-quart saucepan with water and bring to boil. For each bowl, use long-handle strainer to blanch a portion of noodles. As soon as noodles have collapsed and lost their stiffness (10-20 seconds), pull strainer from water, letting water drain back into saucepan. Empty noodles into bowls. Noodles should occupy 1/4 to 1/3 of bowl; the latter is for noodle lovers, while the former is for those who prize broth.
If desired, after blanching noodles, blanch bean sprouts for 30 seconds in same saucepan. They should slightly wilt but retain some crunch. Drain and add to the garnish plate.

Add other ingredients. Place slices of cooked meat, raw meat and tendon (if using) atop noodles. (If your cooked meat is not at room temperature, blanch slices for few seconds in hot water from above.) Garnish with onion, scallion and chopped cilantro. Finish with black pepper.

Ladle in broth and serve. Bring broth to rolling boil. Check seasoning. Ladle broth into each bowl, distributing hot liquid evenly so as to cook raw beef and warm other ingredients. Serve with garnish plate.

Note: Yellow rock sugar (a.k.a. lump sugar) is sold in one-pound boxes at Chinese and Southeast Asian markets. Break up large chunks with hammer.

Variations: If you want to replicate the splendorous options available at pho shops, head to the butcher counter at a Vietnamese or Chinese market. There you'll find white cords of gan (beef tendon) and thin pieces of nam (outside flank, not flank steak). While tendon requires no preparation prior to cooking, nam should be rolled and tied with string for easy handling. Simmer it and the beef tendon in the cooking broth for two hours, or until chewy-tender.

Airy book tripe (sach) is already cooked when you buy it. Before using, wash and gently squeeze it dry. Slice it thinly to make fringe-like pieces to be added to the bowl during assembly. For beef meatballs (bo vien), purchase them in Asian markets in the refrigerator case; they are already precooked. Slice each one in half and drop into broth to heat through. When you're ready to serve, ladle them out with the broth to top each bowl.

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Onepay – good payment method

Being selected as an official online payment provider in Vietnam by Mastercard International Organization, One Pay Company successfully combined with Vietnam Commercial Bank (Vietcombank), and International Mastercard Organization to implement One Pay - online payment solution.

What is OnePay?
Being selected as an official online payment provider in Vietnam by Mastercard International Organization, One Pay Company successfully combined with Vietnam Commercial Bank (Vietcombank), and International Mastercard Organization to implement One Pay - online payment solution. One Pay accepts all popular international cards such as VISA, MasterCard, American Express, JCB, Diners Club. After submitting your payment, you will be received the transaction’s result after only 2 to 5 seconds.
OnePAY - a payment processing Technology Company specialized in providing the following technology solutions & services for Vietnam.
Electronic Payment Gateway processing services
Merchant payment solutions and services
Pre-Paid Card solution and services

Why Choose OnePay?
- Simple to make the payment than before. Transactions are processed in real-time and the result is provided to card holders immediately. Card holders/buyers will have peace of mind to know that their transaction is done by receiving the transaction result within 5 seconds.
- Provided an easy and secure front-end monitoring web interface, the lower risk factor as compared to a traditional payment gate
- Accepted worldwide
- Easy and secure to use, pay anyone, anytime in different convenience places.
- Fast, simple and easy process. Enhanced secured by 2FA (2-Factor-Authentication) such as OTP (One Time Password) via sms, RSA hardware token, the client transactions are ensured to be completed without and hinder.
- Quick and easy to send money
- 24/7h available monitoring to help prevent fraud

How to use it?
OnePay is said to be the easiest and quickest way to send and receive money online in Vietnam. What customers need to do is very simple as follows:
- Step 1: Fill your Credit Card details in secure online as detailed guidance in the last step of payment.
- Step 2: Click Pay to transfer money
- Step 3: Receive the transaction’s result (around 2 to 5 seconds)
Please kindly note that
- Step 1: Provide us your Credit Card details to send money
- Step 2: OnePay is highly recommended rather than the other types of payment since it is much easier and simpler for users.

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Get Vietnam Visa in Canada

Canadians need a valid visa to visit, do business or work in Vietnam. The normal Vietnam entry visa is issued by the Vietnam Embassy in Canada.

Canadians need a valid visa to visit, do business or work in Vietnam. The normal Vietnam entry visa is issued by the Vietnam Embassy in Canada, and the Vietnam visa on arrival can be done by our online visa service.

1. Get normal Vietnam Entry Visa (before travelling)

You apply for Visa to Vietnam by mail or in person at the Vietnam Embassy in Canada, and may receive after about a week, by following the below instructions:

- Fill out the online form
- Print out that form, and glue on a passport photo
- Send them together with + the fee ($79 for 1-month single entry visa) + your passport + a return pre-paid express post envelope to the Vietnam Embassy in Ottawa, Canada at the following address:

The Embassy of Vietnam

Address: 470 Wilbrod Street,
Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6M8 Canada
Telephone: (613) 236 0772
Fax: 613) 236 2704
Email: vietem@istar.ca
Office hours:

Monday to Friday
9.30 a.m - 12.00 p.m
13.30 p.m - 16.00 p.m

2. Get Vietnam Visa on Arrival (collecting at Vietnam International Airport on arrival)

- Issuing unit: Vietnam Immigration Department
- Processing time: 1 to 2 working days
- Processing fee: 19 – 50 USD/person (stamping fee NOT included)
- Without Passport requirement
- How to get it? You go online at http://www.vietnamvisaagent.com/, fill in the secure form, and just wait 1-2 days until you receive your Visa Approval Letter, and take this + your passport + 2 photos to Vietnam to get your visa at airport. This seems to be the cheapest and easiest way to get a visa to Vietnam from Canada.

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Culinary Art of Ancient Hue Court

When speaking about the cuisine in Hue, people usually mention both the traditional and court culinary art.

The feast of ancient Hue court is divided into different categories, such as the worshipping feast for great ceremonies, the feast for mandarins or envoys and the feast for new doctoral laureates. The number of dishes in each type of feast is also different. For instance, a great feast includes about 161 dishes while a precious feast has 50 dishes, a hefty breakfast feast with 12 dishes and a vegetarian feast for worshipping at the pagoda with 25 dishes.

Spring rolls are decorated with roses made of tomatoes.

The ingredients for making court dishes are the same as that for making daily dishes. However, the technique of cooking as well as the artistic dish arrangements are very selective and require the cook’s creativeness. All the dishes are refined to offer the best ingredients for good health and always reach the pinnacle in fragrance and taste, not to mention the meticulous presentation.

Visiting Hue today, tourists can enjoy various dishes of the Hue royal style in hotels or restaurants, such as Tinh Gia Vien Restaurant owned by artisan Ton Nu Thi Ha, a descendant of the Nguyen Dynasty. Here, night parties of the ancient court are reproduced, leaving a long-lasting impression on tourists.

Water-melons are carved into flowers and served as deserts at royal banquets.	The dragon-shaped salad is made from fruits, shrimp, meat and other ingredients.
The peacock-shaped dish is made from bulbs, fruits, eggs and meat.	The dish of chopped meat rolled with Lot leave is arranged into a peacock

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Beef Noodle Soup

Makes 8 satisfying (American-sized) bowls

For the broth:
2 medium yellow onions (about 1 pound total)
4-inch piece ginger (about 4 ounces)
5-6 pounds beef soup bones (marrow and knuckle bones)
5 star anise (40 star points total)
6 whole cloves
3-inch cinnamon stick
1 pound piece of beef chuck, rump, brisket or cross rib roast, cut into 2-by-4-inch pieces (weight after trimming)
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
4 tablespoons fish sauce
1 ounce (1-inch chunk) yellow rock sugar (duong phen; see Note)

For the bowls:
1 1/2-2 pounds small (1/8-inch wide) dried or fresh banh pho noodles ("rice sticks'' or Thai chantaboon)
1/2 pound raw eye of round, sirloin, London broil or tri-tip steak, thinly sliced across the grain (1/16 inch thick; freeze for 15 minutes to make it easier to slice)
1 medium yellow onion, sliced paper-thin, left to soak for 30 minutes in a bowl of cold water
3 or 4 scallions, green part only, cut into thin rings
1/3 cup chopped cilantro (ngo)
Ground black pepper

Optional garnishes arranged on a plate and placed at the table:
Sprigs of spearmint (hung lui) and Asian/Thai basil (hung que)
Leaves of thorny cilantro (ngo gai)
Bean sprouts (about 1/2 pound)
Red hot chiles (such as Thai bird or dragon), thinly sliced
Lime wedges

Prepare the broth:

Char onion and ginger. Use an open flame on grill or gas stove. Place onions and ginger on cooking grate and let skin burn. (If using stove, turn on exhaust fan and open a window.) After about 15 minutes, they will soften and become sweetly fragrant. Use tongs to occasionally rotate them and to grab and discard any flyaway onion skin. You do not have to blacken entire surface, just enough to slightly cook onion and ginger.

Let cool. Under warm water, remove charred onion skin; trim and discard blackened parts of root or stem ends. If ginger skin is puckered and blistered, smash ginger with flat side of knife to loosen flesh from skin. Otherwise, use sharp paring knife to remove skin, running ginger under warm water to wash off blackened bits. Set aside.

Parboil bones. Place bones in stockpot (minimum 12-quart capacity) and cover with cold water. Over high heat, bring to boil. Boil vigorously 2 to 3 minutes to allow impurities to be released. Dump bones and water into sink and rinse bones with warm water. Quickly scrub stockpot to remove any residue. Return bones to pot.

Simmer broth. Add 6 quarts water to pot, bring to boil over high heat, then lower flame to gently simmer. Use ladle to skim any scum that rises to surface. Add remaining broth ingredients and cook 1 1/2 hours. Boneless meat should be slightly chewy but not tough. When it is cooked to your liking, remove it and place in bowl of cold water for 10 minutes; this prevents the meat from drying up and turning dark as it cools. Drain the meat; cool, then refrigerate. Allow broth to continue cooking; in total, the broth should simmer 3 hours.

Strain broth through fine strainer. If desired, remove any bits of gelatinous tendon from bones to add to your pho bowl. Store tendon with cooked beef. Discard solids.

Use ladle to skim as much fat from top of broth as you like. (Cool it and refrigerate it overnight to make this task easier; reheat befofe continuing.) Taste and adjust flavor with additional salt, fish sauce and yellow rock sugar. The broth should taste slightly too strong because the noodles and other ingredients are not salted. (If you've gone too far, add water to dilute.) Makes about 4 quarts.

Assemble bowls: The key is to be organized and have everything ready to go. Thinly slice cooked meat. For best results, make sure it's cold.

Heat broth and ready noodles. To ensure good timing, reheat broth over medium flame as you're assembling bowls. If you're using dried noodles, cover with hot tap water and soak 15-20 minutes, until softened and opaque white. Drain in colander. For fresh rice noodles, just untangle and briefly rinse in a colander with cold water.

Blanch noodles. Fill 3- or 4-quart saucepan with water and bring to boil. For each bowl, use long-handle strainer to blanch a portion of noodles. As soon as noodles have collapsed and lost their stiffness (10-20 seconds), pull strainer from water, letting water drain back into saucepan. Empty noodles into bowls. Noodles should occupy 1/4 to 1/3 of bowl; the latter is for noodle lovers, while the former is for those who prize broth.
If desired, after blanching noodles, blanch bean sprouts for 30 seconds in same saucepan. They should slightly wilt but retain some crunch. Drain and add to the garnish plate.

Add other ingredients. Place slices of cooked meat, raw meat and tendon (if using) atop noodles. (If your cooked meat is not at room temperature, blanch slices for few seconds in hot water from above.) Garnish with onion, scallion and chopped cilantro. Finish with black pepper.

Ladle in broth and serve. Bring broth to rolling boil. Check seasoning. Ladle broth into each bowl, distributing hot liquid evenly so as to cook raw beef and warm other ingredients. Serve with garnish plate.

Note: Yellow rock sugar (a.k.a. lump sugar) is sold in one-pound boxes at Chinese and Southeast Asian markets. Break up large chunks with hammer.

Variations: If you want to replicate the splendorous options available at pho shops, head to the butcher counter at a Vietnamese or Chinese market. There you'll find white cords of gan (beef tendon) and thin pieces of nam (outside flank, not flank steak). While tendon requires no preparation prior to cooking, nam should be rolled and tied with string for easy handling. Simmer it and the beef tendon in the cooking broth for two hours, or until chewy-tender.

Airy book tripe (sach) is already cooked when you buy it. Before using, wash and gently squeeze it dry. Slice it thinly to make fringe-like pieces to be added to the bowl during assembly. For beef meatballs (bo vien), purchase them in Asian markets in the refrigerator case; they are already precooked. Slice each one in half and drop into broth to heat through. When you're ready to serve, ladle them out with the broth to top each bowl.

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Cuttlefish Steamed with Ginger

This nutritious and delicious meal combines the sweetness of cuttlefish with pungent taste of ginger. It is very suitable to serve the dish on cold days.

Ingredients: (serves 4)
- Fresh cuttlefish: 1kg
- Celery and leek: 300g
- Red pepper: 2
- Lemon: 1
- Seasoning: 2 teaspoons

Preparation:
- Clean the cuttlefish and score its surface with a knife.
- Boiling water in a pot and add a dash of seasoning and crushed ginger. Add and scald the cuttlefish.
- Cut the celery and leek into 8cm pieces and slice ginger. Put the prepared ingredients and cuttlefish onto a plate and steam for ten minutes.
- Decorate the dish with coriander.
- Served hot with seasoning mixed with pepper, lemon juice and red pepper or mustard.

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Vietnam Visa on arrival- Free

If you book a package tour with us, you will be done free visa upon arrival.
Or you would like to do only visa for Viet Nam?

Instead of applying visa through Vietnam Embassy, all you need to do now is to complete the online application form and pay us. Within 12 business hours after receiving your payment, we will send you pre-approved letter with code for picking up visa upon arrival Vietnam at the airport (airport at Hochiminh or Hanoi or Danang city)

For Visa application, we need the following information:
- Full name (Name as in passport)
- Sex (male/ female)
- Date of birth
- Nationality
- Passport number
- Arrival date
- Arrival flight number
- Departure date

These information will be sent to Vietnam Immigration Department, they will issue a letter of visa upon arrival for you. This letter will be scanned, sent to your email address or your fax. You will be allowed to get on board at departure airport with copy of this letter At arrival airport in Vietnam, you can get the visa with this letter, your original passport, 15USD/ person/ single entry visa or 25USD/ person/ multiple entries visa and 02 photos 4CMx6CM.

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Spring rolls

Nem ran (called cha gio in the south) is a much-appreciated speciality, although it is very easy to prepare. Since long ago, nem ran has been a familiar dish on the menu at all households during the New Year’s festivities, at family parties, and at receptions.

The stuffing of the nem ran is comprised of mince pork, sea crabs, eggs, minced Jew's ears, thin-top mushroom, dried onions, bean-sprouts, pepper, spiced salt, etc. The mixture is then rolled in flat rice cakes and fried in a pan until crispy.

Nem are eaten hot with a sauce that it is, at the same time, somewhat salty, sweet, acidic and scented (with the flavours of onion and pepper). Papaya and a few fresh scented vegetables are added.

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Sour Fish Head Soup

Ingredients
2 Scallions, white part only, -crushed with the side of a -knife Freshly ground black pepper 2 ts Salt 2 tb Plus 4 teaspoons fish sauce 1 lg Fish head or fish carcass, -split down the center 1 qt Water 1/2 c Canned sliced sour bamboo 1/4 Fresh pineapple, cut in a -lengthwise section and -sliced 1 ds MSG (optional) 2 tb Mixed chopped fresh -coriander (Chinese parsley) Scallion green
DIRECTIONS: An excellent way to get twice the pleasure out of your fish purchase. You can use either the fish head of the fish carcass if you wish. To the people of the South, this is as much their traditional dish as Southern Fried Chicken is to our southerners++and it will meet with instant praise Sprinkle the scallions, black pepper, 1-teaspoon salt, and 4 teaspoons fish sauce over the fish head. Allow standing for 10 to 15 minutes. Bring 1 quart of water to a boil and drop in the sour bamboo and pineapple slices. Cook at a lively boil for 5 minutes. Drop fish head into the actively boiling water and, keeping at a boil, add the 2 tablespoons fish sauce, remaining teaspoon salt, and a dash of MSG. Boil the fish head for a total of 10 minutes. Transfer to a soup tureen, sprinkle on the coriander and scallion green, and serve. NOTE: If the fish head is dropped into water that is not boiling, it will fall apart.

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Bitter melon stuffed with salted egg

Eating bitter melon is very cool in summer, anti-inflammatory effect, cooling. Egg yolk is rich in protein and vitamins to give us more energy. So, you try viewing offline.

Bitter melon, salty egg, If left to its own, it is too bitter and too salty, what you eat is also very hard so hard. But with little variation, combining creative dishes you will have a strange taste, harmonious and very nutritious

Ingredients :

• 2 Bitter melon fruit
• About 8 salted egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon honey

Method:

Egg yolks into a bowl, To steam .

Using a spoon mashed yolks of this section.

Bitter melon washed, cut in half. Using a spatula or sharp knife to winkle the intestine.

Place the pot halfway with water on stove, add salt, bring to boil. Put Bitter melon to stitch for well done. Fish out and then drop into a bowl of cold water. Doing so will reduce the bitterness of the melon.

Using a small spoon to stuff egg yolk into the melon pieces.

Cut melon stuffed egg about 1 cm thick slices. Showing in the disc.

Small drops of honey on a piece of melon and then enjoy. Note that you do not end much honey, just a drop only to increase the momentum for bold dishes, to avoid losing the taste of eggs and melon.


Tips:

- After bitter melon should Quilted dip into cold water, will reduce many the bitterness
- If crushed egg yolk too dry you can give in a little oil, stir up.

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Fresh roll cake at Gia An Restaurant - Banh Cuon

While it may not be the first dish to come to mind, Gia An provides foodies with some of the best banh cuon in the city. Mai Huong takes a taste.

Eat up:White rice crepe with salted ruoc tom dipped in the sauce give a true taste to banh cuon.

Tasty treat: Banh cuon ruoc tom is a popular dish in Gia An Restaurant. VNS Photos Truong Vi

Gia An Restaurant

Address:

- 25 Thai Phien St, Ha Noi,
Tel: 04-66588710 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-66588710 end_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-66588710 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-66588710 end_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-66588710 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-66588710 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

- 18A Le Thanh Tong St, Ha Noi,
Tel: 04-39335978 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-39335978 end_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-39335978 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-39335978 end_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-39335978 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-39335978 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

- 62 Tran Dang Ninh, Ha Noi,
Tel: 04-66589920 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-66589920 end_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-66589920 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-66589920 end_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-66589920 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-66589920 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

-.111/8 Lang Ha, Ha Noi,
Tel: 04-35625957 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-35625957 end_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-35625957 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-35625957 end_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-35625957 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-35625957 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

- 108A6 Tran Huy Lieu, Ha Noi,
Tel: 04-37264696 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-37264696 end_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-37264696 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-37264696 end_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-37264696 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 04-37264696 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

• Hours: Breakfast: 6am to 1pm
• Dinner: 4pm to 9pm
• Price: from VND7,000-34,000 (US$0.37-1.80)

Comment: Flavourful food made under strict hygienic standards.


Banh cuon ( roll cake), or steamed rice pancake, is a breakfast favourite for many Hanoians. Maybe you are already familiar with banh cuon Thanh Tri, a speciality of Ha Noi, but have you had the chance to try the savoury banh cuon Gia An, from the northern port city of Hai Phong?

I discovered banh cuon Gia An by chance when I went to the Vincom City Tower with friends. Located adjacent to the largest commercial centre in Ha Noi, the restaurant attracts shoppers who are after a light meal.

I have tried banh cuon countless times, from street vendors to expensive restaurants, and until now I've found it pretty much the same everywhere. Still, since it was too early for lunch, we thought we'd give it a try and were surprised with what we found.

A comfortable space without a door, filled with light fresh air, welcomed us. Inside, three long rows of square brown tables and chairs are placed close together. The shop is bustling with many customers and waitresses taking non-stop orders. Its interior decoration may be bland and simple but it still manages to be welcoming and comfortable.

Banh cuon Gia An offers two main dishes, vegetarian banh cuon and meat stuffed banh cuon, along with a number of side dishes such as cha ran (fried pork sausage), ruoc tom (salted shredded shrimp), thit nuong (grilled pork), cha que (cinnamon sausage) and fresh chicken eggs.

Vegetarian pancakes, like banh cuon Thanh Tri, are not actually rolls, but thin layers of soft rice paper eaten with thit nuong or ruoc tom and fried onions. Meat stuffed banh cuon, meanwhile, are long steamed rolls filled with a mix of minced pork, tiny shrimp, mushrooms and jelly ear fungus wrapped in a delicately thin rice sheet.

To enjoy the dish, diners dip a section of the roll into a bowl of warm fish sauce, an integral part of savouring the dish. Gia An's special dipping sauce recipe distinguishes it from other banh cuon restaurants.

While the fish sauce at other restaurants is often pre-made, Gia An's dipping sauce is unique because it is made from pigtail bone bouillon. It tasted a bit bland at first and I was a little disappointed, but a squeeze of fresh lime emphasised all of the flavours, giving it a delicious sweet and sour taste, just as I like it.

I realised the sauce is prepared for customers to flavour it according to their own tastes. I like that patrons can add more spice, peppercorns and fresh lime to suit themselves.

I ordered vegetarian banh cuon with ruoc tom and cha ran. I was presented with a plate layered with thin rice crepes, garnished with several sprigs of fresh green herbs and granules of bright orange ruoc tom, which were topped with dried fried onions. It was eye-catching and looked yummy.

I dipped a corner of a rice crepe that I had covered with a little ruoc tom into the sauce, added two leaves of fresh Vietnamese basil and a piece of cha ran. The tenderness of the rice paper combined with the flavour of the ruoc tom and the scent of the fresh herbs that lingered after my bite made me shudder at its deliciousness.

My friends agreed the sauce was tasty and not too salty like many other restaurants.

I finished my crepes within 10 minutes, a personal record for eating banh cuon, and had to resist the urge to order a second portion.

I returned to the restaurant a few days ago and was lucky enough to meet the manager, Pham Thanh Tuan. He told me banh cuon Gia An has opened 5 restaurants in Ha Noi and is aiming to develop the brand as a chain, similar to Pho 24.

Tuan explained the restaurant's name. "Gia An" came from the Gia in gia truyen (tradition) and An from An Duong, a famous banh cuon village in Hai Phong. He said the owner of the restaurant chain was born in Hai Phong and had a desire to introduce this speciality from his homeland to food connoisseurs in Ha Noi.

On my second visit I ordered hot rolled rice pancakes with meat stuffing. I liked the texture of the hot and tender rice paper and flavoured meat mingled with the sweet and sour sauce in my mouth.

During my studies overseas, I dreamed of food from my homeland. I was fed up with bread and jam and my mouth watered for hot and flavourful food, such as pho, bun and banh cuon.

I missed the familiar sight of a woman skilfully rolling rice pancakes over a linen base and then stuffing them with meat. Unfortunately, that sight is still missing at banh cuon Gia An because all of the rolled rice pancakes are prepared somewhere else then steamed on the premises to save time and labour.

Modern life seems to have made the traditional ways of enjoying food somewhat far away and outdated.

However, I really appreciate the restaurant's high hygiene standards. In many ways, food safety is more important than price when choosing a place to eat out.

Cooks at Gia An Restaurant wear nylon gloves when they're preparing food, which they change every 15 minutes. All of the furniture, equipment and the rest of the interior are always kept clean and there is a rubbish bin under each table.

Enjoying a nice meal is just one of many ways to appreciate life's beauty and banh cuon Gia An is a nice place to enjoy with family and friends, both for breakfast and a light supper. Give it a try if you want to explore the fresh taste of a familiar dish.

P/S: With this posts i hope you will have a good idea for your meal if you have a travel to Vietnam or want to find a new taste. In the following articles, I will introduce some other restaurant in Vietnam.

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A Vietnamese Pho restaurant in Australia

Pho Sure Vietnamese Noodle House brings a bit of Marrickville over to Enmore. About bloody time :-)








We always though a smart way to make money would be to open up a Marrickville style hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese joint in Enmore or Newtown. Well somebody has finally done it. Yes we have Pho 236 up on King Street Newtown which is excellent value but never as tasty as the classic joints of Marrickville. Pho Sure is the real deal.



Pho Sure Vietnamese Noodle House is a Tardis of a place, from the outside it looks like a takeaway joint with a couple of tables for loiterers. Inside is a cavernous eating hall, sparse but freshly renovated. There's lots of room here, a good cheap, no-frills option if you have big group, BYO welcome.

We visit on a Thursday night and are surprised at how many diners are here considering Pho Sure has only been open a couple of months, and it's a tough location for a restaurant, very tough, on a busy road devoid of pedestrian traffic. Plus the opening hours are 5pm to 9pm only (the owner has a day gig as well).

Inside there's a joyous cacophony to the place, and impossibly cute Vietnamese kiddies running around having a ball, for a moment I'm back in Vietnam. We get the feeling we will be spending a lot of time here over summer, with a six pack from the Warren View Hotel down the road.



Help yourself condiments, cutlery, water and tea.



Condensed milk in my coffee, just like Vietnam, it's dessert and coffee all in one.



Special combination pho - pho dac biet- $9.50 small, $10.50 large. This is a small one and it's huge. The combination comes with rare beef, well done briskets, tendon and tripe. This is quite a good pho, thumbs up.



Fried Squid Ball - cha muc chien - $7.50. Lightly fried balls of manufactured squiddy fun.



Grilled Pork with Vermicilli - bun thit nuong - $9.50. A big generous serve, the pork has lovely caramel flavours, pour the sweet chilli sauce on top and mix it all together, drool.

Pho Sure Vietnamese Noodle House Menu - click to enlarge.



Pho Sure Vietnamese Noodle House Menu - click to enlarge.



Pho Sure Vietnamese Noodle House Menu - click to enlarge.



Pho Sure Vietnamese Noodle House Menu - click to enlarge.

Pho Sure Vietnamese Noodle House is at 37-39 Stanmore Road, Enmore, corner of Liberty Street, a block from Enmore Road and almost across the road from the Warrenview Hotel were you can grab some brewskies for byo. Pho Sure is open from 5pm-9pm only, 7 days per week.

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A map of Vietnamese Pho in Saigon

We have no intention of introducing all the good pho restaurants in HCM City. The following are some places for your reference. These restaurants offer different kinds of pho. We also mention pho restaurants foreign diners like and a shop specializing in chicken pho soup. Almost It has Price from 1USD to 5 USD per bowl.

Pho Quyen

With a history of nearly 50 years, Quyen specializes in beef pho soup. The shop is named after the first child of a family of five sons whose father is a northerner and whose mother a southerner. The owner of Pho Quyen now is Duong Huu Phuc, Quyen's brother. Phuc has a 20-year experience in the trade, including being the chef.

Address: 33 Hoang Van Thu, Phu Nhuan Dist. Tel: 8423962.



Pho Hoa

Established during the 1960s, Pho Hoa has been a favorite address of Saigonese with high income. At first, the pho shop was named Hoa Loc. After many ups and downs, the word Loc was dropped and only Hoa is retained, which is shorter and easier to remember.
At Pho Hoa, pho tai (rare beef pho) is finely chopped and treated with spices to make it more delicious.

Address: 260 Pasteur, Dist. 1. Tel: 8297943.


Pho Hong Van

Address: 7 Ton That Tung St., Dist. 1. Tel: 8324139.


Pho Thanh Canh

Set up before 1975 by Chau Thanh Canh as the owner and chef, Thanh Canh now has three shops. Canh says he knows how to combine the tastes of Hanoian and Saigonese pho while remaining faithful to the bone-stewing method of the north.

Address: 55 Nguyen Cu Trinh, Dist. 1. Tel: 9201908


Pho Tau Bay

Pham Xuan Tien, manager and chef of Pho Tau Bay, says that in 1950 his grandfather opened his pho shop in Hanoi, which did not have a name. Tien's grandfather was given a pilot's helmet by a friend. He liked the helmet very much and often wore it. Diners called him tau bay, which means "aircraft," and he named his pho shop after it.
In 1954, Tien's family moved south, bringing with them the pho trade. They set up the Tau Bay shop.

Address: 435 Ly Thai To, District 10. Tel: 8345128


Pho Huong Binh

This is one of the best-known pho ga (chicken pho soup) in Saigon. Set up in 1982 by a woman native to the northern Quang Binh Province, Huong Binh is now owned by her son, Tran Van Quy. Quy says the main element for the broth of chicken pho soup is chicken bones. He doesn't use star anise or cinnamon as in beef pho soup. Only ginger is used, he says.
Huong Binh is frequented by some foreigners, especially Japanese.

Address: 148 Vo Thi Sau, Dist. 3. Tel: 8298762.

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“Banh Phu The”– Vietnamese conjugal cake

In Vietnam,“Banh Phu The” is a special cake, which symbolises the loyalty of a husband and wife...

The conjugal cake is normally served at Vietnamese weddings and used as a wedding invitation or taken by the man’s family to the woman’s family on engagement day. The stickiness of the cake is said to signify the stickiness of the marriage ties. Traditionally, a guy would offer these to the girl he wants to marry. Now these cakes are still an essential part of a wedding banquet, or the gift packages that the groom's family send over to the bride's.

“Banh Phu The” is a Vietnamese sweet with a jelly-like texture made of tapioca flour, pandan, mung bean paste, sugar, sesame seeds and coconut milk. It is very unique with a leaf covering that looks like a tiny square box, made from coconut leaves. The reason it is called Banh “Phu The” is because of how it is wrapped: a box on the top fits perfectly with the box on the bottom. If you would like ton know how to make this special cake, you can visit Dinh Bang - a famous Vietnamese village in Bac Ninh Province, then you can view the method to prepare this husband and wife cake, as follows:

Ingredients:

- 1kg kudzu powder, refined - 800g refined sugar - 200g coconut flesh, scraped in thin threads

- 300g green beans - 50 coconut leaves - 15 pineapple leaves

To prepare:

Filling

Cut green beans in halves, soak in warm water for five hours. Strain and remove skin of green beans. Rinse.

Steam green beans and grind into a paste.

Mix green bean paste with 200g sugar, then cook over a low flame and stir until the mixture loses its sticky texture.

Spread the mixture 3cm thick on a large tray, cool and cut into 6x6cm square pieces.

Cover

Wash and clean pineapple leaves and cut into 60cm strips so that only the middle remains.

Arrange the coconut leaves into a square or hexagonal shape to form a box roughly 25x30cm wide and place a pineapple leaf on top.

Dissolve the kudzu powder and remaining sugar in water. Use two and a half times as much water to the amount of powder.

Cook over a low flame, stirring until the mixture becomes a paste. Extinguish flame, add threads of coconut flesh and mix well.

Fill the coconut leaf boxes with the coconut flesh mixture and place the green bean filling in the centre.

Put the boxes in the steamer and cook for 20 minutes, until the cake becomes clear.

“Banh phu the” is a lot more interesting in texture and flavor. In the real one, the cake has it green color and flavor by being steamed inside its box...

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Some popular food of Muong region

Muong region has been probably one of the most favorite places for tourists recently. Discovering villages and daily life's activities seems to be interests of tourists. Yet, for many people, Muong's cuisine is still of great strangeness. Muong minority is not much finical in their cuisine yet each dish is their specialty, a great harmony between foods themselves and tones of the nature that only by tasting can tourists experience true feelings about their cuisine. Some typical dishes which may be offered to tourists by the locals are:

1. Burned-Boiled-Fermented pork

One of Muong minority's habits is to leave their pigs unbridled, eating forest vegetables, drink water from springs. Hence, pork here is very good and flavored. Once they want to slaughter pig, they have their pig burned to get rid of hair and then thoroughly washed, disembowel to take out viscera without rewashing the pig, and hang it up to dry out. By following that procedure, pork will not go bad and can be kept for long time without being tainted. Pig's trotter is then boiled to enjoy with toasted salt and grilled and ground "dổi" seeds. This is really a simple and popular way of preparing this dish but of great flavor with strong taste of toasted salt, sweetness of pork and aroma of toasted "dổi" seeds.

Another kind of preparing pork is to leave it fermented with yeast made of forest leaves in compliance to a particular formula that bring about fat taste of skin, sour taste of fermented pork and you may want to enjoy this dish many times.

2. Broiled fish and upland rice

Fish, one of popular foods taken from Da (Đà) river, is skillfully prepared to be delicious dishes by Muong females. Fishes such as carp, catfish, and Aphyocypris are normally broiled. Sticks are used to get through fish's body and fixed with bamboo clips to avoid being broken and at the same time to get good flavors of fresh bamboo, dusted with salt and wrapped with banana leaves, then stewed to enjoy. Combination of fresh bamboo's flavor, banana leaves, saltiness absorbed into the fish really makes this dish unique. It would be hard for tourists to forget Tay Bac's flavor by means of this dish once it is had with bamboo-tube rice.

3. Grilled chopped meat wrapped with pomelo leaves

Like other kinds of grilled chopped pork, yet the Muongs has their own way of preparing this dish to make it healthy: to grill pork with pomelo leaves. Half fat and half lean meat is cut into small pieces, soaked with fish sauce and onion. Pomelo leave is cut into halves and then pork is wrapped with these halves, fixed by bamboo clips, broiled on live charcoals till pomelo leaves turn violet. It is time for pork to be done inside of pomelo leave. Grilled pomelo leave is had with broiled pork as herbal vegetable with its bitter attar to help both reduce feeling of being tired of fat taste and bring about good digestion.

4. Buffalo's meat cooked with "lồm" leaves.

This dish is much like a kind of soup made of buffalo's meat which is very popular to the Muongs in Hoa Binh (Hòa Bình). The meat is burned to be yellow and then steamed in bulk to become tender, then sliced into small pieces, stewed in a earthen pot with some "lồm" leaves - a kind of forest leave with typically sour taste and broken rice. The dish is pretty condensed due to broken rice and with sour taste of "lồm" leaves to bring about very special favor to enjoyers.

5. Bamboo sprouts

Bamboo sprout is one of typical dishes of the Muongs in particular and Northern people in Vietnam in general. Normally in November or December, young bamboo sprouts just begin to show with very typical bitter taste are dug to be grilled and then had with "chẩm chéo" - a kind of sauce made of toasted salt, grilled "mắc khén", ginger leaves, ground garlic and chili. Once its season comes, fermented bamboo sprouts steamed with chicken gives a very special and delicious taste.

6. Colored steamed sticky rice

Steaming sticky rice with various colors made of leaves may bring about very natural tastes. Once rice is well-done, people often mix up colors to get a combination of flavors to ensure deliciousness and nutrition since it contains lots of folk medicines taken from leaves.

7. "Rượu cần" (wine enjoyed with pipes from jars)

"Rượu cần" is actually a special kind of drink that anyone who visit Muong region wants to taste. Muong minority are so hospitable that they bring the best "Rượu cần" to offer their guests. Like other kinds of "Rượu cần" of Thai and Tay Nguyen minorities, "Rượu cần" of the Muongs is also made of yeast of forest leaves, upland rice and preserved with rice husk. To enjoy this kind of wine, people keep pouring into jars of wine with boiled or mineral water so that jars are always full of wine. During parties, people cluster round one another enjoying sweetness and passion of "Rượu cần" while enjoying sounds of gongs in a space which is full of atmosphere of festivities.

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Vietnamese Ginger Shrimp Stir Fry Recipe - Tom xao gung

Tôm xào gừng is Vietnamese-style sautéed shrimp. As a bit lady, Maman would build this dish fairly often whenever she required to throw along a fast dinner, as a result of shrimp cooks terribly quick. This specific preparation has touches of sweet and spicy within the kind of ginger, lychee and chile. The ginger is employed each grated and cut into little matchsticks. this is often not ancient, however I additionally added lychee jam that I had in my pantry and finished the cooking by flambing the shrimp in lychee-flavored liqueur.

Cooking shrimp is often a fragile task. First, you've got to form certain the shrimp are very recent. Then, the cooking time should be precise thus as to not over-cook, otherwise they become horrible and really chewy. Lastly, the flavors that are paired with the shrimp ought to season them well while not concealing the freshness of the seafood. This recipe undoubtedly hits the mark, however do not simply take my word for it!

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Com hen

Com hen Song Huong” is a dish served at room temperature, made with mussels and leftover rice. It is a complicated recipe that includes sweet, buttery, salty, sour, bitter and spicy flavors.


Com hen Song Huong (or Com hen in short) is the very simple and low-priced specialty of Hue, the ancient citadel of Vietnam. Accordingly, the way of serving this special kind of food is of great ancience, simplicity and deliciousness.

Com hen has a sweet-smelling flavor of rice, onion, and grease, as well as strange tastes of sweet, buttery, salty, sour, bitter, and peppery-hot. You have to arrive to Hen river-islet in the Perfume River to have the original Com hen. However, you can find out the dish on some streets in Hue City. It requires 15 different raw materials to prepare for the dish, including mussel, fried grease, watery grease, peanuts, white sesames, dry pancake, salted shredded meat, chilly sauce, banana flower, banana trunk, sour carambola, spice vegetables, peppermint, salad, etc.

Com hen is always attractive to many customers since it is tasty and, at the same time, economical to anybody.

What makes this simple kind of food popular is revealed in the great endeavor to adopt and process its main ingredient – mussel. Mussels are sea species, which must be dipped in water for a long while before being processed. Accordingly, people often say that com hen somehow expresses the strenuous work of the maker.

Where to find it? Very easy as it is popular everywhere in Hue and these days, elsewhere in Hue restaurants in Vietnam. More favorably, it is a low-priced specialy, thus you could eat it in luxurious restaurants in Hue or even in vendoring mobile shops on the streets.

“Visiting Hue could not miss Com hen, or else you have not come to Hue ever!” is the most common remark of visitors elsewhere to Hue. So, please come and enjoy it yourself!

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