Our eating journey

Well, where will we begin?? Of course from Saigon, but because this blog is all about food and eating, so no attraction sightseeing here but food glorious food

We start with Nam Giao restaurant. This restaurant is serve Hue' food. We had Beef soup ( Bun bo Hue ), steamed rice cake ( banh beo) , rice noodle soup Nam Pho style ( Banh canh Nam Pho) and steamed prawn rice cake wrapped in banana leave ( banh nam). The restaurant interior is too dark so out photos turned out as it been over cooked in the oven hahaha so here just have the steamed rice cake ( banh beo ) as it was the better look of all. Oh, and Nam Giao address is : 136/15 Le Thanh Ton st . It is in Lonely Planet and it worth a try , you'll see so many Westerners, tourists or expats eating here and the price is so low.

Then a well knownnoodle house in Saigon is Hong Phat restaurant. below is our breakfast at Hong Phat. Dont ask me the address as this one not listed in LP's , just remember it is on Vo van Tan st, many taxi drivers know it.

Talking Vo van Tan st, I'd like to tell you a story: along Vo van Tan next to Cach Mang thang Tam st, there's an alley special with carrot cake. My daughter is a carrot cake addict ( I made the dish here in Syd for her since she was a little girl, now still make for her) so We had diner there. While eating, an old man looked at us, just looked - He not begged- So my daughter told me she couldn't eat with an old man who appeared starved next to us. She gave him some money ( 20 thousands Dong I remembered, and the price for one serving was 5 thousands Dong by that time in year 2000) and said: Dear old man, you can buy your diner now. To our surprising, he went, not to buy carrot cake but a small bread roll!!. My daughter stopped eating ,cried and said : I understand why he bough the bread: he would survive longer with the bread!! The poignant point here is the old man was respected himself, he was not a beggar!!Oh my poor people!!

Our special treat in Thap Cham, Ninh Thuan: blue swimmer hotpot!! Yumm, couldn't cook in here,

From Ninh Thuan, Phan Rang we come to Nha Trang, and dear oh dear we just starved for our tradional meal: A meal with a stir fry dish, a salty dish, and one soup.That the way an ordinary Vietnamese served their daily meal with rice.

The Cauliflower stir fry with prawn

The salty dish: fresh water fish ( mud fish) caramelise and cooked in clay pot

Nha Trang specialty is Nem Ninh Hoa

And we finished with some jack fruit bough at Nha Trang market

In Hoi An, every one about Cao Lau, but Hoi An is known for Chicken rice, Fried wonton and White Rose ( steamed prawn wrapped in rice paper : translation from LP's hahaha)

This is Chicken rice, quite different with Hainanaise Chicken rice.

And here it is: Cao Lau. Gotta eat Cao Lau with Rice paper cracker

And White rose

Hanoi: Prawn fritter at West lake ( ho Tay)

Of course we had more in hanoi, but dear oh dear the food was so good that when I remember my camera, I only took the plate's picture :0). I promise, I 'll REMEMBER my camera before lift my chopstick next time. Bye for now

An orphanage

Before I show you our Vietnam' trip for leisure and eating, I'd like to share with you some heart broken moment.
On our last trip to Vietnam, we visited a private orphanage. I said private, because my sister in-law is the person who in charge of this house, and they didn't allowed to received any donation from stranger.Because this reason, I am sorry that I couldnt provide you the house's location .
On the night before our visit, at 11 p.m my sis just found a new born baby dump in front of her door. Sounds familiar?? Looking at the angel face sleep in peace and smile, my tear almost gone out.
Some of the orphans are disability. Some of them found a new house and has a new life, but not all of them. What will happen for those one who left behind??I got no answer and I dont really want an answer.
My son in law's friend's eye was wet so the same as ours. We all left a small donation ( since I am not a stranger) but I know, we couldn't do much for those poor babies. May God bless them all

My travel (eating) journey :-) - Singapore 2007

We came back to Singapore after 7 years. To me Singapore hasn't changes much. We only stayed here for 2 nights before heading home so I booked The Rendez-vous hotel since it locate next to Dhoby Ghaut MRT station at the end of Orchard Rd and next to Bencoolen a.k.a backpacker' street, best of all we got a very good deal for its prime location.


Upon check in, the lady at front desk -who looks not too friendly, never seen a smile on her face - took quite a long time to settled our booking. When she done, she put me and hubby into a smoking room, requested for a change and glad that we did. Here is she and our room


Lady at the front desk

Our twin bed, the window looking to the park infront of YMCA hotel

Working desk and TV

Bath room with marble vanity and nice bath tub, the water pressure was so good

Across the hotel, on corner of Bencoolen and Bras Basah Rd is a Kopitiam ( food center) open 24 hours)

The Kopitiam has varieties of stall cater for many different dishes :

There're even a Yumcha stall right at the entrance. Yummy:

The next morning I and my daughter took the MRT to Chinatown, we had our coffee and sandwich with Kaya at Nayang coffee shop . We saw Singaporians ate their soft boiled egg by cracked it to pour into their coffee' dish,add a dash of soya sauce !!We did asked our egg hard boiled, and gotta have a good waiting time for our egg to served

When go for a walk, I and hubby saw Strand hotel

And Hotel 81 Bencoolen .

Both hotel almost sit next to each other. Good neighbourhood I guess. :-)

We crossed the crossing of Bencoolen and Middle Rd

And found a big food center called Parkland Center, we had the short noodle and yellow noodle. They tasted so good and the price was cheap too



Couldn't go to Singapore without eating Chillie Crab ( my son in law ) and oyster omelette( Me, hubby and daughter had ). The lady at Newton Circus done the best oyster omelette

After chillie crab, an ice kacang goes to recues my son in law' tongue!!

Below are some of Singapore photos. Bye Sing, and we will come back to visit you