We've read about a local resto Quan An Ngon where lots of locals and tourists go, it's like a market cafe (Cravings in Calgary) with different cooking stations and very good food. It's absolutely jumping Sunday evening, we don't wait long for a table but it's low, with squatty chairs, not good for Ted's knee, so we wait and get another regular table.
We are cheek by jowl with our neighbors, the way Vietnamese seem to like to eat, so visit one side with visitors from Taiwan (he pony-tailed, looks like a Californian but is a teacher in Korea, she with mother on holiday.) She lived in Toronto for 6 months! We visit the other side with a family from Romania.
The array of foods is amazing, especially seafood, which is fresh but pretty pricey, more than in Calgary. crab especially is in season. Their signature dish is a huge crispy rice pancake, about
a foot in diameter, partly stuffed with shrimp and pork, then slathered with more shrimp and port on top and tons of fresh greens and herbs. The waitress happily shows them how to eat this, cut with scissors first, then wrapped in rice paper wraps with the greens and sauces. Messy but good.
We order the whole snakefish, a chef's choice. Again it comes slathered with the freshest greens and herbs. We cook it at the table on a portable stove, it's hot!! But we can eat the fish juicy how we like it. We hack off pieces once it's cooked, and again wrap them in rice wraps with veggies and herbs and sauces. We ordered stir fry veggies too and they are awful, cooked for western tourists who are afraid of Vietnamese food probably!
The whole thing is in a open air courtyard which is pleasant on the warm evening.
Tonight we are home early to pack for our two day adventure to Halong Bay on a Chinese junk type boat. We will keep our lovely hotel room, just can't face packing it all up for a one night move.
We are cheek by jowl with our neighbors, the way Vietnamese seem to like to eat, so visit one side with visitors from Taiwan (he pony-tailed, looks like a Californian but is a teacher in Korea, she with mother on holiday.) She lived in Toronto for 6 months! We visit the other side with a family from Romania.
The array of foods is amazing, especially seafood, which is fresh but pretty pricey, more than in Calgary. crab especially is in season. Their signature dish is a huge crispy rice pancake, about
a foot in diameter, partly stuffed with shrimp and pork, then slathered with more shrimp and port on top and tons of fresh greens and herbs. The waitress happily shows them how to eat this, cut with scissors first, then wrapped in rice paper wraps with the greens and sauces. Messy but good.
We order the whole snakefish, a chef's choice. Again it comes slathered with the freshest greens and herbs. We cook it at the table on a portable stove, it's hot!! But we can eat the fish juicy how we like it. We hack off pieces once it's cooked, and again wrap them in rice wraps with veggies and herbs and sauces. We ordered stir fry veggies too and they are awful, cooked for western tourists who are afraid of Vietnamese food probably!
The whole thing is in a open air courtyard which is pleasant on the warm evening.
Tonight we are home early to pack for our two day adventure to Halong Bay on a Chinese junk type boat. We will keep our lovely hotel room, just can't face packing it all up for a one night move.
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