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Olafhenny 03-24-2012 10:30 PM

Good Eating
 
Who would not like to have dinner in places like these?





Lousaine Brew House in Nha Trang. Just past the last row of tables is a sandy beach and then
starts the South China Sea.





Tummy full, most dishes cleared, money in the pay wallet, - time for a parting photo.





While waiting to be served, might as well take a couple of pictures of this place in Mui Ne :)





Same restaurant, just a shot taken from our table in the other direction.






Olafhenny 03-30-2012 10:02 PM

Fine pastries
 
Some of the finest pastries I have encountered outside of central Europe are to be found in
the Cargo Club in Hoi An, Vietnam and the Tam Tam Café right across the road from it.





Just seeing this display case is a delight (for me anyway). :)





Some of the “detail”





More detail. - I particularly liked the details. :)





The Tam Tam Café viewed from the Cargo Club





Olafhenny 04-03-2012 09:16 PM

In Vietnam Food Is Always Pleasantly Presented
 
In Vietnam Food Is Always Pleasantly Presented





A great breakfast to wake up to.
I believe, we all know, what bananas look like, so from there clockwise: pineapple, orange,
watermelon, mango, dragon fruit, pineapple, water melon, orange, dragon fruit and in the
centre yogurt over top of strawberries.






Lunch $2.75; a lunch to stop almost everything, other than breathing, for






If you are looking for something a bit “meatier” for lunch, these beef rolls are also quite delicious. :)





For a real hefty dinner these pieces of pork, sautéed with a fine sauce in a cast iron pan will be
served to you with steamed rice.



None of these dishes exceeded $5.-.




barnetmill 04-03-2012 09:38 PM

Re: Good Eating
 
I wonder if the French colonial past has anything to do with the excellent cuisine that is now found in top restaurants of Vietnam. There use to be an old French saying if you are going to be conquered by someone it would better if they can cook, making fun their English competitors.

Olafhenny 04-03-2012 10:30 PM

Re: Good Eating
 
Although I believe, that in Vietnam you get the better out of both cultures, I found the French
influence less prevalent, than I had expected, before I visited Vietnam the first time.

One of the mainstays of their cuisine is the incredibly delicious sauces, of which you find
variations throughout East Asia.

The other important ingredient is the incredible artistry, which seems to be a talent present in all
Vietnamese.

Examples can be seen in the threads I have started so far:

Seeds for Quất, possibly the most attractive and hardy citrus… - Bananas.org

http://www.bananas.org/f8/opulence-f...ing-13390.html

http://www.bananas.org/f8/beautiful-...ing-15182.html

http://www.bananas.org/f8/seeds-qu-t...e-15156-2.html

But more threads are still to come, specifically one covering Arts and Culture and the crowning of
this, the Good Eating thread: ‘Ancient Hue’

Best,
Olaf




Darkman 04-04-2012 09:00 PM

Re: Good Eating
 
Man I'm ready to pack a bag. Most of thse dishes were mostly healthy too!

Olafhenny 04-16-2012 11:53 PM

Time to post some more about dining in Vietnam
 


The following pictures show the most swanky place we have eaten in during our Vietnam visit.
We had been there during our last year’s visit and knew, it would be elegant. Accordingly
we dressed up: I wore socks in my sandals. :)

Because of the quality of the place and the tropical fauna as well as the landscaping most of
us are interested in, it deserves two parts. this first part will be dedicated to introduce you to
the park-like complex, which consists of a number of restaurants in separate buildings. Because I
was stumbling about with my camera in the semi dark, I have never quite figured out how many
separate restaurants there were. Also due to the darkness the photos, shot with a hand held
camera are not as sharp as they might have been under better light conditions.





This is the main building with the large dining hall on the second floor. We had dinner there last year.





The walk-up to one of the smaller establishments. Sorry about my thumb, I should have cropped that out.





One of the ornamental ponds on the grounds





Another illustration of the ambience of the setting with two separate restaurants in the background.






Yug 04-17-2012 12:10 AM

Re: Good Eating
 
The places look really nice, but it is the food, and cleanliness of preparation, that makes it or breaks it. Amoebic dysentery could dampen a really nice vacation.

Just sayin'...

Olafhenny 04-17-2012 01:10 AM

Re: Good Eating
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Yug (Post 190941)
The places look really nice, but it is the food, and cleanliness of preparation, that makes it or breaks it. Amoebic dysentery could dampen a really nice vacation.

Just sayin'...

In 3 trips, altogether about 6 months in Vietnam, I have not had one bout of dysentery, even
though we have eaten out regularly 3 meals a day in hundreds of different restaurants, lots of
them fairly cheap ones.

Oh, I had my run-ins with the 'runs', but never in Vietnam. In this age of bottled water it is
your own fault if you have those problems.

I travelled in the Middle East during the fifties and sixties, before 'bottled water'.

Now that is a different story. :(



Olafhenny 05-04-2012 12:37 AM

Re: Good Eating
 
A PM I just received reminded me, that I had posted about the park like setting of the best
eatery we encountered in Vietnam, but had not followed it up with our actual eating experience.





As I had indicated in my previous posting, this is a complex of several restaurants in a park.
Last year we dined here.






This year the ambiance was more intimate in this little two table room, where we were later
joined by a German couple






The food was of course delicious, after all, this was Vietnam. But if you think that it was artfully
presented in my previous photos in this thread, look at this one.






Now isn’t that a splendid bird? (Peacock?)



After the meal we were given right on our table a demonstration on how the decorations are carved.
I did not take any pictures this time, because I had done that last year, but if anybody is interested
I can post a short series of pics. on that too.

Ah yes, before anybody gets the idea, that this dinner broke the bank.... While it was quite expensive
by Vietnamese standards, it was no more expensive than what you would spend here in one of the
medium priced chain restaurants, such as a steak house.

Since we had been here before, we knew, that it would be "up-scale". so we dressed accordingly.
I wore socks in my sandals. :)





Darkman 05-04-2012 09:40 AM

Re: Good Eating
 
I'd love to see the carving instructional pictures either here or in a link.

Olafhenny 05-14-2012 11:11 PM

Re: Good Eating
 
The following is part of a pictorial presentation I prepared of our first visit there last year. The explanations
are inside the images. This is the first and so far the last attempt I have made at such a presentation, so
please bear with me. :)
































We did get a similar presentation by the same artist this year. That appears to be the advantage of
being there early. They cannot possibly do that, when the restaurants are packed. Actually I wanted
to go there early, to catch the last of the daylight for some of the pictures shown in this thread below.





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