foodies guide to south east asia

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Thankyou for the comments, its good to hear from home, the kids are now thinking about Kiama, their friends, surfing and I guess familiarity, although coming back to Saigon felt very familiar, compared to when we first arrived back in December. We are just back from a great Indian meal (a fav from our visit there in Dec). So I thought I would give you all a run down on our eating adventures (especially for those who feel they may not survive here!). Nearly every place we have eaten in all 3 countries serve spring rolls and fried rice. A great staple for those times when more familiar food is desired. KFC didnt offer either of thse choices however when we went there last night (much to my horror!!!). I went up the road later on for an excellent noodle dish and beer. I was very conservative at that Saigon eating establishment as the menu had such delights as eel, frog, snake ( and that was what I could read). Beer has been fantastic in vietnam, cambodia and laos. Bottled in all countries but in vietnam also a fresh draught beer by the glass, in many hoky little side cafes, where you sit on little plastic chairs and drink a glass or 2 for 35c each. The kids have declared that the best fried rice ever was from our fav little restaurant in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The fresh spring rolls are very tasty and quite varied in different places. Frank and I loved a Hoi An noodle speciality called cau lao. Delicious thick noodles in a tasty sauce, served with lots of fresh herbs/lettuce, pork and fried bits of rice paper. much better than i could describe. We also enjoyed a ban Xiou which is a pancake with bean shoots, prawns, pork, greens rolled up with rice paper. very very good. We had a delicious turkish kebab in hanoi, and the kids have had various burger experiences (available in many restaurants as is pasta, mexican etc). The funniest burger was in luang Prabang. Dylan and caitlin were salivating over the burger they were anticipating when it arrived-a ham and salad roll. very nice ham and salad roll it was but not the hamburger they were hoping for! Jack ordered a pizza in Hoi an, and out came a cooked base with cubes of plastic like cheese, ham and tomato sause, uncooked on top!!! A speciality of Luang prabang, Laos is river weed. Sounds weird i know, but it is collected from the nam Khan river (we collected plenty ourselves when we were swimming in the river) and is laid out on a rack and dried. It is bright green when collected, then dried in a large flat square with sesame seeds and dried vegetable and salt. so it looks a little like the nori used to wrap sushi. It is really good to eat when dried and crispy, smeared with a little chilli jam. A regular lunch for us in Luang Prabang was a delicious fresh french style long roll, with chicken or tuna, lettuce and mayo.
Everywhere were have got into the fresh fruit smoothies-ice milk and fruit. No illness from the ice so it must have been ok. The coffee smoothies have also been a taste sensation. we ate lots of shrimp in Hoi An, and fantastic fish cooked in banana leaf with secret herbs and spices. frank sampled tiny little snail like creatures cooked with chilli etc but we couldnt bring ourselves to even walk down dog meat street in Hanoi. on our mekong delta tour today we sampled honey tea, banana wine (terrible), dried fruits and coconut lollies. What gourmets we are

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Comments

[Erin]

Hello from the USA
Hello to all of you!! Sounds like you are having a wonderful experience and time. Thank you for including us on your journey!! GBY, Erin, Brian and Samantha (19 M already)