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Published: December 6th 2014
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Today we visited the Sky Deck in HCMC, it's an enormous building that you can pay to go up top and see the amazing views. A great experience to get an insight into the sheer size of Saigon. Not cheap to go up there, I think about $50 Australian, but worth it for the view. There is a cafe up there you can buy expensive icecream at, around $6 australiaN for a couple of scoops but apparently it was delicious, Fannys French Handmade icecream. Max being the expert in desserts that he is, displays his purist nature and goes for the vanilla....
Next we head of in search of dinner. It's raining and the boys are a bit tetchy. The visit to the war museum has everyone in a quite mood. It's been a long day and the boys start whinging about not wanting to traipse aroun searching for restaurants. We refuse to eat In the sky deck restaurant and Harry is annoyed because we could have eaten at Hogs Breath. It seems such a wasted opportunity not to eat the local food, and we are still game to try anything, not yet sick of Vietnamese food.
I give in to whinging kids and head into a little local restaurant. They are happy to sit down, out of the rain. We have a look at the menu and the waitress recommends their best seller, fried pigeon. We laugh and say no way, but then we think, hey, why not and we order the fried frog, pigeon, a froggy Hotpot, garlic prawns, chicken and share the meal.
The pigeon has the grossest fried little head. If you know me well, I am known as the bird lady, so you can guess my thoughts on the little deep fried birdy head. Beak and all. We try the meat, it's deep fried and crispy, like a Saigon version of the local charcoal chicken. Not much meat on him, the meat is dark, I keep thinking of Kristen who only likes the dark thigh meat of the chicken and who always orders duck, and I think you would be loving this K!! The fried frog is nice, it's really meaty, must be huge frogs. It's the texture of crab and has the slight wetness of crab as well, but almost between chicken and crab. Paul preferred
the braised frog in the Hotpot. Maxy boy was a bit grossed out. He tried it all but you could tell he would prefer a juicy steak. Harry, who loves an adventure, was happy to try it and Tom basically has the most adventurous palate of the boys tells us about the flavours.
Paul is pigging out on pigeon and frog like its his first meal in years, I have a pick, eat the fried frog gie but lean towards the chicken.
Beer beer everywhere in this country. Paul is drinking the local stuff, 333 is the wi net at the moment. Kids are overdosing on mango smoothies and fresh juice. I give in an order a beer too as I figure I need alcohol when I am eating pigeon and there ain't no Shaw and Smith on this menu. At about 80c for a beer, I do a Rosie and order a Heineken.
The next food adventure comes the next day she the boys tell Lee, our guide, that they want to try crickets next.
Lee, ever accommodating Lee! Takes us to a cricket farm on the way back from the tunnels. It's not part
of our tour, but it's one of the perks of having private tours, just for us. No annoying. Rude tourists on our bus, (ha except for us of course!).
Lee takes us to a cricket farm and shows us how they grow the crickets. They are fed on a corn and rice mixture and leaves and sell for $40 a kilo. They are very popular and people love to eat them with beer, like crunchy salty chips. But with wings. Oh, and feelers too....
The owner presents us with a tea party on the verandah, a plat of deep fried crickets done with garlic and oyster sauce. We put them together in cold roll paper and have a try. They are fine, not my ideal meal,obviously, but considering we are eating bugs, all good. The flavour is yummy because of the garlic and oyster sauce, I feel a bit sick as I look at the little Jimminy Cricket face, but I am not woosing out in front of the boys or I will have to deal with the ribbing for ever and a day. I feel the need to hold up the chick front when the boys start
to gang up on me. It's a peer pressure thing. Tom at first balks at the idea of putting the cricket in his mouth, but once we all follow suit, it's down the hatch. I can tell Max once again just wants a brownie... But hey, you have to try it, we are at a cricket farm in the middle of Saigon!! And besides, it makes for a good story back home.
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