Hue (Part 1)

I was excited to travel to Hue, an ancient city most famous for its imperial tombs, royal palaces, flowing river, and food. I have fond memories of Hue thanks to trips there in 2002, 1997, and 1995. The place has certainly changed a lot since my first trip there fourteen years ago, but also since my last trip only seven years prior. This was my first time there by plane; the $47 airfare (the taxi ride into town, however, will cost you over $20) combined with the forty-five minute flight from Saigon made it too tempting a destination to pass up on this trip.

As soon I had checked into my hotel, I headed out looking for restaurants specializing in the city's famed Imperial Cuisine, which is a continuation into the modern era of dishes that for 300 years Vietnam's royal court and mandarin class insisted on. The cuisine is extremely refined, often using the rarest of ingredients to make small, highly artistic dishes. In the case of the royal family, for both lunch and dinner they were typically served 66 dishes, of which 50 were savory and 16 sweet. The dishes were meant to express one’s place in the rigid social hierarchy of the time, and their presentation was considered to be just as important as their taste. This latter aspect has been preserved to the modern day, and visitors to Hue can find several restaurants specializing in this cuisine. Today's menus are purportedly similar to what royalty and the upper classes once ate, but I have a hard time believing this if only because the types of food served back then – orangutan lips, rhinoceros skin, bear paws, the meat from peacocks, elephants, and deer – are very different from what’s served now; dishes which, I found, include pork, beef, and seafood, and common varieties of vegetables, fruits, and noodles.

The first place I visited turned me away once they realized I’d come by myself rather than with a large group. Obviously, they were only concerned about making money, and I was happy to leave and continue exploring for other restaurants. I finally came upon Phuoc Thanh Garden, which was very near my hotel – convenient for my waddle home after all the food I was about to consume.

Entrance to Phuoc Thanh Garden Restaurant

I was quite happy to find this gem of a restaurant. Its interior was spotless and beautifully appointed with classic Vietnamese dining tables and chairs. Unfortunately, my waitress couldn't have been less pleased to see me and wasn't the least bit shy about showing me. She obviously didn't want to be there, or have me be there, and the prospect of taking my order and then bringing it out to me later -- all six courses -- only seemed to make her grow surlier.

I ordered as cheerfully as I could and then jumped in my seat as she whipped the menu out of my hands and trudged off. I might have guessed she was mute, for she had nothing whatsoever to say to me, but then I heard her mumble something to another waitress who sat slumped over a chair by the kitchen door.

Nicely appointed first floor of Phuoc Thanh

After a few minutes my first dish burst through the kitchen door, held by my snarling waitress, who walked toward me with the energy and verve of someone who might have run a marathon just prior to coming to work. She dumped my plate before me, pointed at the top of my menu, then walked away. Ignoring her, I dug into course số một: noodle soup with shrimp (mi vang tom). It didn't really look like much, but I must admit that it tasted great. The noodles were cooked just beyond al dente, and the shrimp added nice texture and flavor to the salty-sour broth. I finished it quickly and immediately had it whisked away.

1st course: noodle soup with shrimp (mi vang tom)

Course number two was something I'd seen before -- banh Hue, which is basically cooked rice steamed with ground shrimp, pork, and chopped scallions in a banana leaf. One drizzles fish sauce (nuoc mam) onto the banh Hue and then scoops it off the leaf with a spoon. The taste is mild, though the shrimp and pork are both apparent, and the rice, as I chewed it, gained more of my interest with the slight flavor of banana leaf that it had absorbed. There wasn't much to eat, a fact that only made me more focused on my food.

2nd course: rice crepe with ground shrimp and pork cooked in a banana leaf (banh Hue)

My third course was slammed down before me: grilled chicken with lemon leaves (ga nuong la chanh). I tasted it, emitted a happy little groan -- lemon leaf is an amazing ingredient -- but then realized that of the three dishes I'd been served so far, none of them seemed very different from dishes I'd ordered elsewhere in Vietnam. They just came in smaller portions and with fancier garnishing.

3rd course: grilled chicken with lemon leaves (ga nuong la chanh)

I finished the grilled chicken in a hurry, and soon found myself facing a pretty little plate full of nothing for me to eat but a steamed king prawn (tom xu hap). I mixed some pepper and lime juice and devoured it, leaving the head until the end to suck on. I returned my waitress's glare as she stomped away with my plate.

4th course: steamed king prawn (tom xu hap)

Her attitude had long been annoying me, but for the sake of an article I wanted to write about Imperial Cuisine, I asked her, when she returned with my fifth course, if it would be possible to interview the restaurant owner. Only then did she become a little friendlier, or at least willing to talk to me. She left to check with the manager. I looked at my fifth dish then and was disappointed to find more mi noodles. They were light, and the veggies were crisp and tasty, but I couldn't help tasting part of my first course again.

5th course: fried noodles with vegetables (mi xao rau)

To finish things off, I was served a dish of flan with slices of papaya curled around candied lotus seeds. The dish was one of the prettiest on my menu, and the combination worked well, too. The flan was excellent, and the candied lotus seeds were sweet and chewy, with a bittersweet aftertaste.

6th course (after steamed rice): creme caramel (kem flan)

Overall, the food was quite good. If the service had been friendlier, I'd be able to recommend this place more enthusiastically. But despite my experience, I can still suggest that you try Phuoc Thanh Garden, particularly if you’re in Hue and staying in the tourist district. The price of my meal was a mere 170,000 dong ($9.72). This is the kind of culinary experience – for the taste and artistry of the food, and also for the service – that you'll remember for a long time.

Phuoc Thanh Garden is located at 30 Pham Ngu Lao Street. Their telephone number is (054) 383-0989.

Mililani Sunday Farmer's Market

This morning, a Sunday, we got up relatively early (or tried to) in order to make it to the Mililani Sunday Farmers' Market. Mililani is about half an hour from where we live, but since we got every possible red light on our way to the highway it probably took us a little longer than that.

This is pretty much the entire Mililani Sunday Farmers' Market. Considering there were only around twenty vendor stalls, the selection was very good.

This farmers' market is open every Sunday from 8-11 a.m., but since we'd never come here before we wanted to arrive as soon as it opened. We got pretty close, but it didn't really matter since crowds weren't a problem.

Vendor from Ba Le

The vendor in the photo above was from a local Vietnamese restaurant chain called Ba Le. They sold all kinds of bread as well as various Vietnamese foodstuffs. Ba Le is well known for their sandwiches, and we bought French baguettes and pickled vegetables from them so that we could make our own Vietnamese sandwiches at home.

Lining up with a fistful of huge scallions.

It wasn't long before both our stomachs started complaining, so I led us toward a sign I'd spotted a few minutes earlier. Not surprisingly, Hawaiian farmers' markets generally have lots of people cooking and selling local fare. There are almost never any vegetarian choices, and the meat dishes tend to be heavy and rich. That's fairly typical for Hawaii generally, and I guess it makes sense that the farmers' markets would reflect that predilection.

Somehow, I generally prefer something sweet rather than savory for breakfast, but I didn't have much choice today. There were people making omelets here, as well as fried rice, "gourmet" chili, kalua pork, and shrimp scampi.

They also sold deep-fried taro mochi, but my wife wouldn't let me buy any. If only my metabolism wasn't so abysmally low...

This probably wasn't much better for me to eat, but it was more my wife's style, so we got this version of coronary thrombosis instead of the sweet, crunchy, deep-fried variety. What is it? How about a chili and kalua pork omelet with rice and a side salad? We also ordered a cup of 100% Kona coffee, which was a nice way to finish the meal while also copping a pleasant caffeine buzz.

Here's a nice little shot of our breakfast.

When we got home I basically dumped everything we bought, including that orchid, onto our dining table and took stock of all our purchases.

We stocked up on a lot of fresh vegetables this weekend. My in-laws are visiting for a couple of days before we fly to the Big Island for a quick getaway together, and I expect we'll cook a lot before leaving town. More mouths to feed = twice the groceries I'm used to having on hand.


Our stop at the Ba Le sandwich shop proved worthwhile, as did our purchase of Japanese cucumbers and cilantro. Even though we only had about half the ingredients available for the kind of Vietnamese sandwiches we like most, this was a decent effort. Of course, the test is in the taste, and to me it tasted great.

Now, where did I put that coconut pudding I bought this morning...

Salmon Soup

Here is another of my mom’s great recipes. I’m not sure where she got it, but I know she’s adapted it to her own tastes. Although salmon is one of the most versatile fish around, I realize that salmon soup probably doesn’t sound that good, especially since the salmon used here comes from a can. (Eek!) But this is a delicious, pretty healthy dish, it’s easy to make, and it’s an excellent soup for freezing.

Ingredients
2-3 potatoes, cubed
2 large carrots, sliced
1 green pepper, chopped
1/3 cup onion, chopped
1-2 ribs celery, chopped
One can cream of celery soup
1 lb can of tomatoes (or 1 can of Rotel tomatoes)
1/8 teaspoon thyme
4 cups milk (I use 2%)
1/4 cup flour
1 lb can of salmon

Directions
1. Microwave all vegetables until tender (8-10 minutes or so on high).

Microwaved veggies

2. In a large pan that holds at least 3 quarts (12 cups), place one can of cream of celery soup, one 1-lb can of tomatoes with juice, and 1/8 teaspoon of thyme with a little pepper to taste. Thicken this mixture with at least 1 cup of milk and about 1/4 cup flour, stirring occasionally for a couple of minutes. At this point there's no need to use heat. Or at least I don't...

3. Combine all of the previous ingredients with 3 cups of milk and a 1 lb can of salmon. (My mom usually picks out the big pieces of skin but leaves the bones in; they're soft and full of calcium.) Bring to serving temperature (you don’t have to cook it too long), then let it cook a little longer. Try not to let it boil, but make sure it gets hot enough for eating.

4. Add a little Tabasco sauce if you want. You can also sprinkle the soup with some grated cheese (we used leftover goat cheese tonight, and it was excellent) and let it melt in the soup. My mom usually thickens the soup with flour, but you can also use pureed or grated potato or additional carrot for thickening. Add a little parsley and voila! It goes great with a salad and garlic bread (the kind where garlic bulbs are baked into the bread).

A little garlic bread...

...and dinner is served

Inspired by Avocado

This evening I decided to make my first Burmese dish. I found it on Foodbuzz, but the contributor has his own website where the recipe can be viewed. Here's the URL in case you're interested:

http://whatyouhavingforyourtea.wordpress.com/2007/06/21/burmese-chicken-curry/

I followed the recipe word for word, sans the gamal masala, which I couldn't locate anywhere. It turned out well, but probably not as well as it turns out for most people who try making it. It seemed to lack something -- probably the gamal masala -- and I had an urge to add some kind of Vietnamese herb to it. If only I'd had some rau ram or cilantro on hand...

In any case, I threw together a simple bowl of green beans (as the recipe recommends), and with the Burmese chicken curry we had a good dinner.

This is kind of a boring photo -- except for the fact that the curried chicken looks like the head of a goat, doesn't it? (It even has an eye and a pair of lips.) Or some headless turkey? Maybe I'm on drugs and don't know it...

As I was heading back to the kitchen I noticed an avocado sitting by the window. It looked so lonely there, getting all brown (and dusty) in its corner, and I had a sudden inspiration to make sinh to bo (an avocado smoothie). I immediately grabbed my wallet, threw my shoes on, and went to the Korean mini-mart near my apartment and bought some Haggen Daas French vanilla ice cream.

Here's what I did to make the sinh to:

1) Dumped 4 heaping spoonfuls of French vanilla ice cream into a blender
2) Added 1/2 a cup of 2% milk (maybe a little more than that)
3) Added one ripe, medium size avocado
4) Added 2 spoonfuls of brown sugar (brown sugar only because it happened to be on hand just then)
5) And then blended everything together for about 45 seconds or so

My wife had no idea what I was doing, so when I brought out our desserts and she spooned into hers (it was too thick to drink with a straw, which is how one deals with sinh to in Vietnam) she was, I must say, pretty impressed.

I dressed mine up with an oversized, Salinas-grown strawberry sliced in half. (Hey, there's a face in that bowl, too!)

This is not a true Vietnamese avocado shake. Usually they make it with crushed ice instead of ice cream, and use sweetened condensed milk rather than 2% (I don't think I've ever even seen 2% milk in Vietnam). It's better in Vietnam, somehow, but this is pretty darn good, too.

When I lived in Hanoi, there was a period when I used to go to a small cafe near Ba Dinh Square and place this double breakfast order: sinh to bo and ca phe sua da (iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk). Then I'd ask the woman running the cafe to blend the two together, and I'd end up with a deliciously sweet, thick, and highly caffeinated white-milk-avocado-coffee-shake. Or whatever you want to call it.

I stopped drinking this when I could no longer fit my body through the door of her cafe...