Charley’s Vietnam Through Feb 6 lunch 053

Originally uploaded by JoeDuck

I’m posting more at http://www.TravelandHistory.com but wanted to check in here as well. Trip going very well so far thanks to our great friend Hai who has taken us from Saigon to Sa Dec and back again where we have been playing table tennis, meeting great people, and enjoying some of the best food I’ve ever had.

This is a dish from a very popular but traditional upscale place in Saigon and I’m not even sure what it was – I think a rice pancake with shrimp, served with snappy fresh greens as are so many dishes here.

Ironically it seems the less we spend the better the food tastes. We’ve now eaten at three sort of middle class upscale places and all were good but not as delicious as the streetside cafes which are everywhere here. (At least to my taste they are more delicious, but I think even Vietnamese might agree, preferring the expensive places more to be seen and to hang out with friends and drink.

Yesterday we started with grilled bbq pork for breakfast which was outstanding, then we struggled a bit to find the very famous “Lunch Lady” / Soup Lady of Saigon – a gastronomic celebrity of sorts after her appearance on Tony Bordain’s Travel Channel food show. Our lunch was well worth the walk and the $2 price tag – a delicious thai style seafood soup with shrimp spring rolls.