I arrived at Saigon, the ancient capital city of Southern Vietnam, welcomed by an afternoon downpour. Looking out the windows of the Merc that has been sent to pick me up from the airport, I saw motorcyclists clad in rain ponchos zipping by in this monsoon season.
My ride from the airport took approximately twenty minutes, about the same time it took to receive my visa on arrival and clear immigration earlier. Before long I reached InterContinental Asiana Saigon Residences where I would be spending the next three nights.
This was my first time visiting Ho Chi Minh City. Despite the rain, I was giddy with excitement about sampling as many local fare as my stomach could fit – especially after the weather cleared up during the next two days.
For two decades I had been eating pho regularly, at least once a week, back when I lived in Elmhurst, New York. Naturally, my first quest upon arrival was a steaming bowl of Vietnamese beef noodle soup – perfect for the grey and wet afternoon.
We checked into our gorgeous 2 bedroom apartment on the 19th floor with a sprawling view of HCMC city view. The concierge also helpfully directed my parents and I to a nearby pho joint that’s a short 2 block walk from the hotel.
The rain had let up by this time so we strolled to Pho 24 where I discovered a long leafy herb with serrated edges accompanying our bowls of pho – it tasted like cilantro but crisper in texture. It would be one of the many interesting herbs discovered during this trip.
Food geek mode on and I investigated this herb: it’s called ngò gai or Sawtooth Herb, and it’s always used with pho. Yumminess!
After my dad finished every drop of broth in his bowl, we walked around and took photos of the nearby Notre Dame, then taking in the grand interior of the Old Saigon Post Office situated right opposite.
To be perfectly frank, I was very nervous about this trip because I’ve heard the first-hand account of a snatch theft incident that befell my unfortunate friend when he visited HCMC, right outside his hotel too! And a few days prior to my trip, another friend who’s living there encountered an attempted highway robbery and got injured quite badly.
As you can imagine, these sort of stories didn’t bode well. I was a ball of nerves, unable to sleep the night before my flight going there. I decided to leave my DSLR at home.
After this mini sightseeing session, we strolled back to the InterContinental Asiana Saigon Residences. Everyone promptly banked in some zzz’s since we had gotten up early to catch the morning flight to HCMC.
SO. I’m no stranger to Vietnamese food, or rather, the overseas rendition of it. Eating Vietnamese food, in Vietnam itself, turned out to be a most enjoyable experience with pleasant new discoveries.
Namely the generous use of herbs and aromatics. *super love!* This is a significant virtue of the cuisine since many of these herbs are grown and can be found in Vietnam only.
Collectively known as rau thom, literally translated as fragrant leaves, there are so many varieties that I’d never seen before. They tasted soooo good even when eaten raw.
Vietnamese dishes heavily depend on the use of fresh herbs. Unlike other cuisines where herbs and leaves are used in small amounts as garnish or to kick up flavors, Vietnamese people consume their herbs in high amounts as if they are veggies.
With most Vietnamese dishes, there is sure to be an abundance of fresh mixed herbs on table to compliment the meal. Interestingly, certain herbs are served only with specific dishes.
I can now say that a Vietnamese meal isn’t truly authentic or complete without the inclusion of rau thom. This was something I learned during this inaugural trip to Saigon. I am inspired to get an herb garden going again at home and attempt to grow these Vietnamese herbs!
Meanwhile, during my trip I was baffled by two things:
1. WHY IS THE RICE PAPER SERVED DRY?!
I really don’t understand what’s going on here. Normally banh trang, Vietnamese rice paper wrappers, are sold dry but eaten when it’s rehydrated. Oddly enough, at restaurants they served this dry without anything to soften it. O_o!?
I asked my overseas-Vietnamese pal Liz, who’s living in HCMC, about this. She told me it’s been served dry like that in Vietnam for the last ten years. She said (and I quote), “These dry rice paper wrappers served in restaurants are the bane of my existence!”. And then we both did an eye-roll together. LOL.
Dry, the banh trang tasted like plastic sheets and completely inedible! It truly baffled me that there was nothing served at the restaurants to moisten and soften the dry rice paper. Unless that’s what the wet tissues are meant for… That can’t be right, can it?!
2. VIETNAMESE PEOPLE’S STRANGE CONCEPT OF SEATING.
I noticed this the first time I was seated at one of the restaurants. There were three of us but they sat us at a table made of two square tables placed together to form a rectangle, with six chairs. Never mind the tables for now, let’s examine the chair arrangements. The logical way is to place the six chairs around a four-sided table this way. Right?
NOOOOOOOOO….. three chairs were placed side by side, with another three chairs also side by side on the opposite. How on earth do they expect people to sit with this placement?!? Whoever is sitting in the middle chair on either side, where the legs from the two joined tables are situated, will be so uncomfortable because there’s zero legroom!
So I thought this was an oversight at the first restaurant until I noticed this happened at every restaurant we went to! I don’t even know why they’d seat 3 of us in a 6-seater table in the first place. How did this simple basic logic of chair arrangement escape them!?
Even back at the InterCon Residences, where our dining area has a beautiful wooden table with again six chairs – three on each side. This time though, the table is an actual rectangular one instead of two squares pushed together. BUT whoever designed this dining set or did the carpentry clearly did not consider how six people are actually going to sit in those chairs when the total length of the three chairs are basically the same length as the table. As in, uh… no clearance space in between chairs.
Having multiple people sit around this table would be a real challenge. Even with just one person sitting (me), I had to climb into the seat proceeded by my knees knocking against the legs of the immediate chair next to mine that’s tucked under the table.
This chair thing in Vietnam is just… really odd.
Anyhoo, as an insomniac bat I had no trouble sleeping at all when I was in Saigon. The bedding at InterContinental Asiana Saigon Residences was so comfortable. Even with afternoon naps, I had no difficulty falling asleep before midnight.
The best part is waking up feeling supremely well-rested at 6am the next day. With an empty stomach, I was ready for breakfast at Market 39 (hotel lobby level) every morning. The breakfast buffet spread was AMAZING!!! I loved all the local menu and was happily sampling various items.
I don’t normally drink coffee but made an exception. I ordered two ice cold Vietnamese drip coffees with my breakfast. :9 Good stuff. Two glasses of ice coffee daily for three days and I still managed to sleep like a baby every night, heh.
Like the videos in this post? I filmed them using the Casio Exilim EX-100 digital compact camera which I have reviewed in another post. Left my DSLR at home for reasons already explained above. :X Not carrying a bulky camera with multiple lenses was a travel gamechanger for me.
The joy of this first trip for me was, naturally, plotting out various “eat-ineraries” around the city. I’ll elaborate on the different restaurants (one that features representative Vietnamese regional dishes, one that offers fine dining at a colonial building, one in an unassuming house, and my banh mi fix) that I ate at in individual posts.
Traveling to Ho Chi Minh City? Stay connected and say hello to Saigon.
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