BryanZ

Alas, we stopped at the tongue. Never been a huge fan of fish eyes.

Singapore, cont'd. One can't leave Singapore without visiting a hawker centre. Or so the guidebooks told me. The most frequently recommended hawker centre is Newton Circus. As a result it's the most touristy and has also come under scrutiny for overcharging. In one particularly egregious incident a party of Americans was charged for $400 for a meal in what's effectively a crowded cafeteria. Read all about it, here. Instead we chose Maxwell Centre, near Chinatown. One of Singapore's most famous chicken rice vendors operates out this centre, and there were surely many other items to try. One arrives in this covered but open air food pavilion and meets with several long rows of vendors. Keeping with Singapore's penchant for bureaucratic regulation most stalls had health department ratings clearly on display. Mostly Bs but the occasional A here and there. Somewhat comforting, I suppose. My mother appreciated the nods toward cleanliness. Inside the hawker centre Even with the dozens of fans it was hot inside. Getting a seat near sides that open to the street is imperative. We made a beeline for the chicken rice at Tian Tian, and filled in the rest of our meal with whatever looked good. Tian Tian chicken rice Awesome. A good version of this dish floors me every time and this was by far the best I've had. The chicken is so, so soft, subtle yet flavorful. The ginger chili sauce perks everything up. For having eaten rice my entire life, I'd still say that I still find it blander than most people. This was fragrant, light, delicious. Right near Tian Tian is another famous vendor, Maxwell Fuzhou Oyster Cake. Both Bourdain and Makansutra give this spot high marks. Oyster cake It's actually not a particularly cheap couple of bites of food, but it is quite interesting. I thought it'd be crispier, like a Korean oyster pancake. Instead it was more pillowy, like a doughnut almost, filled with oyster. I'm not the biggest fan of cakey things, so I didn't love this. It was still quite tasty though. Black pepper cha siu with noodles and dumplings We just chanced upon this stall and were drawn to the promise of glossy, black pepper roasted pork. Th black pepper flavor came through, another layer of flavor on the typical salty-sweet of normal cha siu. This was a solid plate, but probably was the most forgettable of the lot. Stir-fried bok choy, crispy shallot My mother has this obsession with vegetables. I like them just fine and this dish was just that. Nothing notable, but it filled a niche. Bar kut teh Another dish I was told not to miss in Singapore. The development of this noodle soup is, if I have my facts straight, quite analogous to the development of many dishes in trendy restaurants across this country. What began as a traditional herbal tea/broth slowly had other components added to it, namely pork, so that over time it became a dish beacon for meaty excess. A couple of cuts of pork were feature here, but the ribs were the most succulent. The same stall also had a pretty intense looking organ/trotter noodle soup that I saw a couple people order. Next time, I guess. The bar kut teh felt immensely fortifying. Laksa Another coconut curry-based noodle soup, similar to khao soy. Some shrimp and these fried tofu nuggets added texture. Rich and satisfying. I was impressed with Maxwell Centre. There's clearly a range in the quality of the offerings. Some things, like the chicken, are simply awesome. I would hazard that the average stall ranges somewhere from solid to good. Obviously we're not talking Vietnam cheap here but a large meal can be had for perhaps $8, less if sharing with a few people. Having consumed more than our share of noodles and other Singaporean delights we retired to the hotel. Getting around Singapore is quite easy with the efficient metro system. We would be departing in just a few hours for a 5 am flight to Tokyo.

The dish is a Southern Indian one, I believe. It just seems to have gained a lot of traction in Singapore and is now one of the city's signature dishes.

Singapore, cont'd. Covered in chili crab we retired back to our hotel room. The next day we set off for more somewhat more rustic eats. This day would take us through a good portion of Singapore's urban center. Like I mentioned, I found the multi-ethnicism of the place fascinating and refreshing, and I certainly appreciated how this variety of cultures influenced the city's cuisine. Within walking distance one call stroll through a variety of proud, ethnic neighborhoods. While other cities may have a similar level of diversity, in Singapore there's less feeling of disenfranchisement that often unfortunately seems natural in minority neighborhoods. Inside a Hindu temple At Sultan Mosque Certainly the world's cleanest Chinatown Inside the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple Our first food stop of the day was at Hill Street Tai Hwa at Block 466 Crawford Lane, unit 01-12. This is a famous shop that's actually engaged in something of a family feud at present. Apparently the noodle master's nephew opened up an unofficial branch in a new, high-end mall food court, suggesting that the staff at the original had defected to this new location. Drama. Ooooh. Makes tasting the original that much better. Hill Street Tai Hwa, ordering area and kitchen "We are THE ONE and ONLY ORIGINAL..." Indeed. Two versions of noodles are available, with soup or dry. Minced pork noodles, with soup A really, really good bowl of noodles. All the raw ingredients go into the bowl, well, raw and are poached as the hot broth is poured into the bowl. Each bowl is quickly assembled by the curmudgeonly old noodle sage. There's minced pork, sliced pork liver, two types of noodles, seaweed, fried dried fish, and probably many other things. Minced pork noodles dry While the soup version was a nicely integrated dish, this dry version made more of an impression. A small cup of broth was served on the side, but with this noodle dish it's all about the diverse textures and a strong hit of vinegar. I really enjoyed the assertive, fermented funk that the dark vinegar brought. Different, eggy noodles here as opposed to the presumably rice noodles in the soup version. After walking through the Arab and Indian sections of the city we sat down for lunch to sample another very Singaporean dish, fish head curry. I was a little bit skeptical of Banana Leaf Apollo on Race Course Road, as its hugely popular in guidebooks. In fact, the entire Race Course area is generally dismissed by online personalities who fancy themselves fish head curry connoisseurs. I can see where the derision comes from. The restaurants on this road are perhaps a bit touristy. For every party of locals there were two parties of Japanese or Chinese businessmen. Auspicious beginnings aside, this was still some of the better Indian food I've had. I hardly count high-end NY Indian at the likes of Tabla or Devi as authentic, so it's difficult to compare here. Nor is the typical neighborhood Indian joint putting out order after order of butter chicken worth comparing. I've done some eating in Edison, NJ, a veritable Little India out in the 'burbs, but stylistically Banana Leaf still offered something new. The spicing, though not heat level, was a level or two higher than what I'd previously been accustomed to. From rice to curries, everything was turned up. And eating off of banana leaves without silverware was just fun. Biryani, chicken and mutton masala The mutton was a bit tough, as I suppose is typical. Both meats were cooked on the bone, but the chicken was the dish that seemed to benefit more from this. Fish head curry This was a small and still amply fed the three of us. Working with such a large fish head actually made things easier: larger pieces of meat to eat and larger bones were easier to avoid. This was very tasty. Not as rich or thick as similar fish curries I've had in the US, but more spiced and with quite a bracing amount of acid. Unique and very good. Papri chaat Refreshing. Remnants We nibbled on the tongue. It was extremely soft, almost like braised pork fat. Not bad, but stronger in flavor than I would've imagined. Up to this point in the day we'd eaten relatively traditional dishes. Upon coming back into the city center we chanced upon a sleek doughnut shop in the Raffles City mall food court. With a certain standard of living comes time to devote to rather absurd food products. Walk through any aisle in any grocery store in the US with a foreigner's perspective and this becomes staggeringly clear. Here, we sampled high-end doughnuts with a Singaporean twist. Total impulse purchase, not authentic, borderline nauseating, high-quality product. 4 Cs (left) and white chocolate-green tea (right) doughnuts The white chocolate-green tea wasn't so much my speed. Too sweet and with that weird Asian beany sweetness that I've never gotten around to relishing in. The 4 Cs, can you guess what they are? Chocolate. Duh. Coconut. Obvious. Custard. OK. Corn. Ah, yes, corn, that most prolific grass that comes up in a great many South Asian desserts. Given the amalgam of ingredients this was actually quite good in a very strange way.

So, like you said, there was a good deal of offal in the various pho I tried in Vietnam. Banh mi, too. Also, pork liver make frequent appearances in noodle soups. I'm not sure there's the same romanticization of offal that we have amongst the foodie set in the States. Here, I'll be honest, I seek out dishes with offal in them. Abroad, when I only have a vague idea of what I'm eating in the first place, it's not like I'm rushing to try that dish that completely unidentfiable. If a dish was given to me or was known for having so-and-so offal dish I'd gladly eat it. It just wasn't something that I was necessarily looking for nor was it foisted upon me.

fmed, thanks so much for all that wisdom. I have absolutely no reason to doubt anything you've added and only wish I had taken notes so that I could provide as much detailed information. Figuring out what to order and making my sister take all the pictures was more than enough for me. I know your posts have helped me out with food in Vancouver in the past, but this added Vietnam information only sweetens the deal. MomOfLittleFoodies, indeed that rubbery texture of Japanese fish cake is something of an acquired taste. Then again, it took me a while to enjoy the somewhat squeaky texture of Vietnamese meatballs one finds in pho and Chinese fish balls filled with ground meat.

So I actually made a conscious decision not to visit Cha Ca La Vong--the place known for the creak boards, I believe--for a couple of reasons. First, Gastronomy steered me to Thang Long. Second, I had read a great deal about La Vong and thought the cook-in-front-of-the-guest thing sounded a bit touristy, like Americanized teppanyaki. Little did I know that this practice was both commonplace and totally sensible. Finally, this other location was more convenient to where I happened to be. Apologies for the lack of updates over the past couple of days. I've been in Chicago to eat and presumably find a place to live. Things will resume shortly.

The recipe card I got at the bar itself says that they do. With that said, I believe the drink is batched, so I really have no idea what's actually in it. Singapore Sling 30 ml Gin 15 ml Heering cherry liqueur 120 ml Pineapple juice 15 ml Lime juice 7.5 ml Cointreau 7.5 ml Dom Benedictine 10 ml Grenadine Dash Angostura Pineapple and cherry garnish And just for fun, an even more absurd recipe. Raffles Revelry 20 ml Cognac 15 ml Cointreau 15 ml Banana liqueur 5 ml Galliano 30 ml Orange juice 10 mL Lime concentrate 1 Lime wedge, squeezed 1 Lemon slice 1 Strawberry, muddled Top up with ginger ale Orange, strawberry, mint garnish Jesus. I have been to Fatty Crab but haven't had their signature dish. I have seen it, however. The Palm Beach version looked much saucier. It was also not quite so chopped up. I forgot to mention that this meal approached US prices. I think we spent between $30-$40 per person with minimal drinking.

Singapore, cont'd. Singapore is a place where one doesn't feel completely out of place putting on some decent clothes and going out for a drink and a nice meal. Located just across the street from the Fairmont is the Raffles Hotel, a famous, sprawling property that just oozes colonial charm. It's all a bit Disneyland, I suppose, but we came here for a cocktail at the current iteration of the Long Bar, the birthplace of the Singapore Sling. I was well aware that the Long Bar in its current guise is a replica of the original. Still, the cocktail geek in me wanted to dry this historic cocktail as close as possible to its original home, touristy environs be damned. Singapore Sling and other signature cocktails Despite being pre-mixed this was actually pretty good, as far as drinks of this style go. The Raffles Revelry, however, was much, much too sweet, despite my mother's enjoyment of it. I opted for the somewhat more balanced Millionaire Cocktail, though this was somewhat marred by overdilution. Drinks here were very expensive, on par with NYC hotel bar prices at an average of $17 per drink, but the stop was a nice, civilized way to begin the evening. In our quest to try as many distinctively Singaporean dishes as possible, a stop for chile crab was surely in order. Palm Beach Seafood receives generally positive reviews and offered a convenient location right on the marina. Dining al fresco was a bit warm, but sitting just off the water looking out to the boats and Singapore's skyline was something of a step up from dining on plastic stools in Vietnam. Pork buns Slices of boneless pork are cooked in a sticky, sweet soy-based sauce, almost like hoisin but without the fruitier notes. These are then placed in steamed, folded buns. How very Momofuku. Rojak Ehhh, for some reason I just couldn't get into this dish. It was just a little weird for me. There's jellyfish, preserved egg, various types of fruit, sprouts, and crushed nuts, all bound together in this thick peanut-coconut dressing. I don't think this was a poor version, just not my kind of dish. One of the very few on the trip I actively didn't like. Asparagus and mushrooms A more traditional vegetable dish was also needed, so we opted for this Chinese-like preparation. Really, impeccably prepared in execution and seasoning. A surprise hit. The main event This picture really doesn't do this crab justice. The bowl was huge, the crab was huge, the amount of chile sauce was huge. Literally, there must've been a half gallon of chile sauce to eat, dip, drink, and bathe in. A faint heat worked very well with the sweetness of the crab. I really, really liked this. The claws alone must've weighed over a half-pound each. Unfortunately we didn't have time to sample black pepper crab in Singapore. I wanted to make it out the lesser developed eastern section of the city, but, alas, our time was short. I can't weigh in on the chile vs. black pepper debate, but will say that the original dish has much to recommend it.

Singapore Another early morning flight necessitated another airport meal. Saigon's airport offered up some solid sustenance, though at prices a good deal higher than those in the city itself. Pork chop over rice and crispy noodles with stir-fried vegetables Nice entrants into the Airport Food Showdown. Going from Vietnam to Singapore was like stepping into an entirely new world. One hears of how efficient and clean Singapore is. Really, it's true. I also loved how cosmopolitan the city felt. Of course, there's money and development everywhere, but just seeing so many different types of people and hearing so many different languages was refreshing. Singapore lacks some of the urban character and long-standing culture that I like in a big city, but it has a lot else going for it. Singapore has perhaps the largest, and certainly most densely packed, collection of Asian Shopping Malls that each include all sorts of retail, food, convention, and hotel spaces. We stayed in the Raffles City complex at the Fairmont. A nice, if rather corporate, property located between the marina and the famous Orchard Rd. Singapore skyline From our room. With Singaporean Asian Shopping Malls also come the quintessential Singaporean Shopping Mall Food Court. This have become so entrenched in consumer society that some of these food courts are actually branded. The most famous of these is Food Republic, which now oversees three food courts in the city. Food Republic stalls and dining area We chose the original location in the Wisma Atria Shopping Centre. The whole operation was really quite impressive. In playing to Singapore's hawker center traditions each stall maintains its own identity. This was in contrast to Thailand's mall food courts in which each vendor was somewhat anonymous. Assorted dim sum I was skeptical of my mother's choice here, but these were really quite good. Well-crafted and tasty. Char kway teow Along with hokkien mee, this is a famous Singaporean stir-fried noodle dish from a supposedly famous vendor. The leaf is supposed to impart some kind of woodsy flavor. Can't say I picked up too much of that but the wok hay was nice and noticeable. Minced pork noodle soup Another noodle soup but this time with a distinctive Singaporean slant. The addition of a healthy hit of vinegar to the broth was new to me but quite pleasing. We would have a truly excellent version of this dish the next day, however. Grilled chicken wings Extremely simple but so good. Grilled over charcoal right in front of the customer. There's this sticky soy sauce that gave the crispy wings a healthy sheen. Citrus gave the whole thing an acidic kick. Dark carrot cake I'm not sure if carrot is the accurate translation for this quintessential Singaporean dish. It's more like the turnip cake one gets at dim sum, just stir-fried in dark, sweet soy sauce. Soft, savory, a bit bitter, kind of sweet. I liked this, but it was a lot going on. After departing the rather upscale Wisma Atria we trekked along Orchard to the Far East Plaza. My motivation in visiting this mall was twofold. First, I'm fascinated by aging landmarks of consumerism. In the 80s this mall was supposedly something of a hotspot. Today it's a strange relic, at once dim yet garish with neon signage. What I found quite refreshing was how its small storefronts are now populated by young, local designers selling clothes that I actually found somewhat cool. It was refreshing to see a mall with neither the cadre of Burberry and Balenciaga nor a sea of cheap knockoffs. Our main purpose in visiting the Far East Plaza, however, was to sample Hainanese chicken rice from the quite famous Hainan Delicacy located on the fifth floor. The shop isn't particularly impressive in decor but puts out a fine rendition of this deceptively simple dish. I'd had Hainanese chicken rice before, but Singapore is clearly the holy land. Chicken rice The chicken is first poached in a court bouillon of sorts, then this (double?) stock is used for cooking the rice. The broth is also served on the side, but I'm not sure if one is supposed to drink it or use it to sauce the chicken and rice. We did both. Cucumber, soy sauce, cilantro, scallion, ginger, and chile are all typical accompaniments in various combinations and permutations. The dish is subtle and delicate and really freaking good. More than the sum of its parts, for sure. Singapore is more expensive than the rest of SE Asia but not on Japan-like levels. Our lunch--a lot of food for three people--came in at mabye $10 per person. The chicken rice was a good deal cheaper, given the less charming surroundings, at perhaps $3 or $4 for the chicken and $1 for a tasty calamansi soda.

So interesting. Entirely rice flour? Is this practice widespread in Vietnam? How about beyond?

Saigon, Vietnam, cont'd. After a full day of eating and an early flight the next morning we supposedly were looking for a light, stress-free dinner convenient to our hotel. We got the stress-free and convenient parts down fine, but the meal wasn't quite so light as we were perhaps imagining. Oh well, here's to excess. If I'm a sucker for local fast food, then a heavily branded, fast food banh mi shop was but a sure thing. A little appetizer, if you will. Assembly line Unfortunately I forget the name of this place. Notice how clean and Subway-like the production area is. Meatball banh mi Less meatball, more pate, this was pretty solid. Mixed cold cut banh mi A banh mi with a variety of cold cuts. In this case, not as much deli meat as processed, pseudo-charcuterie. This was the yummier, meatier of the two. Each was less than a dollar. After this little snack we headed to Wrap and Roll for aforementioned convenient meal. Part of me wants to say our meal at this mini-chain was disappointing, a poor facsimile of real Vietnamese street cuisine. The problem is that it wasn't. It was actually quite good. The execution of some of the dishes we had surpassed similar offerings at, say, Quon An Ngon. What Wrap and Roll lacked were the more atypical regional specialties we found at other restaurants or less corporate restaurants. There was hardly anything here we hadn't seen before, but what we had was really tasty. Not sure if that sinks my credibility, but as I've found in other countries with a proud, long-standing food culture even the chains put out some interesting, solid grub. Unfortunately the same can't quite be said in the US. Wrapped pho This very good version of pho cuon had some really delicious braised beef going on. The anise flavor of the braising liquid really came through. Minced beef wrapped in leaves I want to say these were grape leaves or else the flavor was very similar. They weren't pandan leaves, as that flavor is more distinct, less, well, grape leafy. Shrimp cake, wrapped in crispy rice cake (I think) I'm honestly at a loss as the specifics of this dish. I was kind of apathetic about the meal going in so didn't pay as much attention as usual in the ordering process. It was good, though. Grilled chicken wrapped in pandan leaf The leaves and grilling process gave the chicken a faint herby, bitter note that was quite pleasant. I tried eating the leaves as an experiment, and, while edible, they weren't exactly tasty on their own. A bit too dried out. Again, I really liked this place. If they opened up a branch in the US I'd frequent it all the time. Not the most authentic, but I can't fault the place on outright tastiness. Super clean, too. This progressive supper would naturally need one more stop, so we crossed the street to check out Xu for dessert. We had briefly entertained the notion of having one "nice" dinner in Saigon. We decided not to, but I was intrigued by the chic decor and some good press the restaurant had gotten on some blogs and in guidebooks. Upon examining the menu, a durian tiramisu sealed the deal. Clearly such a gross sounding treat needed to be sampled. Pandan panna cotta Eh, not bad. The flavor seemed rather matcha-like, which makes me think more green tea than pandan was used in the coloring. The fruit salad was nice. Durian tiramisu All of your worst nightmares are coming true. This dish went way overboard on the durian extract, such that it was at once chemically, smelly, and lacking that custardy sweetness of fresh durian. It was strangely bitter in bites. The texture was also very strange. A couple other menu items suggested that the kitchen dabbles in the modern pantry, so I would imagine so kind of weird texturizing gum is at play here to not-very-good result. Glad I ordered it; definitely don't want to order it again. I think these dishes were about $6 each. After tax and service, each was more expensive than what our banh mi and dinner had each cost us.

I went to the LES outpost of 'inoteca with a big group last night for the family style meal. The menu can be seen below. We booked only a couple days in advance but somehow they were able to accommodate 11 of us in a nook right by the windows. A tight squeeze, but festive, and "interactive" as the manager I set up the event with warned me it would be with so many people in so small a space. Good for tipsy friends, not for a business dinner or a meal with the in-laws and their extended family. In general I enjoyed myself. The restaurant has a really good, bustling vibe and was surely a step up in atmosphere from the Frying Pan, our most frat-tastic locale for pre-dinner drinks. The restaurant had a lot going in its favor given the cool breezy night and massive window frontage that made for some good people watching. There were, however, some quirks that I think could've been addressed more professionally. Before I even discuss the food itself, I wish the wine steward would've discussed a couple more options with me before simply locking in on two. Also, while there was certainly enough food in the end, for 11 of us we might get 10 panino halves rather than 11. We had no problem sharing off our individual plates but why not make the extra sandwich and give us an extra half? The same could be said for the lasagna. Two smallish pieces for our party seemed a bit light. I also wish they would've slowed down the food a little bit. I was told we'd have the table until after midnight if we wanted it, yet we were done eating by shortly after 11 pm with our 9:30 reservation. Minor problems like this are pretty much endemic with group dining, but in a perfect world... My expectations for the food going into the dinner weren't that high, so I was pleasantly surprised with most of it. There was no shyness in seasoning be it with lemon on some of the salads or salt and pepper across the board. I didn't have a problem with this, but perhaps half of my party found the meatballs to be overseasoned. I admit they tasted eerily like beef black pepper beef jerky, but I enjoyed them in a kind of base way. The beet salad, on the other hand, was really, really excellent. The calamari salad was also a favorite of mine, light yet pleasantly meaty and chewy. As might be expected the affogato was a hit across the board. It was a fun meal, and I don't really have complaints that would keep me from going back. 'inoteca has always been a kind of drop-in kind of spot so going there to celebrate an event kind of shifted the dining experience. With that said, it worked for our purposes and we spent about $52/person after tax and a built-in service charge with a couple bottles of wine and some beers. Quite fair, I think.

Saigon, Vietnam, cont'd. Saigon is home to one of the world's largest Chinatowns. Located in District 5, it's a bit of a hike from the tourist center of District 1 and feels like a completely different city. It lacks the dingy charm of Hanoi's Old Quarter but instead repackages Saigon's big city energy in an even more frenetic package. Interspersed between the chaos of buzzing motorbikes and waves of delivery boys piloting precariously laden hand carts are little pockets of solitude in the form of Buddhist temples. Located just fifty yards back from the street, these temples give this area of Saigon an air of somber mystery. Temple courtyard Burning incense Immediately after I noted, "Wow, these things are dangerous. They must drop hot ash on everyone," said ash promptly fell on my head and singed my hair. Awesome. Offering room Just a cool shot, I think. As peaceful as these temples were, Chinatown's Binh Tay Market was chaotic. This is a true local's market; in place of cheap tourist goods were sections devoted everyday staples like toiletries and socks. More my speed. The food stalls that ran down one length of the market were also far less touristy. No hawkers, no menus, just a real working class place to grab some good food for cheap. Banh mi stall I freaking love banh mi. They're like an obsession for me. High- and low-brow, I enjoy them all. I sampled a wide variety of banh mi on this trip, from super simple offerings with nothing but suspicious looking pate smeared on baguette to fast-food renditions to a few stall offerings like this one. With that said, I guess my American sensibilities prefer the overstuffed, overdressed renditions we have here. Momofuku's recently retired banh mi and the (presumably Cambodian) offerings are Numpang in NYC remain my standard bearers. I also make a fine American-style banh mi if I say so myself. Banh mi interior shot Which isn't to say that the banh mi Vietnam weren't enjoyable. And considering my NYC favorites are at least seven times more expensive, these made the perfect snack. Noodle soup We scattered in the food stall area so as to try as many things as possible. As a result, I didn't order this. It was quite good though once I got around to trying it. Thicker noodles than one sees in most Vietnamese noodle dishes. The fish cake was also much more subtle than the Japanese versions I grew up eating. Noodles with spring roll Can I call this a pasta salad? Two types of room temperature noodles in a light sauce were topped with pieces of chopped spring roll. This cutting before serving when dealing with larger spring rolls (i.e., anything but little cha gio) was quite common. Steamed rice noodle with pork and crispy shallot In Vietnam it's quite common to see thin sheets of rice noodle being steamed over squares of cloth tightly drawn over bubbling stockpots. This was different, however. It was as if the rice noodle batter was poured into a hotel pan to a depth of an inch or two. This custardy, gelatinous, super thick noodle-cake was then topped with ground pork and crispy shallots. Scooped, dressed with soy sauce, and served. Having ambled through Binh Tay and sampled the local cuisine, more local cuisine was in order. Breakfast straight into lunch. What else is new? It's worth nothing we ate at Binh Tay was more than a dollar or two. Another long taxi ride that spanned a good section of the city's north-to-south axis brought us to the Lunch Lady at 23 Hoang Sa. I first heard about this place on the No Reservations Vietnam episode. A little bit of Googling led me to the aforementioned Gastronomy blog and, as we all know by now, a wealth of information on eating in Hanoi and Saigon. Anyway, the Lunch Lady's story can be read here. Lunch Lady and her kingdom I mentioned 23 Hoang Sa as a street address, but really the Lunch Lady--real name: Nguyen Thi Thanh--oversees this little courtyard in a relatively quiet section in Saigon. This seems to be a family affair and is surely run like one. One of the Thanh's apparent associates runs a small sweets area maybe 10 yards away. On this particular day her toddler son was using one of the serving utensils to poke at one of the square's resident dogs. Testing his mother's patience a bit too much, said utensil was then used to effectively discipline the young lad. I can only imagine the utensil then went back to original purpose, handling foodstuffs, without anything so pesky and time consuming as a wash under (the non-existent) running water. Another only-in-Vietnam moment. The day's offering A deep, funky broth of pork and seafood. This was seriously complex stuff. Crispy shallots and slices of pork liver only upped the bold flavor quotient. A nice shrimp, some pork, and a quail egg rounded out the meal. This labor of love is doled out at the ridiculous price of about $0.75. So, so, so, so cheap. After another brief temple stop, this time to watch the rather disturbing practice of feeding live goldfish to turtles as some kind of offering, we decided to eat some crab. Here, there was a bit of confusion, as the restaurant Quan 94 occupies two storefronts, just yards apart, at 94 and 85 Dinh Tien Hoang. Two outposts, consumer deception, who knows? In the end, I figure their wares can't have been that different. Quan 94, one of the two Frying station An old lady fries the crabs to order. The presumably less delicate stir-frying operations were left to her much younger employee. Crab and vermicelli noodles Mien xao cua is a simple but quite delicious dish. As one might expect the noodles suck up the crab juices and give the dish a subtle crabby perfume. Deep-fried soft shell crabs Served with sweet-sour tamarind dipping sauce, seen in the back. Rather expensive by Vietnamese standards but the quality of crab was good. Crisp outer shell, custardy crab body, not leathery. Nice, but quite rich. Our next stop was another open-air restaurant first brought to my attention by No Reservations, Banh Xeo 46a at 46a Dinh Cong Trang. Banh xeo are a favorite of mine, the perfect melding of East with just a bit of West. One gets a distant relative of the crepe, but with more egg and more crispiness and Asian fillings. Banh xeo exterior If I'm being honest, I'd take banh xeo or dosa over a French crepe on most days. Yeah, I went there. Banh xeo interior Deliciousness. Cha gio Really excellent specimen here. Freshly fried, amazingly crisp. Large enough to be just a bit luscious on the inside, giving rise to an even greater contrast between exterior and interior. Wrapping the cha gio in the assorted green also provided made them even better. Strange gelatin dessert with almond milk I'm not a big fan of Asian desserts like this in general. Served chilled with dubious shaved ice. The one annoying thing about dining in Vietnam is that diners are seemingly nickled and dimed (literally, we're talking not more than 20 cents per item here and there, but it's the principle that I'm opposed to). Things that are assumed to be free in the US might be 4000-6000 dong here. In this case, this dessert was just passed out to all diners regardless of whether it was ordered or not and with no explanation. The widespread charge for napkins and beer nuts was also a source of endless amusement.

Saigon, Vietnam, cont'd. As has apparently become a trend, it was street food by day and restaurant by night. We shied away from Saigon's pricier, fine-dining spots as we'd have options for this kind of eating in Singapore and, obviously, Japan. Instead we chose a well regarded, if somewhat off-the-beaten-track restaurant specializing in central Vietnamese food, a regional cuisine I'd not yet experienced. A cab ride from District 1 into District 3 brought us to Ngu Vien on Ky Dong. Rather than sit in the open-air dining rooms presumably for locals, we were led to the luxurious air conditioned dining room on the upper floor complete with fine stemware and wine rack. Clearly trying for that elusive Michelin star. It seems impossible to start a Vietnamese meal without an assortment of rolled items. We chose some classics, but also a couple completely new dishes. Deep fried hue A useless transliteration here, well, besides the deep fried part. Hue is the largest city in central Vietnam, so perhaps this like its version of the spring roll. It was good. Something like a crispy shell filled with a pork-shrimp mousse. Grilled pork rolled in rice noodles Can't get enough. Steamed "power" rice with shrimp Again, something was lost in translation here. We were imagining something like cheung fun that you might get at dim sum. This was more rice paper-y, and filled with semi-dried shrimp. So, not what we were expecting but not that bad. My mother, however, was not a fan; you've just got to adjust your expectations and it was an interesting dish. Chao tom Sugarcane shrimp is a dish that should be more popular in the US, I think. I'd seen it on the occasional menu before, but it's got a lot of appeal. A light shrimp loaf is shaped around sugarcane sections, then grilled. With some nuoc cham, the flavor profile is almost teriyaki like, sweet and salty. Take some shrimp, some greenery, wrap in rice paper. I quite enjoyed. One can gnaw on the sugar cane afterward for a bit of a sweet palate cleanser. Jackfruit salad Served warm and surprisingly not really sweet at all. Served with these addictive sesame crackers--nearly identical to Japanese senbe--it was quite the scoop and eat experience. Grilled lemongrass chicken with fried sticky rice cake Finally a lemongrass dish that had enough lemongrass flavor. There were boneless pieces of thigh and breast, as well as a couple wings. The rice cakes were almost like deep fried mochi, just not quite so glutinous and filling. I quite liked them. The careful observer will also note how they're shaped like hearts. Steamed rice But so much more. This dish is called com sen and is a specialty at Ngu Vien. It's rice, steamed in a fresh lotus leaf, with seeds and bits of pork. So subtle, but so nice. Probably the best rice dish of the trip. Fish braised in clay pot Cha ko to is another famous Vietnamese dish. Apparently this clay pot cooking style is quite common, though the fish version is where the action is. The braising liquid is effectively water, soy sauce, sugar, Asian aromatics, and fish sauce. As the proportion of fatty fish to braising liquid is quite high the whole things gets very rich and sticky. This is the kind of comforting dish that's all about spooning over rice, though it would be wise to share, as it was this portion was more than the three of us could finish after the preceding dishes. After this comforting dish we retired to the arguably even more comforting confines of our beds at the Park Hyatt. Seriously soft sheets, fyi. As in Hanoi, day two would bring another street food extravaganza.

Indeed, we speak neither Thai nor Vietnamese. Japan wasn't a problem because, well, my mother is Japanese, and my sister and I understand enough to just barely get by. In Singapore most people speak English, as it is one of the four official languages. As for being recognized as a tourist, my mother, kind of, blends in. Whereas people would immediately assume my sister and I spoke English, she would often be addressed in the native language. And as an extension of this Asian vs. Westerner discussion, more than a few people found our mixed race look quite interesting and weren't shy about telling us as much. Generally flattering, but kind of weird, too. Ordering had its ups and downs, in selecting dishes and inquiring about prices. Much pointing was employed and many fingers were used to numerically sign out prices. The iPhone also made several appearances as a means to display numbers electronically. This would be especially useful in bargaining for the generally useless souvenirs my mother insisted on purchasing. At least with street vendors it's not as if there's a huge range of items to choose from, and most restaurants had a dusty, old copy of a picture menu, some with translations that they scrounged up for us.

This duck press at Daniel comes close.

Saigon, Vietnam Welcome to Saigon. Try not to be run over by a bike, or dozens of bikes, or hundreds of bikes. A typical intersection Even the sidewalks aren't safe. A closed down part of the road just means the bikes invade the sidewalk. These things are going by at easily 20 mph. We literally had to huddle behind a street sign to avoid the melee. We arrived in Saigon in the later part of the morning and wanted a quick meal. The perfect excuse for more pho, though this time at Pho 24. I'd intended on trying out a chain pho shop like this one to see where it ranked overall. These Pho 24 shops are quite common throughout the city. It's better than, say, your typical pho vendor on every other block, but not nearly as good as the likes of Gia Truyen. Beef pho with everything A little bit of everything here, as is most common. Raw beef, braised brisket, tendon, tripe. The broth itself was good as was the meat, but the vegetable garnish was a bit meager, especially considering the bushels of greenery we'd been getting elsewhere. Chicken pho My mother prefer this. I'm not sure why. A side of beef broth soup with the creepy, squeaky meatballs that are something of an acquired taste. Com tam with pork chop and pork skin The pork skin here wasn't that strange. I would soon have a much skin-ier version, but that's later. This was solid. Breakfast done and done. A few dollars each probably, no big. Saigon's District 1 is really quite comfortable. Wide streets, pretty buildings old and new. Honestly, it feels a lot like downtown NYC with all the boutiques and shops and a hint of European flair. We stayed in the Park Hyatt, directly next to the Opera House. It's a beautiful hotel that I highly recommend. After being in Hanoi it was like night and day. Guests will surely face sticker shock, however, upon seeing the prices. $5-6 for a beer? Outrageous! Actually not bad at all in a luxury hotel--in Japan the same beer would be $10--but SE Asia does that to you. After breakfast we set off on a walking tour of the area, ending up at Ben Thanh Market, Saigon's most famous, if not its most local. The typical market vendor Dried fish and shrimp, various spices. Cell phone, barefoot. Yep, that's about right. Ben Thanh is heavily geared toward tourists. The exterior shopping areas sell knockoff merchandise and souvenirs and gaudy "Vietnamese" robes. The food court area has more than a few gentleman who not so subtly try to get passing tourists to eat at their respective stalls. This would not be the case at the much more local Binh Tay Market in Saigon's Chinatown. A snack was surely in order amidst all this abundance. Foodstuffs on display Salad rolls Perhaps we were hungrier, but these were better than those at Quan An Ngon. Pork skewers Salty, a bit sweet, tender, charred. What more could you want? The Limoges bone china just adds to the elegance. Sated for next 15 or so minutes, I pressed on. As my family retired back to the hotel, I had one more stop to make in this continuous, extended meal that somehow began as breakfast and morphed into a late lunch. Com Tam Moc is a sleek little chain of broken rice eateries. If I'm being honest, I can't really tell the difference between broken rice and normal rice. But I don't know much of anything. Storefront A step up from the steet eats in Hanoi, at least on the decor front. Each meal comes with tortilla soup Clearly, that's what this was. All I needed was some crema and fried corn tortillas and I'd be set. Seriously, the taste was identical, veggies, garlic, cumin, and all. Com tam with mixed pork This place really only does one thing, pork with rice, but it's quite good. The pork chop was a solid specimen but nothing new. The pork loaf thing was really cool, like a super light terrine. The pork skin was not so much up my alley. While Pho 24's version tasted like pork and was just a bit chewy, in a good way, this was, I'm guessing, more authentic. It was as if they took skin, and made floss out of it. The flavor was also overwhelmingly porky, and coming from me that's saying a lot. The only part of the plate I didn't finish.

I've been thinking about this post, and now that I've relived more of my time in Vietnam I think I can answer why I wasn't as moved by Chiang Mai. To me Chiang Mai occupies a middle ground. It certainly can't compete on big city excitement with Bangkok or Saigon, much less Singapore or Tokyo. And yet if you're looking for the quintessential, raw SE Asian urban experience Hanoi is hard to beat. Chiang Mai has a certain peacefulness about it, and that is appealing, don't get me wrong. It just lacked some of the distinctiveness that the other cities on our trip had in spades.

Hanoi, Vietnam, cont'd. Sparrows are ubiquitous in Vietnam. Like a finch, just not as cute. Ubiquitous indeed. Pets? Or... Where was I? Ah, yes, for dinner that same evening we decided to go to Quon An Ngon, a restaurant concept that's quite evocative of the new Vietnam. A smart fellow adopted the food court/hawker center model and applied it to Vietnam's street food vendors. The first Quon An Ngon was actually in Saigon but has now been built into a mini empire with regional differences. The premise is that each stall offers its specialty but the food is delivered by waiters to guests sitting at normal-sized tables in a clean, festive setting. A great way to try many items if you're not brave enough to, as they say, take it to the streets. The food stalls surround the huge dining area. Dining room There's also a building with a couple small floors of dining rooms not seen here. This is a big place. Many dishes were ordered. Cha gio I believe these were standard issue, with no special fillings, possibly some pork. Goi cuon Salad rolls, summer rolls, whatever you want to call them. A solid rendition. So many wrapped items In the foreground, rice noodles wrapped around shrimp and pork, I think. In the back left, wrapped pho, or rice noodles wrapped around braised beef and herbs. I prefer these to goi cuon generally. Trotter noodle soup A funky, cartilagey noodle soup that I quite liked. Not sure what the distinctive flavor came from, but it wasn't tame. The chopped trotter required some gnawing. Not for the faint of heart. Dried beef salad I love the usage of dried meat products in Asian salads. Grilled blood cockles Some oysters have a certain minerality to them. These were like that, a far cry from a meaty, sweet littleneck clam. I'm sure the straight grilling added to this earthy taste. Interesting, though I liked them more than my family. Another innocent looking salad? Why, what is that pointy, bony looking thing at the bottom of the plate? It looks like a wing. Ah, yes, the chopped corpses of these little guys. It's like a sparrow graveyard up in here. So, honestly, the flavor of these was pretty good, like a gamey, five spice-rubbed bird jerky. Feeling the very skeleton of the whole bird crunch in my mouth, however, was not all that pleasant. Add to that some whole heads, complete with beak mind you, and yeah, it was a lot. Only a few bites were managed. It was a novelty. All this food and a couple beers was something absurdly cheap like less than $8 per person. And with that grisly final image we left Hanoi early the next morning and set off to Saigon. Much like Chiang Mai's entry into The Airport Food Showdown, there's hardly anything to say. I had an early morning banh mi that was totally serviceable. Can't complain, but not a serious contender to Tokyo's udon entry. Still, I'd take any of said offerings over a dry sandwich or soggy yogurt parfait.

Hanoi, Vietnam, cont'd. The most interesting thing about Hanoi is just how raw it feels. The Old Quarter is nothing but narrow streets and alleys with stores and street vendors and grime and chaotic energy. When one compares this part of Hanoi to the somber, sprawling spaces that surround Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum just a few minutes' taxi ride away, it feels not like a different city but an entirely different country. Besides the few famous cultural diversions like said mausoleum, the Temple of Literature, and Hoan Kiem Lake, visitors are probably best served exploring the city's street food culture. In Thailand street food was concentrated around market areas. In Hanoi one can hardly walk a block without passing by a few street vendors or small open-air restaurants that spill onto the street. In this food pursuit, the Gastronomy blog was incredibly helpful. Its top 10 list had far more great finds than duds. One of Hanoi's most famous pho shops is Gia Truyen, located at 49 Bat Dan. There's no chicken pho here. This was undoubtedly the best pho we'd have during our time in Vietnam and, by extension, the best pho I've had, period. In the US I find most pho broths to be over-sweet and over-spiced. I love me some pho, but a broth that tastes more of MSG, sugar, and anise isn't necessarily what I'm after. Across Vietnam, and especially here, the broth was fundamentally beefy and rich. Pho with crullers Delicious. The cooked meat sits out in various piles and on various hooks. It's sliced to order. This is not a cheap bowl of noodles, however. With the crullers we paid closer to $3 than $2, or probably twice the standard tariff. The crullers themselves were new to me, and I see the appeal. A bit of chewy, doughy crunch to go with the soft meat and unctuous broth. In search of banh mi we walked into the relatively famous Nguyen Sinh, a little hole of a French restaurant at 17 Ly Quoc. Upon sitting down in the restaurant we soon learned that banh mi were only for take-away. A new strategy was then deployed at the advice of our server. We would order the house charcuterie plate, allowing us to sample more items, with baguette. I also got a glass of wine, my only one in SE Asia, because it felt oh-so-very French. Charcuterie This was a really, really good charcuterie plate. Like, I'd pay $14 for this in NYC. Needless to say it was much less than that. Like 1/3 of that, or something. The bread in Vietnam is really quite the enigma. It's informed by a proper French baguette but clearly isn't. It's much, much lighter, yet still manages to have some chew. It's soft yet its crust is distinctly crisp. We became quick fans and found it addicting in a sense. Our next stop was just down the street, a fried foods shop without at a name at 52 Ly Quoc. The nice thing about the Old Quarter is that you can walk through the whole area in a day. A setup typical of the typical street-side restaurants Notice the nearly adult-sized tables. A classy spot. Fried wares on display Banh goi I like to call these Vietnamese empanadas. The concept and shape are identical. The fillings were those you'd find in cha gio, but the thicker skin in this case was really quite delicious. This little baby was excellent and cost less than $.30. Our next stops did not go quite as well. Little did we know that between lunch and dinner restaurants shut down. Can't say I expected a break in between services, but we were shut out of a couple places that we'd wanted to try. Alas, we soldiered on. I should note it was pouring rain. Cha ca is a very famous Hanoian dish that we had to try. The most storied location is La Vong, or somesuch, but we decided to buck the trend and with the Gastronomy recommendation. They'd not steered us wrong yet--well besides not warning us about midday closures--so we made our way to Cha Ca Thanh Long at 31 Duong Thanh. Cha ca involves fish, dusted with tumeric, cooked tableside, with dill and greens. This mixture is then set atop vermicelli noodles, which are then topped with peanuts, coriander and scallion. The restaurant only serves this one dish, as we learned when we gestured for a menu and were able to put together that their wasn't one after but a few seconds. Cha ca, cooking It's quite the aromatic dish. Cha ca, plated So fresh, so good. The spices, greens, and herb really work here. If anything the dish is a bit dry; I might've liked some nuoc cham, which I don't believe was provided. Still, a really interesting dish I'd happily eat again and again. This was a very expensive dish, however, at $7 per portion. But the pinnacle of our afternoon of excessive eating was to be our last stop. Bun cha is a dish that even most casual eaters of Vietnamese cooking are familiar with, as its nearly as common as pho or cha gio. The version we had at Bun Cha Nem Cua Be Dac Kim at 67 Duong Thanh, however, was superlative. The portion is huge, too, and could certainly serve two people for lunch with a couple spring rolls. The kitchen See those laundry baskets of greens at the back left? Each diner is given a huge plate of them to eat with her bun cha from the baskets. Where do the uneaten greens go? You guessed it, back in the baskets. Oh, Vietnam. Bun cha, lawn trimmings, nem cua be Freaking awesome. The charcoal flavor made its way well into the meatballs and the thinner strips of pork. The broth was balanced and added umami and sweetness all at once. The restaurant makes a solid crab-pork spring roll, too, known as nem cua be. Bun cha and spring roll, $2 and change. This street food adventure was undertaken with my sister as my mother worked in the hotel. Not the biggest fan of street food, my mother went here later and agreed that it was the best thing we ate in Hanoi, restaurant or otherwise.

I think I'm going to go with inoteca, LES. Hopefully it's good. Does anyone know how badly the Frying Pan blows as a place to grab a drink and a snack? Like, does it just kinda suck or is it a total nightmare to avoid at all costs?

Hanoi, Vietnam After returning from Halong Bay we checked into our new hotel in Hanoi's Old Quarter, the Hanoi Elegance 4. I really enjoyed this property and its location in the thick of it all. Everything about the Old Quarter, Hanoi, and northern Vietnam in general feels so completely Vietnamese. It's at once dirty, untouched, busy, and serene. Amidst the roar of literally thousands of motorbikes one finds a lone woman walking complete with conical hat, carrying a load of produce over shoulder. In front of ugly, unfinished concrete buildings ones sees rice paddies with roaming cows and ducks. This was the vista from our room. Not exactly pretty but, again, so Vietnam. Compare that to this stylistically similar shot over Arles in Provence, France from last summer and you get an even stronger sense as to just how different Hanoi really is. Our first real meal in Hanoi was at a branch of the famous Highway 4 family of restaurants. Here, one dines, somewhat uncomfortably, sitting on the floor of these wooden booth things. It's like a tatami room, outside, and not as forgiving on the knees. Although this restaurant is mentioned in every guidebook and most every blog, we actually came across more than few young locals dining here, too. Don't get me wrong, this is a tourist restaurant and is quite expensive by Vietnamese standards, but it did seem to have some local panache, too. The restaurant is most famous for its infused liquors. Insects, lizards, various woods and herbs, etc. I wasn't so much feeling hard liquor in the heat, so I stuck to beer. Missed opportunity, I suppose. Catfish rolls A signature dish here and a cool one at that. Fried fish nuggets and topped with herbs and mayonnaise then wrapped in rice paper. The effect is crispy, crunchy, warm, cool, and creamy all at once. Objectively, the dish was too heavy on the mayonnaise, but still very enjoyable. Banana flower salad with dried beef Cool, crunchy, chewy, a bit sour. Clearly textures are a focus here. Now that we'd been exposed to this ingredient a couple of times, some research was clearly in order. More information, here. Deep fried pork ribs with crispy lemongrass This was my least favorite appetizer, as it was a bit bland. Frying the lemongrass added texture but took away from its vibrancy. I wish the marinade on the ribs themselves had more lemongrass flavor. For our main course we decided to try something very north Vietnamese, if not particularly seasonally appropriate. Vietnamese hot pot is called lau, and the style of broth served here is at once sour yet deeply savory. There also seemed to be some French influence evident as the broth included both tomatoes and fennel. Raw materials There was chicken, beef, fish, tofu, tofu skin, and probably a couple of things I'm forgetting. The noodles and veg The amount of vegetables served with this dish was just absurd. A full cafeteria tray piled high with all kinds of greens. There was probably a pound noodles, too. Lẩu canh chua Although it was all a bit warm overall we really liked this dish. Hot pot is always satisfying, but the broth here and diversity of ingredients made for a memorable dish. And while the broth was good to begin with, it was excellent by the end of the meal. Highway 4 is a festive place and offers a somewhat Disneyified look into northern Vietnamese food. I would go back but would probably sit in the air-conditioned building next door. I think we spent maybe $9 per person, probably less. Full of warm broth and beer we retired back to our hotel. The next day would bring a street food extravaganza.

Cool. Would Bar Artisanal work? I've heard it's big enough.

Halong Bay, Vietnam Again, a late arrival necessitated some creative dinner strategies. But before we get to midnight pho, a little Vietnam anecdote. Upon arriving in Hanoi we dealt with the typical taxi hassles. Whatever. What was most notable about the ride was the honking. One reads about this, but literally anytime our taxi driver passed anyone he would honk. Even by Vietnamese standards our first driver was rather honk-happy, but it was a fitting welcome to this most fascinating country. Upon arriving at the intersection nearest to our hotel our driver mistakenly turns the wrong way. Rather than circling the block upon realizing the error he backs up down this one-way street. And rather than K-turn at the aforementioned intersection he simply backs right through it. No traffic lights or stop signs for that matter, just a busy uncontrolled four-way intersection, done in reverse. After checking into our rather cheap hotel--$45 for the night in a triple room--in the Old Quarter I went out to find dinner. The gentleman at the reception desk steered me to an area a few blocks away that might have a few street vendors still open at this late hour. And on his advice I sat--though crouched is more accurate--to the quintessential bowl of Vietnamese pho, served on the sidewalk, on a mini plastic table with even mini-er plastic stools. I'm not a huge guy, but I feared for the seat's future. Pho This cost just over a dollar and was quite fortifying. Certainly not the best pho I've had, but there was something about sitting on the little stool, a stone's throw from the cockroach the size of a small mouse that felt so very Vietnamese. The pho marm in this instance refrained from giving me the raw minced meat that had presumably been sitting out in the heat all afternoon and evening without any ice or refrigeration. I can't say I was that upset given the circumstances. We would be spending more time in Hanoi later on, but this first night was just a layover before a cruise in Halong Bay. Early the next morning we departed with Columbus Cruises to meet up with our noble junk, the Nina Cruiser. Rather than opting for a larger junk cruise ship, we chartered the Nina and her crew for ourselves. The boat is a little rough around the edges but still quite nice by Halong Bay standards. The two day trip cost $150/person plus bank service fees and all that, making it very expensive for Vietnam, but this was still less than the tariff charged by many of the luxury junks. The Nina Cruiser We were greeted with a warm bottle of French sparkling wine. Classy. The quintessential Halong Bay shot Taken at Surprise Cave, one of the stops on our cruise. One of the most interesting parts of the tour was a visit to a floating fishing village. Today, most of the inhabitants raise fish in small netted farms located next to their homes. These people live on the water, two hours from the mainland. It sounds like quite the difficult life, yet they somehow make due. There's even a floating school and floating bars with karaoke. On a more somber note, however, these people's wages are something like $20 per month or something absurd like that. Fishing village The food on the cruise was actually better than I expected given the conditions. Some of it was quite good. If anything they overfed us--something like seven to nine different dishes at a given meal--which led to a bit of monotony. Here's just a small sample of what we ate in Halong Bay. Fried shrimp and cha gio Chicken breast and squid Clams Fried fish with tomato and dill Halong Bay is a beautiful and mysterious place. While we preferred Krabi overall, there's something so grand about the bay with its 3000 islands. We kayaked into some secluded caves and saw monkeys up in the cliffs. Truly, the other side of the world. With that said, in so beautiful a place it's difficult to ignore the pollution that mars the more trafficked part of the bay. As the bay is so sheltered from wave or tidal action, plastic bags, sandals, and styrofoam collect in certain beach and cove areas.