After ...
... I headed to the airport and flew Nanning, China to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam. The meal on board the plane is here.
We landed two hours later and after the usual immigration nonsense I was met by an old friend and her husband. They had helped me book a hotel and took me there. The couple are Chinese but live and work in HCMC. They dropped me off at the hotel, made sure I was settled in and took off to attend to some business (they work in the jewellery business, importing and exporting between China and Vietnam), but returned in the evening to take me to dinner.
We went here.
The place, Làng Nướng Nam Bộ, is huge and, on a Friday evening was packed. My friends ordered - they both speak fluent Vietnamese whereas my spoken / listening is limited to the basics. I just looked around.
Each table was supplied with
Tissues and two dips. One was fish sauce and the other seemed to be shrimp paste with sesame.
and
A bag of crackers, some pickled gherkins or similar and a dip of salt and chilli
Steamed Chicken with Banana Hearts
Vietnamese Fried Spring Rolls - accompanied by a mixed selection of raw greens, which are served with almost everything.
Grilled Venison with Grilled Okra
Hotpot protein - squid, shrimp, clams, beef
Hotpot Vegetables - including both banana hearts and shoots.
Everything was good. Especially the venison. I hadn't expected okra, but it seems to be popular. Every market I visited had some, but I'm getting ahead of myself. More to come.