A Taste of Hoi An

... Part 3 ...

I loved Pho Hoa in Manila , and I absolutely LOVED the food we had during my visit to Ho Chi Minh City last year (can't get over it!). And this was probably why I had such high expectations for the Hoi An local cuisine. Di ba dapat mas masarap ang pagkain sa probinsya?

Alright, I guess we ate at touristy spots most of the time , which does not qualify as local. But still... saving grace was this small eatery our cab driver recommended to us :-)

Here are some food highlights!

Hainanese Chicken Rice from the Palm Garden Resort
I was simply famished when we arrived at 3pm during the first day, with only some Skyflakes to fill my always hungry tummy because we didn't have time for lunch. I ordered this Hainan chicken from the hotel, looked good -- but I was disappointed with its bland, bland taste. :-( It was as if they just boiled the chicken and put crushed ginger on the side. Walang personality.



I also had Orange Juice - which was sooo sour. It was pure, warm, with no sugar at all. And because I was not satisfied, I shared a Creme Brulee with Ana. It was... well, a normal Creme Brulee, nothing special. But at least it tasted like what it's supposed to taste like.



That evening, we decided to be adventurous and explored downtown Hoi An - which was about 10-15 minutes away from our resort by cab (cost us around 80,000 Vietnam Dong) I interviewed the driver and asked him where we can get good local food. He drew us a map that brought us to the Wan Lu restaurant in one of the side streets. After struggling with the language, I stuffed myself with an interesting dish called "White Rose" and the tastiest "Yang Chow" fried rice.

An evening downtown. Hoi An is famous for its tailors.
You can make a dress made in under 2 hours (USD 30.00 up)

White Rose, locally known as banh bao vac, is a type of shrimp and pork dumpling made from translucent white dough bunched up to look like a rose.You dip it in a mixture of fish sauce and (i think) vinegar + garlic + sugar. It's not going to be my favorite any time soon (siomai is better) -- but it was... interesting. Sort of like chewing a big glob of bubblegum while waiting to taste the shrimp/pork filling!

White Rose - all dough, hidden shrimp

We also ordered their version of the Yang Chow fried rice, which was so full of sahog - erm, kanin pa lang, ulam na! Tasty and cheap (less than 2 USD for a huge plate good enough for 3-4 pax)

Another interesting find was Banh Phu The , which meant husband and wife cake. Somebody brought it in while we were doing our community service. It tasted a lot like our local sumans, with some strips of dried, shredded coconut inside. It also came with another cake, called Banh Gai (I didn't get the meaning) , which sort of tasted like mochi or buchi (sticky rice with monggo inside?)


After such a tiring day -- I was expecting a feast of a dinner at the nearby Full Moon Resort and Restaurant.. it was such a "twinkling" place straight out of asian movies. Alas, I was disappointed, and I can't even remember what I ate. Each dish was served ONE AT A TIME ... and when another viand came, they took the first one away. It doesn't matter if you didn't get any, or if the dish was untouched. THEY JUST TAKE IT AWAY. Sigh. Even the steamed rice was served last, without any viands to accompany it. Sigh. One of my colleagues said maybe the servers have a quota on how many plates they clear.

Most of the food served that night were tasteless , except for these monstrous prawns . But sadly, we only got to eat one piece each :-( . But I don't believe that food in this region is terrible. I'm guessing we just got unlucky.

That's about it for the food highlights! (The going away buffet at the hotel wasn't much, either) I got myself a familiar cheeseburger from McDonalds as soon as we landed in Manila. Ahh... tastebuds are still alive!