#407 Bún Bò Huế Đông Ba & Trái Cây Dĩa Nguyễn Cảnh Chân @ District 1, Saigon
It’s funny how life surprises us at times. I got to know Vanessa from Katelyn since Katelyn wanted me to be safe and surrounded by people that I can rely on at HCMC. Vanessa brought me around on my second last day in Vietnam. Before I knew it, she flew over to sunny Singapore. I thought I could meet her when I arrived back at Singapore the next day but we did not have a chance to so since she was leaving the day after, she introduced to me her American friend, Pilar. Pilar has been working at Vietnam for close to two years and while hanging out with her in Singapore, we never fail to link our conversations to our experiences at Vietnam. While reminiscing the good times at Vietnam, here is the second half of my third day at HCMC…
Bún Bò Huế Đông Ba
110 Nguyễn Du, Bến Thành, 1
(08) 62737 589 – (08) 3823 9672
0916762679 – 0917120286 – 0989393967
After my day trip to Mekong Delta, Dat came over to my guesthouse and picked me up at 8PM. I was starving at that time and thankfully, he brought me to have Bún Bò Huế (2nd-4th pictures) & Bánh Bèo (5th & 6th pictures). There are many types of noodles in Vietnam. Vietnamese people love their pho (commonly sold everywhere), bánh canh (what I wrote about in my previous entry at Long Phung) and now, we learnt about a new type of noodle dish that is common in the Vietnamese culture and that is none other than Bún Bò Huế. Huế is known as the imperial city and it’s cuisines is related to cooking methods of the former royal court. It was previously the capital of Vietnam. Bún refers to rice vermicelli, while Bò means beef. Outside the city of Huế, people label the dish as Bún Bò Huế but within Huế itself, the dish is named as Bún Bò. The rice vermicelli is thicker and rounder than Pho. Bún Bò Huế uses lemongrass as its spice, while Pho Bo uses star anise, cinnamon and cloves. The herbs of each dish also differs as pho uses sawtooth herb and thai basil, while bun bo hue uses mint, rau ram / Vietnamese coriander and tia to / Vietnamese purple perilla. I found Bún Bò Huế so much more flavourful than Pho because although the flavours are more intensive, there is a balance of sour, sweet, salty and spicy flavours. As for the Bánh Bèo, I found it to be similar to Singaporean’s Chwee Kueh. Bánh Bèo basically means water fern cake. Like Chwee Kueh, it is steamed rice cake with savoury toppings in the middle of the rice cake. Toppings include dried and preservative food items such as dried scallions, shallots and shrimps and other final touches such as oil, rice vinegar and fish sauce. It is delectable but I cannot finish a huge portion of it as the rice cakes is quite dense and filling for my small stomach. Dat was urging me to finish my food before bringing me to have desserts because in my previous dinner with him, I was not able to finish my dish as well. In the end, he just told me to finish the meat. I was so happy when I saw the other customers sipping onto their glass of Rau Má / Pennywort Drink with a straw so Dat helped me to order it. Dat stated that this rau má was more specialized than the other one I had at Pho Hung as it has green bean in it. I do not usually drink sweet beverages as I prefer to eat my calories than drink my calories but this is definitely one of the most refreshing and natural drink I have tasted in Vietnam.
AREA: DISTRICT 1
PAYMENT METHODS: CASH ONLY!
Ambiance: 7/10
Service: 7.5/10
Food (taste & appearance): 7.5/10
Value: Nil (as Dat treated)
Total: 7/10★
An enclosed non air-conditioned stall with very friendly servers, who are ever so ready to serve food and snap shots with a smile.
Trái Cây Dĩa Nguyễn Cảnh Chân
33 Nguyễn Cảnh Chân, Cầu Kho, 1,
Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam
After having such a palatable meal, Dat brought me to have desserts such as the Trái Cây Dĩa (1st-3rd pictures) & Sinh Tố Bơ / Avocado Juice with condensed milk (last picture). I regretted getting the Trái Cây Dĩa as it is basically only fruits with syrup, milk and ice – totally not my kind of desserts. I prefer Dat’s Sinh Tố Bơ way more as another of my favourite beverage that I frequently drink in Indonesia is Avocado Juice, except that the one in Indonesia is served with chocolate/coffee syrup while the ones at Vietnam is served with condensed milk – Love both just as much! Hai An came halfway through our desserts and got himself another dessert, which tasted better than my Trái Cây Dĩa but I could not recall what it is called.
AREA: DISTRICT 1
PAYMENT METHODS: CASH ONLY!
Ambiance: 5.5/10
Service: 6.5/10
Food (taste & appearance): 6/10
Value: Nil (as the guys treated)
Total: 6/10★
The stall is an outdoor dessert place with tiny tables and mini stools to sit on. There are tonnes of mosquitoes at night so do spray lots of mosquito repellent on your body or you will end up like me with lots of mosquito bites.
