I thought I’d better book, after all it’s 2 days away from Tet….resto might be full. 7:30pm and 4 of us arrived.
The place was empty. I was surprised but could not careless. Hungry and thirsty for wine, 4 of us quickly made our way to the menu. For 35USD ++, the selection of 4 course meal and 2 hours of free flow of wine really appealing. There was a couple in the next table but they ate in such a hasty speed and quickly ran out. The girl I noticed only had a salad and a glass of wine.
Optimistic, I choose my selection: Fancy starters, a humble meat dish and chocolate cheese cake and white wine…I think it was Chardonnay. Of all the dishes, the soup was probably the highlight of the night, the best of all. ‘Consomme of perigord black truffles w stuffed cabbage and goose liver’ is a dish that has the perfect blend of texture and taste, very intricate, light, a perfect starter. The clear tasty broth acts as a superb foundation for the mince pork wrapped with cabbage, a soft but crunchy texture, then balanced off by the soft, delicate goose liver. To top it all is a slice of black truffle, resting comfortably.
‘Secondi’ was champagne risotto with sweetbreads, interesting combination but the portion was way too big. For a second dish there was way too much risotto. And the rice was not cooked in the correct Italian way…almost tasteless. I was a bit disappointed. While a friend of mine order chicken tart and my other friend decided to enjoy the ‘free served salad’ as she did not fancy anything else…again I think they need to control the portion here, if diners are going to have a 4 course menu!
The most awaited dish turned out to be rather ordinary. Duck breast with ginger and orange sauce saute with vegie. The duck was rather dried but it did retain some sweetness after- taste. My friend made a joke about how my last duck breast home-cook was even better. Disappointed I must admit. Although the sauce is very light and over all it was refreshing and the mash potatoes was good….I found myself stunned. A boring dish.
We ended the night with the average desert….as if it was not satisfied enough, I ordered 2 scoops of coconut ice-cream to go with the cheese cake. We did however had great conversation and a relaxing year end dinner…but I could not stop thinking why there were 5 waitress staring at our table, trying to look after us. That is more than a hand full of waiting staff.
..I felt a bit drained…from all the working and the alcohol the night before….it’s 9 hours onto the next day and we’re making our way to the Paragon.
I was not particularly that hungry…nor was I felt excited about food court food in Vietnam. Cham Cham Express kind caught my eye. Paragon is always empty whenever I was there so the food court was kinda the same… The name stood out.
The menu was confusing. They had 4 – 5 sets: western, thai, viet, indian, and something else. But what triggered my ‘trial’ was the ad behind the counter ‘ KhaisilkCorp’. So I thought ‘his’ resto in Dien Bien Phu I’ve been….it’s odd enough to have a average food named after the rich dude….does he do food court?
For 50.000VND I opted for the western…it reads:
1. Pumpkin Soup
2. Salad
3. Beef Lasagna
I find the combination weird enough. The plate arrives in a stylist -ish setting. With a glass of coke…..
Normally food court is kind fast food….and they dont car for plating and sizing is also big….so diners feel value for money. This is quite the opposite. All of the dishes are small portions, esp the ‘beef lasagna’, a round slenderly thin piece of food.
Dig in…
I was amazed…pumpkin food had some cumin and asian spices…so it was not the too rich kind. Salad was mainly lettuce, slices of tomatoes but the onions slices must have been marinated in vinegar before hand…and a few slices of red cabbage. The ‘lasagna’ was of course not the kind we all expect with cheese, thick, oven feel, and creamy. The filling lies inside 2 extra thin layer of flour….I dont quite recall the taste right now but it was mince alrite. And a full swirl of tomatoes sauce/ketchup.
For 50.000VND it’s actually not bad. Compare to my 70.000VND usual Korean tofu soup….I did not feel too full, but a pleasant experience. It was not wow or anything remotely high cuisine but it was just right. Maybe it was also a quite environment versus the one in Hung Vuong where is always packed, noisy, and you feel like you have to hurry eating. This place is the opposite.
Im hoping to try Indian taste on the menu next time….odd but fun.
I was supposed to do my dinner food shopping during lunch, but I didn’t. What can I say a life in an agency does not necessary stick to strict and concrete hours. So I was under pressure. My ban trai already sent me an SMS asking what’s for tea?
Sneaked out of work around 6:15pm, my attempt to hit Ben Thanh market was gone. With the idea in mind, previously I was missing the kind of potatoes/smoke haddock/leek soup I used to make in Scotland, so I went to Veggies to grab last min items, all done in 15min and was back home ready to cook at 7 sharp.
So here is what I bought at the deli:
1. A massive piece of fresh salmon, with skin on (since they dont have removed one)
2. Hand pick some loose tomatoes, ripe ones
3. Potatoes about 4 and 1 leek stalk
5. 2 large white onions, 1 glass bottle of capers small size, a bunch of dill, fish stock from Knorr, cream
For the morning: eggs, mushroom, probably will use some left over tomatoes, rye bread, and butter, Anchor of course.
In a poorly equipped kitchen with minimal help (not from the human kind), I just had to make do with what I have, so no salt today but lucky the fish stock will have some. I used the last few bits of salt to put in the boiling water for potatoes already, which were dice roughly, same with onions and ring cut the leeks.
Method:
Boil the potatoes, then add in the leek and some onions. The rest of the onions quickly fry in butter until it coloured a bit, add into the soup. Throw in fish stock, lower the heat down.
For the salad type, ring cut the tomatoes, but them back into the fridge to reserve the coldness. Quickly fry off the salmon. Although it was ‘fresh’ I think they probably just defrost the fish. Normally I would not even cook raw fresh salmon, in this case, just cooked and dont leave for too long. Ah I dont like the skin so much so skin is off.
For the salmon pieces, cut them into chunk and also fry them off quickly and put into the pot with roughly chopped dill. Season to taste. Last min, spoon in some cream, stir to mix well and serve straight away with the salad. This is a wonderful evening autumn dish that is so easy to do, max cooking and prep time is 30min. Very light but hearty enough to fill one’s hunger. Especially yummy when food is cooked in the brand new Zwilling pots and pan.
This reminds me much of Scotland and the cold winter nights when you cant be bothered to cook much, the smoke haddock is almost not replaceable but here the light dill fragrant and the tenderness and soft salmon contrast with the harder texture of the vegie is almost addicted. A glass of white wine would be great if any. In fact you can flambe the salmon in a splash of white wine and drink what’s left in the bottle while eating the soup. This dish you can also find in a corner shop in Dusseldorf (not the idiot village) called Gosch, but the fishes wont be this fresh and quality. A typical northern Germany fish soup but made in Vietnam for 2.
(Photography: Half done by me, largely by the ban trai, with no pro requirement)
We both put on our facebook status ‘having a date’. Both of us cracked up and decided to enjoy ourselves.
My best friend loves duck…or maybe she loves my duck salad more than me…Well I could not help it…
Very easy to do. …here are the ingredients – might have to buy from a western deli:
1. For the duck salad:
Get 2 duck breasts, score on the skin side, marinated with chopped sage, orange zest and the juice of 1 orange, lots of pepper and a swirl of honey to sweeten it a bit. Marinate for at least 30min. Meanwhile you can start to score the orange wedges and arrange the salad, basic lettuce and some iceberg kinds
Grill the duck breast on a griddle pan, skin side down until brown – caramel, depending on taste, I like my duck media rare but dont over cook. 3min on each side, again you can quickly toast the cooked slice breast over high heat in a pan. Arrange the salad and line the breast nicely on top.
2. For the beef lover, try something very simple: mushroom and mascapone cheese sauce
Season the fillet on both side, again like steak cook to your liking, I like it rare so I wont leave it for too long. Can keep warm in the oven aside while the sauce is prepared.
Select a range of wild and exotic mushroom, fry on high heat with chopped garlic and onion, splash with white wine and wait until the wine totally evaporated, pour in the cheese and stir, can loosen it up a bit with stock or simply water. Season to taste and sprinkle flat-leaf parsley on top. I like fennel so I quickly fry it with olive oil not too soft, but still crunchy.
Lay on the bed of fennel, set the steak nice and neat, pour over mushroom sauce and serve immediately.
All over a glass or bottle of wine…2 companion..always work!
Before the year 2000, I remember my dad was once a victim of my experiment. Most memorable bad dish was some sort of pineapple stir fry with pork/chicken. All I could recall now was that I spent a lot of the time scooping all the pineapple flesh, the whole fruit, had to remove the eyes in a clumsy way. Then cooked with the meat. It tasted well tasteless.
Not so long before that, my mother also almost went nuts over my attempt to make deep fry ice-cream. Only that the full pan with oil was mixed with the melted ice-cream. Messy sink, messy kitchen.
Then I started to make sushi for my teachers and some friends. Master Tong, bro An, and Master Hau kept making fun of my rolls. At that time we hung out a lot and I also was in my 18, had one of the young flings and for some reasons I had figured that one of the ways to the opposite’s sex’s heart is through the stomach.
Not necessary the right beginning I think.
The urge to cook really started when I was living in Auckland, far away from home. As a student, any students, food was probably something along the line of burgers, instant noodles, instant food, packaged food or university canteen. I remember making a fuss about putting together 5 packages of tom yum flavoured instant noodles with 3 other friends back in West Auckland. My home-stay had strictly boring food: badly cook pasta, cheap bad pizza, boring home-made bread everyday, and maybe some canned food. I always had to eat the Shin-cup half way through the night. And of course there was baked cauliflower with cheese and white sauce.
I started to cook lunch for myself and my mates .
The interest started from there.
Well supermarkets displays and the shopping environment in Foodtown was attractive. That was probably when I began to explore. Also SKY cable network has Food channel. I was totally drawn into it.
Next comes the dining out and fussy boyfriend.
The idea of cooking Vietnamese food was somewhat gradually becoming unrealistic for a student. It simply took too long to prepare a full course daily menu like what I used to have at home. Plus I was not sharing my residence with Vietnamese. One pot food was much appealing. Plus I can do whatever I want and nobody would give me the face about what I cook or how it tastes like. Yahoo! AndBordersbookshop had a nice café with a library of cook books, I decided to copy recipes. Who says I have to buy the whole book?
My collection of recipes grew, my notes on recipes also started to pile. I simply cooked more and enjoyed cooking.
Until finally that cooking passion turns into the concept of entertaining my friends at home. That was when I was living in Scotland. As a student, again I never let that poorly perceived notion of student life let my meals dull.
