Coming up next week is one of the most important festivals in the Vietnamese calendar: Tet, or Vietnamese New Year. Tet marks the beginning of spring, and heralds the coming of a new zodiac animal sign for the year. It is a fresh beginning for Vietnamese people and the traditions carried out at this time reflect these beliefs. After taking up a degree in Vietnamese language at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Seb Rumsby spent a year in Vietnam from September 2008 to 2009 to help his understanding of both Vietnamese culture and language. Experience Travel talks to Seb about his year and his experiences during Tet. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘vietnamese food’
Food From Northern Laos
12 October 2010 by Tom Armstrong
Regular readers of this blow will have noticed that some of the contributors have a natural bias toward food-orientated stories. From the start of our very first adventures in Asia, the quality, variety and sheer availability of delicious food has been a major factor in us continually returning or settling in this part of the world.
The cuisine of Thailand is well documented and well appreciated around the world, and Vietnamese food has also become much more popular as an export in recent years. However, we generally hear very little about the food options whilst holidaying in Laos, possibly because everything in Laos is a little less accessible than it is in neighbouring countries (which is part of the real beauty of the country). Thankfully, our friends at the excellent Boat Landing Guest House in Luang Nam Tha (a wonderful place to stay and explore for anyone travelling to Laos) have created a fabulous cookbook and online blog. Simply entitled Food From Northern Laos, the blog details the food culture, ingredients and cooking methods and is well worth a good read. With distinct similarities to ‘Isarn’ food on the rural north and east of Thailand, there are a number of true culinary delights to be discovered in this part of the region, especially when you get off the beaten track. We would recommend reading the blog and buying the book or, better still, planning a trip to Laos and finding out what all the fuss is about!
Two new restaurant options in Danang
4 October 2010 by Sam Clark
Word reaches of two interesting sounding restaurant openings in Hoi An/Danang – already something of a foodie mecca.
First is the Waterfront Restaurant in Danang – from the owners of the FANTASTIC Red Bridge Restaurant and Cooking School in Hoi An. We can easily incorporate lunch here into one of trips to My Son, the Marble Mountains or a the trip to the’wonderful Cham Museum in Danang. (more…)
Melissa’s Vietnamese Culinary Extravaganza!
28 May 2010 by Melissa Nicholas
Heading out to Vietnam again this month and spurred on by Rick Steins recent Far Eastern Odyssey series and cookery book, I decided that this time I would pay more attention to the food and try and learn how to cook a few dishes for myself. With a bit of help from the locals, I discovered that Vietnam really is the perfect destination for food lovers and that as you travel North to South the fabulous diversity of delicious, fresh, healthy and exquisite dishes on offer is a million miles away from what you get presented in your average Vietnamese restaurant in the UK.
Things didn’t get off to a great start as on our first day we stopped at a local restaurant to pick up supplies for the overnight train trip to Sapa and I ended up ordering what turned out to be half a dry baguette and a single foil wrapped DairlyLea cheese triangle. But this was low point in my culinary experience of Vietnam and things got much better as the trip progressed! Up in Sapa I got my first taste of Vietnams infamous beef noodle soup ‘Pho’, pronounced ‘Far’. (more…)
Best restaurants in asia
24 November 2009 by Sam Clark
We constantly get asked to reccommend our favourite restaurants to clients and this worries us as it seems to change so quickly. What suits Peter, seems to annoy Paul, in much more pronounced a way than hotels or more general hotel experiences. I am often tempted to let people chose for themselves by reading the numerous blogs and reviews out there. However, we can always make the table booking for you too…. As usual speak to us directly here.
For Vietnam in particular there are some brilliant blogs on the subject – the writer of Noodlepie has long since left but the info is still there and it is fantastic. I really like a Girl In Asia too. There are many more. (more…)
Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey – a review:
25 August 2009 by Sam Clark
Rick Stein did us a massive favour by doing a programme that focused, almost exclusively, on the area that we specialise in. Apart from Laos, all our bases were covered – Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia and of course, Thailand. A big ‘thank you’ to Rick then, as we saw a definite increase in inquiries from the sort of people keen to do something a little different and sample the true flavours of the region – something which we can deliver!
I also think we are well placed to review the show and watched it with great interest. Not only do we know the countries very well, but we are all fairly greedy and get thoroughly over-excited by the thought of South East Asian food. We also know a few of the characters featured in the programme and all of the hotels featured.
Saigon and the Mekong Delta
18 June 2009 by Harriet Clark
As we walked through Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), or Saigon as the locals still’determinately call it, we realised that it is a very different city to Hanoi.’ While the traffic remains as insane the feel of the city and the set up for tourists is very different.
Selling Pineapples on the Mekong Delta
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Nha Trang
17 June 2009 by Harriet Clark
Arriving in Nha Trang was quite a strange experience as it is so different from all the places we have visited so far in Vietnam.’ It is a real ‘holiday’ destination (for Vietnamese as well as westerners) and has a Vietnamese feeling of a spanish holiday resort!’ If you want peace and quiet then this is not the place for you, but we had a lot of fun there nonetheless.
Hoi An
Hoi An is a charming town in central Vietnam and is a fantastic place to spend a few days. It one of three UNESCO world heritage sites in central Vietnama and as such oozes history. You do not even need to set foot inside a museum to soak up the past that has made the town as it is. The different influences from the French to the Chinese is evident in the architecture and it is easy to imagine how it used to hustle and bustle as a trading port.
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The Victoria Hotel and Spa, Hoi An
7 June 2009 by Harriet Clark
Hoi An is an extremely pretty town and in its architecture you can clearly note the different influences that have helped shaped its development.’ The Victoria Hotel takes’these’influences and cleverly combines them into its design.’ The elegant reception has an open, colonial feel and all the staff were extremely friendly and welcoming on arrival. (more…)
