Whenever people mention Hoi An cuisine, they are thinking of Cao Lau (a bowl of thick noodles), chicken rice, Ms. Phuong’s Banh Mi (Vietnamese sandwich) or more fancy dishes like White Roses sold in the old town.
However,
Hoi An is larger than the 2 kilometre radius around the town centre. The total
area of Hoi An is 30 times larger and that is not counting the nearby craft
villages. And in this whole are a diverse culinary experience can be had.
Hoi
An’s cuisine seems simple at first but stay long enough and you will come to
know its sophistication. Great food is not only delicious because of its
flavours, but also its presentation, the origin of the ingredients and unique
recipes that have been passed through the generations. More importantly these
dishes must be prepared in a calm and gentle manner and cannot be rushed like
fast food.
With
simple ingredients you can find at any market, like eggplant and some green
onion, Hoi An’s people can prepare several dishes just by giving a recipe a
little twist. The most common way would be to thoroughly steam the eggplant,
flatten and fry it while slowly adding sugar and fish sauce and continuously
flipping it until all the flavours are absorbed. At a vegetarian restaurant
called An Niem on Nguyen Duy Hieu street the chef slices the eggplant into
small slices, puts them into a bowl similar to those used to serve obioidei
fish, and simmers them in soy sauce and other spices. The chef lets the dish
cook slowly on low heat as he is in no hurry. After about ten minutes, when the
eggplant has been cooked, the chef will put the entire bowl on top of a small
piece of coconut shell and serve it with some white rice to the guests. The
diners, who have been waiting, open the lid right away to find a delicious
smell waking up their senses.
Those
who love seafood must visit the colourful An Bang Beach Village. The restaurant
is decorated with honeycomb walls, Hoi An lanterns hang from the ceiling and
bamboo chairs are waiting for guests. In the evening the owner even lights up
some wax candles on the walls to set the mood. If guests do not know what to
order the best thing is to ask for the owner’s suggestions. Similar to western
restaurants, here an “item of the day” is on offer, which often depends on what
the suppliers’ catch of the day was.
This
particular morning, the owner’s wife bought some paradise fish. “What are
they?” a customer from Saigon asked the chef. “They are delicious, but I don’t
know how to explain what they are. I will make you a small dish to taste, if
you like it, you can order more,” was the reply.
After
quite some time in the kitchen, the chef brought out a steaming container
filled with vegetables: bamboo shoots, pickled cabbage, beansprout salad, lady
fingers, and of course slices of paradise fishes. After only a few bites, the
customer praised: “This is strange, so different.” Her husband an overseas
Vietnamese whose family is originally from Dien Ban, Dien Ngoc, Quang Nam
province, grew quiet. As he ate, he gazed into a blank space as if remembering
the dishes from his childhood.
After
a conversation with my foreign friends who were visiting Hoi An, I accidentally
discovered that most of their memorable culinary experiences were not at fancy
restaurants where prices are in dollars. In fact, their most memorable
experiences were always tasting dishes not available on the menus. The most
interesting was when a group of French friends while biking to visit the
longest bamboo bridge in Vietnam, was invited by a woman who had served them
food to nap in her home on a cot handmade by her.
“No
other ‘restaurant’ in the world would invite you to nap there, at a place in
the middle of nowhere,” my friend enthusiastically said every time he talked
about Hoi An’s cuisine. But one thing you should know, if my friend had
hurriedly left after eating a bowl of noodles, instead of striking up a
conversation with the owner, he would not have been invited to stay. The tip to
the best culinary experience in Hoi An is simple: go outside of the busy
streets and let fate guide you.
Bloggers around the
world share their favourite Hoi An cuisine memory.
The Kitchen Paper: A
nameless restaurant at 474 Cua Dai
Mary
Loudermilk from the culinary blog The Kitchen Paper calls her favourite Hoi An
Restaurant “???”. The Portland-based blogger confesses that she does not know
what the restaurant located at No. 474 Cua Dai is really called, because she
could not find a signboard anywhere. She wrote on her blog: “We accidentally
discovered this restaurant on our way back from the beach, and we came back
regularly. This place has the best Cao Lau in Hoi An”. The blogger’s tip? –
“Friendly staff and the non-English-speaking owner always bring you a delicious
bowl of noodles and a great smile.”
Somewhere pretty cool: A bowl of soup made by a saint, in a home with a view of the paddy fields in Cam Thanh
Ariane,
a PhD candidate in Literature, and Mike, a software developer, are newlyweds.
Three years ago after a couple of glasses of wine they had the idea to travel
the world for a year. Hoi An was one stop during their 365-day journey. In Hoi
An, Ariane and Mike stayed at an AirBnb, home of a “saint” named Hoa. Ariane
explained on their blog: “A Saint as in she cooks divinely and is probably the
most outstanding woman I’ve ever met after my mom. I was vegetating in my bed,
cussing against all Gods of the universe, holding my belly and popping Gravol
like candies. I heard a knock on my door: it was Hoa with soup. A soup made of
the most beautiful, gluey rice and carrots and pork broth you’ll ever taste.
Because it’s good for the belly. “Eat it, eat it all” she instructed me. Well
guess what… Today I feel like a butterfly.”
By Wanderlust
Tips | Cinet