Sea food, Sea food! I am on a sea food diet! I eat all the food I see. In Vietnam, this is no different. This street food tour is taking me to the local seafood place. Well, one of the places.
The place is out of the city centre, I think. and it is along the highway next to a river. There are shops all along the highway and under the flyover. It is a busy area in the day time, judging by the number of shops along the street. At sun down, shops, food stalls and othervendors mysteriously appear!
The guide parks her motorbike under the fly over. It has shade! The sitting area is just on the fringe of the street. Initially, there are tables and chairs on the pavement. As the night falls, more seating areas are placed on the street itself. First one layer, and then more across the road further up. They have their own rules, you know, and the server knows how to navigate the traffic.
Ms Tam. the guide orders the food as I refrain from ordering. I want her to order the food that the locals eat. So I just trust her. She explains to me the different types of food. I have a chance to take a look around. It is not the most hygienic place. Some of the activities are carried out on the floor. The place is a bit messy. I do see some familiar seafood and ingredients here, clams, shells, whelks, oyster, and cooking ingredients like fish sauce, chillies, lemon grass, Vietnamese mint, etc.
We sit at the table on the pavement. While waiting for the food, out comes the dips. The dips are a bit different. Of course, chillies are included. There are more herbs, and black pepper is popular here. And they use tiny fork and spoon!. I tried the dips and it tastes good.
Then comes the grilled big clams served with some Vietnamese mint or daun kesom. I don’t eat the regular clams – the smaller ones that is full of blood, like the ones for fried noodles ( char koay teow). This is ok and it is eaten with a peanut and spring onion dip. There is a certain way of eating it. The guides shows me how to use the tiny fork. It is in the video.
(click on photo for video)
Next comes the grilled scallops. The scallops are not that big. It is grilled with cheese, but it is not your typical cheese. I suppose it is Vietnamese-made cheese and it does not have much of a colour nor a strong cheese flavour. It is served with fish sauce with chilliee . The combination is great! Very beautiful taste. Note that you use the small spoon to pick the seafood and shove it in your mouth! There is a demo on this on the video. The clams and scallop are tasty.
(click on photo for video)
And also, there are songs blasting from a singer on the street. He sings and sells some tissue papers and some other stuff, I am told. One thing is that he can sing. Nothing off key!
There is more to come.
Here are the videos for your enjoyment.
Click here for grilled big clams.
Click here for grilled scallops with cheese.
Until the next journey, enjoy and do share and subscribe to my YouTube channel if you find my work of value.
Sayonara,
