Monday, July 28, 2008

Mee Hoon Kway Lunch

C invited Soo and I to her house for a mee hoon kway lunch today. I was quite looking forward because Ka mentioned to me once that the mee hoon kway was very good and it's true! I guess home made stuff is still different.. the texture of the mee hoon kway was chewy and good. The soup base was dried anchovies soup which I love. C said mee hoon kway is very easy to make, using just flour, egg and water. But I guess it's still a little troublesome for me, especially since M is not too keen on this and I hate kneading.


Soo also brought a Muji cake mix from Singapore. The pack came with chocolate, flour, and a cake paper mould. The preparation was quite fast and in 30 mins' time, we have a really yummy mini chocolate cake for dessert. I will definitely buy some of these when I go back to Singapore. :)


It's friends here who really make a difference to your otherwise boring afternoons.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

My first Tau Suan...

I made my first bowl of tau suan today. Got this really simple recipe from Soo and couldn't help trying. It turned out fine though I must say it's not as good as those sold in Singapore due to lack of gula melaka and pandan leaves.

But I am happy to have something local for an afternoon snack on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

The Sushi Tokyo Restaurant

I am really into a Jap food craze, isn't it? Sometimes I really wish that M was posted to Japan and I can eat all the delicious Jap food I want there!

Back to my entry, M and I went to a Jap restaurant near his office last Saturday for our weekly food hunt. We went there once previously and quite enjoyed the food. Since our driver was on leave last Saturday, we decided to eat somewhere near and M suggested this place, much to my delight. (Ok, give me any Jap restaurant and I will be happy.)


I asked M to make a reservation as I heard it was usually full during weekdays. Apparently, it was less crowded for weekends so we managed to get a table in a small room. The last time we had to eat by the bar counter.



I ordered my favourite Sushi Ladies' Set while M had a combo set of fried stuff. Our appetizers (grilled eggplant and potato stew) came first and I liked the grilled eggplant very much. The potato stew was ok though M, being a potato lover, thought it was rather nice.

Grilled eggplant

Potato Stew

My sushi (comprising of unagi roll + tuna + salmon + ika + sweet beancurd skin) was really delicious... even M felt so. I couldn't finish the whole plate by myself so M happily contributed by taking the unagi roll. He didn't really like his fried stuff set though. Felt that it was like eating in a fast food restaurant.

My fresh salad

Sushi!

M's fried combo set

After we have finished our main course, dessert was served. Today it was caramel custard which didn't look too good so I did not take a picture. I realised that most restaurants have stopped serving ice cream these days. Perhaps it's due to cost cutting measures. :(

The total bill came up to VND 266,000 for two persons which is around SGD 20. It's a really good price considering the good food and cozy ambience. Sushi Tokyo continues to be one of my favourite Japanese restaurants in Hanoi.

The Sushi Tokyo Restaurant
15 Ngo Trang Tien
Hoan Kiem, Hanoi
Tel: 04-936 4236

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Lunch at Totoya with Kakis!

I went to Totoya Japanese Restaurant the second time with my friends last Wednesday and enjoyed the meal. Guess it was partly due to the great company. :) Heard from Soo that another restaurant down the road called "New Sake" was equally good. Will definitely pop by to try next time. Enough said, here are some pictures to whet my appetite again.

The appetizers served before the main course

My unagi don (what M had previously)

L's udon set

Soo's tempura set

I hope I don't end up gaining weight this summer. :p

Friday, July 25, 2008

The Darkest Hours in Hanoi

I went through the darkest moments of my stay in Hanoi in the past 3 days. Literally.

Power shortage has been a serious problem plaguing Vietnam. Due the the limited supply and overwhelming demand, especially in summer, the government had to come up with a series of intiatives to overcome this issue. One tried and tested method was to rotate the supply of electricity amongst various areas. And the area where my house was located happened to be the "chosen" one for the last 3 days.

Typically, the government will send a letter of notification to all households in that area before cutting off the power supply for the entire day. By night, the power supply normally resumes. However, we were quite unfortunate as this round, there was no prior notice given. What made it worse was the supply was cut for most periods in the day and night. On the first night, we were left "powerless". With no aircon, no fan and no wind, it was really a mission impossible to fall asleep. We opened all the windows and kicked away our blankets. But with the summer heat lingering, we got all sweaty and uncomfortable. The amazing thing was I still managed to fall asleep! I don't know how I did that.. but by 11pm.. I was dozing off in bed. M didn't sleep well until the power supply came back at 4am in the morning.

On the second day, this pattern repeated itself. Desperate for a good bath (the water tank in my house runs on power so when there is no electricity, I can only get a trickling shower), I headed over to Sheraton Hotel to use the gym and shower facilities there. At night, we experienced a blackout again. :( Luckily, M's friend, A, was really nice and offered to let us stay in his apartment (quite near to where we live) for a night.

By the third day, our patience had run dry and we demanded for a back-up generator from our housing agent. It did arrive in the afternoon but I could tell that it was fairly old and worn out. Well well.. can't really complain here as this is how things work here. After some massive installation effort, it was finally in working condition in the evening.

So far, things have been working so I am quite thankful for it. Really hate to go through another hot, humid and sleepless night. At least there's some consolation now as there is this old and noisy back-up generator in my backyard. But hopefully, I won't need to use it. Keeping my fingers crossed...

Thai Vine Restaurant (2nd Attempt)

M had been quite eager to try Thai Vine as he read numerous raving reviews about it. After reading about their weekend lunch promotion last week, we decided to lunch there on Sunday.

The restaurant was not crowded when we went there, probably because most people preferred to dine at night where the ambience was nicer. We took a table at the small room right at the back. The interior decor was very nice. I decided to take the lunch special of Thai chicken noodle while M had his usual Thai Green Curry with rice. The waitress recommended us the "drink of the day", which was Beal Fruit Tea. I haven't heard of this tea before but a quick check on the Internet showed that this tea is quite famous in Thailand. So I am the ignorant one.. :p

The exterior view of the restaurant


The interior view


My chicken noodle was average.. as I couldn't really tell the difference between this and the local Vietnamese chicken noodle. M's curry was nice though it was not spicy at all! We should have requested for additional servings of chilli.. as being typical Singaporeans, we enjoy the "shiok" chilli factor. The Beal tea was quite nice though.. just a little bit too sweet.

The appetizers

My Thai chicken noodle

M's Green Chicken Curry

The Beal Fruit Tea

The condiments served in a pretty box

We decided to have some desserts to complete our meal and opted for the Red Ruby. They were yummy! The crunchy water chestnuts were coated with chewy glutinous flour before being cooked in a sweet coconut soup and topped with thin slices of jackfruit. I enjoyed it very much.

The Red Ruby

With Ice

The total meal came up to less than SGD 20 due to the lunch promotion. Considering the ambience was great, service was good and proximity of the place, I would say it was a decent meal.

Thai Vine Restaurant
31A Xuan Dieu
Tay Ho, Hanoi
Tel: 04-719 1448

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Hoa Vien Chinese Restaurant

My friends and I decided to go to Hoa Vien (华园) Chinese Restaurant for lunch yesterday. Located at Heritage Hotel, Hoa Vien serves decent Northern Chinese food at reasonable prices. The restaurant is run by a Taiwanese lady who speaks fluent Mandarin. This place is very popular amongst the Chinese, Taiwanese and Singaporean population in Hanoi. In fact, most Taiwanese tour groups will bring the visitors here for meals. So I guess the food is quite authentic. :)

We decided to order a few dishes to share amongst the 6 of us. We had a noodle, some fried vegetables, cold cucumber salad and a plate of fried dumplings (锅贴) to share.

Stir fried potato strips with green capsicum

Cold cucumber salad

Stir fried melon with egg

Stir fried beancurd with pork

Pan fried dumplings!

The oily noodles


The fried dumplings were good (though I would have preferred steamed ones) but the vegetables were a bit too oily for my liking. We had wanted a mixed Szechuan noodles with pork but they gave us "mee goreng". The noodles were practically swimming in the oil and I took only a few bites.

The dishes came up to around VND 64,000 per person (total 6 pax) so it was really quite a decent meal. However, the dishes were really too oily for me today. Quite a disappointment.

Nha Hang Hoa Vien (Hoa Vien Restaurant)
625 Duong La Thanh
Ba Dinh, Hanoi
Tel: 04-7724347 (Heritage Hotel)
HP: 0904032244

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Totoya (Kim Ma) Japanese Restaurant

It's unbelievable but we went for Japanese food again last Saturday.. Totoya was recommended by our Japanese friend but the branch near Vincom Towers has closed down. So we decided to try the Kim Ma branch instead.


The ambience of the restaurant was very cozy and nice, though a little warm. We took a corner seat in a small room. There were Japanese posters put up all around which reminded me of those little shops we frequented during our Japan tour.



The set lunch menu was rather comprehensive and inexpensive, ranging from USD 5 to 8. Considering that this included the main course with soup, appetizer, side dishes and coffee, it was pretty good value for money.

Appetizers...

Chawanmushi..

M ordered a unagi don set (yes, again!) while I had a maki set. We were enjoying our appetizers when a waitress brought us a california maki roll to share. I thought this was one of the starter items so chomped it down happily (turned out that this was a mistake but the waitress who thought we wanted an extra maki order.. so we had to pay for it).

California maki

Then my maki set came and at one glance, I knew I made the wrong choice. The maki rolls were very nice but it was too much rice for me in a meal. I felt so stuffed.. all because of the wrong california maki order.

My maki set

The unagi don was much much better than Ren. The unagi serving was generous (80% unagi and 20% egg) and delicious. M enjoyed himself quite a bit.

Unagi Don

Overall, we both enjoyed our lunch experience very much. This is a place I would definitely come back again.

Totoya (Kim Ma)
637 Kim Ma, Ba Dinh District
Hanoi
Tel: (04) 834 7844

Finally.. a Clear Dip...

I am so pleased with the state of my swimming pool these days. It's crystal clear! Typically, it's murky and dirty. Well, there's a maintenance guy who comes in to clean the pool twice a week but so far, he has not been doing a good job. When I insist that the pool is not clean, he will just smile and nod before walking around. Duh!

This week, the pool has been amazingly clean. I am not sure what he's doing but I just hope he will continue to keep it this way. It's refreshing to see a clean pool of water when I look out of the window. Couldn't resist taking a picture today. These moments don't last. :)

Saturday, July 12, 2008

How to Detest Lychees in 3 weeks

I have been overwhelmed with lychees for the past 3 weeks. Lychees were in season in Hanoi a month ago. Due to the huge supply within Vietnam, the price of lychees went down to VND 5,000 per kg (which means around SGD 0.40). Since it's nice and cheap, lychees became THE perfect gift for most locals. Initially, I was quite a fan of this sweet fruit. However, the following sequence of events turned my love into fear...


Day 1:
I asked M to buy 1 kg of dragon fruit for me. M forgot and asked the driver to buy 1 kg of lychees instead. Well, fine.. I had fun munching...

Day 5:
Finally finished the 1 kg! Happily planning to buy mangoes when M came back with 4 kg of lychees. "What! Are you mad???" I screamed in shock. He calmly explained that the driver had bought this as a gift to his director, who then gave it to him. So he brought them home. I immediately persuaded my maid to take 2 kg. So I was left with 2 kgs to finish...

Day 8:
I was getting quite sick of lychees. The sweetness was beginning to disturb me. But throwing away was a waste.. Oh well...

Day 10:
Finally, I was lychee-free! Was in a good mood since we were going to Danang. At the airport, I noticed a huge styrofoam box being checked in by M's colleague, D. She proudly shared with me that she had ordered one huge box of lychees as gifts for other participants. I nodded politely and told myself that I would never touch them.

After lunch, the lychees were presented as desserts and the participants loved them! I didn't want to eat them at all but D was seated right next to me and kept cajoling me. So I took a few and insisted that I was full. As we left to go back to the hotel, I noticed M carry a bag of.. LYCHEES! I frantically told him to give them away... but he said D saved the bagful specially for me. Arrrgh!

Day 11:
Spent my breaks chomping down on the lychees. Was so tempted to throw them away but as D said, the lychees were really good and not as sweet. So I continued to eat..

Day 12:
The lychees were eliminated! Happy came back to Hanoi. Once again, lychee-free.

Day 16:
M's colleague came to visit us on a Sunday night, saying that he brought some gifts for us from his province. M went out and guess what? 3 kgs of lychees! He was really sweet to bring them all the way back for us.. and for the other colleagues too. But.. they are back to haunt me!

Day 17:
The start of the elimination process... I tried to eat them in different ways... but I could feel myself gaining weight as a result of the calorie intake. For information, 1 lychee contains 6 calories and 1 g of sugar.

Day 18-21:
Kept feeding M with lychees until he almost hid under the blanket. I feel a lump forming in my throat whenever I open the fridge and see the unfinished lychees. There's still a large packet of lychees in there.. but I have given up. I will just pretend that they are non-existent.

This is the detailed process of my lychee hate camp. And it worked.



I am thankful that the lychee season is finally over.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Ren Japanese Restaurant

Last Sat, M and I went for our weekly food hunt around Hanoi. As I am crazy about Japanese food, M suggested that we try a new place that he found in town, Ren.

The decor of the restaurant was really pretty and zen. We took a table near the window where a mini waterfall was running down. For a moment, I felt like I was in Japan.

The entrance

The open kitchen concept!

We took a while to decide on our orders. I took a Ren special set while M had a Unagi Tamago don set. My set arrived first and it looked really appetizing. There was tempura, grilled fish, sashimi and some light appetizers. However, I was a little disappointed by the sashimi as it didn't taste very fresh. That reminded me of the advice which my Japanese friends gave me "Never eat sashimi during summer in Hanoi as it might not be fresh". They were right... :(

My rice bowl and tempura

Interesting starters

The sashimi

M's Unagi Tamago don looked equally good too in terms of presentation. But I couldn't help but notice the don was filled with 80% eggs and 20% unagi. Guess this is what you get when you order the lunch value set.

M's unagi tamago don

Overall, I thought the quality of the food was not as good as Masuda or Sushi Tokyo. The ambience was great, no doubt, but if I were to come here again, I would try the noodles or katsudon. Definitely not the sashimi.

Ren Japanese Restaurant
8A Hang Chao, Hanoi
Tel: 04-7338550

A Short Getaway to Central Vietnam - Hai Van Pass

The morning of our second day in Danang was free and easy. M and I took this opportunity to take a quick stroll by the beach before indulging ourselves in the buffet breakfast. At 11am, we gathered for lunch on board a ship, after which we proceeded to the highlight of the day "Hai Van Pass".

From the ship, we saw the famous suspension bridge in Danang

Hai Van Pass is a famous tourist attraction in Danang because it is located on top of a mountain and from there, you can see the magnificent sea view below. In the old days, the merchants will go through this pass during their trading routes. As the scenery was beautiful, they named it "Hai Van Pass" or 海云关 which means the gate of sea and clouds.

The drive up the mountain was around 40 minutes and along the way, we could already catch scenic sights of Central Vietnam. When we finally reached the top, I took a while to enjoy the sea, mountain and clouds. And of course, I wouldn't miss the opportunity to take a couple of pictures.

The sight along the way to Hai Van Pass

We are on the top!

Another beautiful view...

The pass of Sea and Clouds


After Hai Van Pass, we went to another famous beach nearby to take a rest and walk around. M and I decided to have a chat with our friends over a cup of coffee and some local sweets. It was really too hot for me to step out to the beach. (Yes, I am pampered.) By 4pm, we headed back to our resort as there was a dinner function that night. I didn't join in the event as it was a corporate function. But I had fun watching the Wimbledon matches in our hotel room. :)

The next morning, we checked out of our hotel and made our way to Danang International Airport to catch our 12.30pm flight back to Hanoi. On board the plane, I took the last chance to take a few pictures for keepsake.

Goodbye, Danang!

While Vietnam does not have the stunning sights that took my breath while I was touring around China, it presented various unique, subtle yet tasteful angles which were interesting for me. I was definitely glad to be in Danang and Hoi An. I guess I will be back but not soon. Perhaps in 5 to 10 years' time, when the infrastructure has improved. And my destination would be Nha Trang, where it's acclaimed to have the best beaches in Vietnam. Till then!