There's things I expect to see in Vietnamese restaurants - noodles, rice, fried things - and one of them isn't polenta. Within 2 hours of our first destination proper though - Hanoi - I'd seen just that. Big yellow balls of it being shaved on top of rice then topped with more familiar oriental dishes like stewed and roast meats. I could hardly see it and not try it could I?
Being Hanoi's Old Quarter we were blessed with an English translation on the menu so I ordered xoi ngo, or steamed glutinous rice with maize. The Vietnamese eat a lot of shaped pork mince products - big slabs of orange sided sausage meat or leaf wrapped cylinders of pink paste. From my trips to London's Vietnamese supermarkets they really sum up Vietnamese cuisine and so I had to have that as a topping - gio lua in the local lingo I found out. With each topping coming in between 4000 and 7000 dong (15p - 25p) I didn't feel I was breaking the traveller's budget by adding some Chinese braised pork belly (thit kho tau) to the bowl too. Something I wasn't expecting were the kernels of (white) sweetcorn in the rice, a welcome addition.
We had front row seats and I saw the lady shave slices of polenta onto the kernel studded rice, squirt it with what I found out was plain vegetable oil, and then top with the pork products. It was stodgy goodness, set off with the meat juices from the braised pork and pork paste. A perfect meal after the few bia hoi we'd had over the preceding couple of hours.
When aforementioned German foodie friend passed through Hanoi a few days later I had to show him my discovery. This time we went for Vietnamese pate on top, a soft steamed minced meat/loose meatloaf dish that was an even better partner than the previous meats. With sticky rice, polenta and moist meat this was comfort food at its finest.
I can't tell you how desperate I am to get to Vietnam. I'll be reading these posts with (even more) interest.
Posted by: Lizzie | September 28, 2009 at 09:54 PM
Hi Lizzie. The food is pretty special here, it's a pretty challenging country as far as being hassled by touts goes though, possibly the worst yet, rivalled only by Thailand. I'm currently in Hoi An so we got nailed by the typhoon, nice little boat rescue out the second floor after two days stuck in our hotel. A nice little adventure. Luckily Hoi An is renowned for its food so whilst we're stuck waiting for the tailors to reopen (it's also renowned for tailoring) I have lots of food to try.
Posted by: Joshua Armstrong | October 02, 2009 at 01:08 AM