(no subject)
Sophia Hotel in HCMC is pretty good. Nice location in Q1 F Ben Nghe within walking distance east of Dong Khoi. Nice rates. And nice free internet. Only three terminals but agaricus and I are the only ones here at the moment (they even served a small glass of water).
This morning, I had hotel breakfast. Naturally, the first thing I went for was the bread and butter, and seeing there was a toaster, tried it. Twice, with failure. Until I noticed the power wasn't on, but the spring-powered timer went on ticking away and popping up the untoasted bread anyway. Shit.
There were also some fried VN spring rolls and french fries (crinkle cut, as always), looking quite forlorn.
But all that changed when I discovered the fried pasta. This is a very VN thing, and to make matters better this was my fav type of pasta (penne rigate), had modest amounts of beef (in CHEWY CHUNKS! Not Asian-style flat strips!), lots of tomato, GARLIC, CAPSICUM ... and was, in short, totally YAYSOME!
I was about to go for a second helping of that heavenly stuff until I spotted something interesting on the plate of one of the three Anonehs at the breakfast table (there was another group of three Anonehs on our flight - why do Anonehs travel in threes?).
agaricus immediate snapped "that's a very VN thing! go get it!"
I'm glad I did. This was a bakchangesque VN thing that came wrapped in too many folded banana leaves. Only it wasn't rice, but rice paste, and within it was a glob of minced meat with various herbs.
So it looks like Chwee Kway got impregnated with a baby Bak Chor and decided to disguise herself as Bakchang, only wearing banana leaves instead of nicely-tied up lotus leaves.
It was so good I forewent (forego-ed?) the intended and much-desired second helping of fried pasta.
If they have the same thing tomorrow, I'm a gonna skip the nonsense carbs and go straight for these.
Also, the coffee. The tea and coffee were served normally (two glass pots on heaters) but the VNs drank it their own way - in a shot, using a glass instead of demitasse, with no sugar or coffee. Yes, for the tea as well.
Am currently "chipper", as LJ calls it, after my dinner at Pho 24 (where else?) which was topped off by iced VN coffee with evaporated milk. Also known as Liquid Happiness (to me).
Talk about coffee, have bought 10 packs x 50 sachets x 16g of Trung Nguyen "G7" 3-in-1 instant coffee. For Mum & Dad. Hope they're satisfied. The first 5 packs were bought at Diamond Plaza at 87,000 Vietnamese Dong per pack, the rest at Tax Shopping Centre at 74 kilodong/pack.
This morning, I had hotel breakfast. Naturally, the first thing I went for was the bread and butter, and seeing there was a toaster, tried it. Twice, with failure. Until I noticed the power wasn't on, but the spring-powered timer went on ticking away and popping up the untoasted bread anyway. Shit.
There were also some fried VN spring rolls and french fries (crinkle cut, as always), looking quite forlorn.
But all that changed when I discovered the fried pasta. This is a very VN thing, and to make matters better this was my fav type of pasta (penne rigate), had modest amounts of beef (in CHEWY CHUNKS! Not Asian-style flat strips!), lots of tomato, GARLIC, CAPSICUM ... and was, in short, totally YAYSOME!
I was about to go for a second helping of that heavenly stuff until I spotted something interesting on the plate of one of the three Anonehs at the breakfast table (there was another group of three Anonehs on our flight - why do Anonehs travel in threes?).
agaricus immediate snapped "that's a very VN thing! go get it!"
I'm glad I did. This was a bakchangesque VN thing that came wrapped in too many folded banana leaves. Only it wasn't rice, but rice paste, and within it was a glob of minced meat with various herbs.
So it looks like Chwee Kway got impregnated with a baby Bak Chor and decided to disguise herself as Bakchang, only wearing banana leaves instead of nicely-tied up lotus leaves.
It was so good I forewent (forego-ed?) the intended and much-desired second helping of fried pasta.
If they have the same thing tomorrow, I'm a gonna skip the nonsense carbs and go straight for these.
Also, the coffee. The tea and coffee were served normally (two glass pots on heaters) but the VNs drank it their own way - in a shot, using a glass instead of demitasse, with no sugar or coffee. Yes, for the tea as well.
Am currently "chipper", as LJ calls it, after my dinner at Pho 24 (where else?) which was topped off by iced VN coffee with evaporated milk. Also known as Liquid Happiness (to me).
Talk about coffee, have bought 10 packs x 50 sachets x 16g of Trung Nguyen "G7" 3-in-1 instant coffee. For Mum & Dad. Hope they're satisfied. The first 5 packs were bought at Diamond Plaza at 87,000 Vietnamese Dong per pack, the rest at Tax Shopping Centre at 74 kilodong/pack.