Pho Ph-luctuations

Pho in Ho Chi Minh City

Unknown to us, the super-popular Vietnamese soup called Pho varies widely from south to north. We began our stay in Vietnam in the south, in Ho Chi Minh city. There is a particular type of pho there, called Saigon Pho - it is the kind we normally think of pho: a beef/chicken soup, which comes with a plate of veggies, bean sprouts, and chilies, as well as extra hoisin sauce and chili sauce.

But, this type of pho pretty much stops in Ho Chi Minh! This style (at least, from what we saw) was limited to that city.  Hoisin is also extremely uncommon further north - Lynnea learned that it was introduced fairly recently, from China, and people mainly used it as a side dish to dip their meat in.

So, our experiences with Pho fluctuated from south to north as we traveled. In Hoi An, where we spent the most time, pho was a pretty simple broth, with rice noodles and beef, without the plate of veggies. Hoisin was an unknown word. But, the soup was still good - but boy, did we miss that first bowl of pho that we had, so long ago in Ho Chi Minh City!

Side-dish of Spiders?

Cockroaches to the right, spiders behind

Anyone fancy these lovely spiders or cockroaches for a snack? They are probably quite tasty and crunchy - the spiders look like they've been fried in chili oil - but I admit I didn't have the nerve to try them. We saw these at a roadside stop on one of our bus trips in Cambodia. Yummy yummy!

Tasty crunchy fried spiders

Hooked on Dosas

Lynnea's masala dosa at the fancy
Indian place

Lynnea loves dosas - a rice-flour based Indian pancake. She's allergic to gluten, so they are a great food option - and we really got hooked on them.

They can be very filling - the masala dosa is filled with a curried potato and onion mix.  We tried two Indian places in Siem Reap.
At the second place we went, there were a few dosas we didn't recognize, and the owner helpfully explained about them. Most places in town used a local rice-flour, which he said isn't the right flour to use. He imports his flour from India.

Dosa with the same flour mixture as the masala dosa, but
served like a big thick flat pancake. 

Unfortunately, the dosa Lynnea had was made with a semolina flour - which had gluten, we realized afterwards. So, in the end, we preferred the local rice-flour to his, even though the dosas at that place were amazing and very nicely made.

All the dosas come with a coconut curry and two other side curries - such fantastic flavor.

Welcome to Exotic Fruit-land

Bananas and duku (the small brown fruit to the right
of the bananas)

Southeast Asia overflows with all kinds of exotic, delicious fruit! We've had tiny fingerling bananas - very sweet and soft, mangosteens (delectable!), tamarind (huge interior seed), duku (yum!), green mango (sour and crunchy - used in salads a lot or with a spicy chili dip), and of course, lots of sweet mango and pineapple.

Duku (or langsat?)

Duku - or langsat - (two very similar varieties) are a super tasty little brown fruit, each smaller than a golf ball. Super tasty and sweet, they are usually sold as a cluster on a vine - like large hard-skinned grapes. They are pretty easy to peel though, and the skin isn't very thick. The fruit inside is not very sticky, and firm like the outside of a grape.

Mangosteens are the round purple-brown fruit
at the bottom of this picture

Mangosteen

Mangosteens are also super tasty, and very different from duku. They have a thick purply outer rind (the darker the purple, the better) - and inside the rind is a brilliant red. The white fruit is softly slimy, and tangy, sweet and super tasty. From what I read online, they are also  extremely nutritious and good for you.

Dragonfruit are the crazy big pink things,
with rambutan behind them (the little round
spiny pinkish orange fruit)

We have yet to try durian - a spiny fruit with an awful smell (so awful it's not allowed on trains), dragonfruit, and rambutan. Also gotta eat some lychee!

So much to eat, so little time...

Cambodian Cuisine

A gorgeous curry, with tofu and potato,
served in a carved out pineapple - a
mildly sweet and delicious result.

Cambodian cuisine, or Khmer cuisine, is known for a few main dishes. We tried two: amok, a coconut soup with a fish-sauce base, and much later in our trip, lok lak - thin-sliced marinated beef, in a peppery lime sauce. Both are fantastic.

There were also many curry dishes, fried rice, fried yellow noodles, and fried vegetable dishes. Fried morning glory was a common one on menus - but we don't think it was actually morning glory, but a type of spinach. 

Frog is a popular dish too - we didn't try it. From what we heard, the cooking process is rather brutal - we stuck mainly to tofu and chicken.

As for drinks, I fell in love with the coffee shakes - and we also had some excellent mango shakes (just mango puree, blended with a little ice and sugar).

A beautiful soup - glass noodle and tofu, and lots
of veggies

A great soup with a fried egg on top -
Devlin really liked this kind of soup

Thai Street Food

We were blown away by street food in Thailand - and unfortunately for us, most street food promptly disappeared when we arrived in Cambodia! But, it is lovely to reminisce...






These peculiar and delicious snacks were a fantastic moment of street food. They are a sweet egg custard, baked in little round molds, with various toppings: ham, sweet corn, and green onion (the favorite of all of us).

Now, can someone who reads Thai please tell us the name of this delectable treat, so we can perhaps cook it ourselves back in the states??