Eel do nicely
We've covered this gaff - Quan An Ngon - before so I won't go into the histrionics of the restaurant, but I will say it's well worth poking your nose in here if your time is limited and you want to check out a very wide selection of nosh under one roof... errr... make that a banana tree or brolly actually. In the pic above, you can see the chef with a firey hot pan of oil dishing out the Banh Tom Ho Tay - again, we covered that yonks ago, so no need to prattle on more about it here, but it is indeed a fab fried thing. For today's lunch I dipped deep into the soup menu and plumped for Mien Luon (Eel soup with translucent noodles).
The eel is chopped into small chunks and fried beforehand before landing atop the translucent mien with a few sprigs of spring onion and finely chopped spring onion for company. On the side plate you'll find Quai, Rau Ram, some sliced onions, a bowl of nasty chili sauce and a squeeze of lemon. All in all, that's all you'll need to make your Mien luon sing with flavour. Personally, I hit the lemon first, chuck in a few ripped up herbs and get stuck in.
The soup itself is clear and very lightly flavoured. A splash of the chili would move things up a gear, but Vietnamese chili sauce is rank. It's the texture of the eel and noodle combo which I find appealing, much like in a Chao Luon (Eel rice porridge), but it's not for everyone. In fact some find the whole internal experience downright creepy. Not pieman - yum, yum. Gimme more eel dishes please. 18,000VD a bowl or just over a dollar. It's cheaper elsewhere, but this is the only southern rendition I've ingested so far.
yes! i will take more eel dishes, any day. this looks wonderful.
may i also say i absolutely *love* the photos you take that have women in it? this one is gorgeous. the photos remind me of paul jacoulet's prints of women in asia and the pacific, a v. european romance about them. (oh yeah, food looks great too :-))
Posted by: santos | August 04, 2004 at 02:59 PM
The photo is gorgeous or the woman? I hope it's the babe, I'm really no snapper.
Can't promise any further hot chicks in the kitchen. Far too busy eyeing up the grub...
Posted by: pieman | August 04, 2004 at 05:51 PM
i dunno, girls look cold--food looks hot. no, seriously, you've take v. good photos.
Posted by: santos | August 05, 2004 at 02:17 AM
Pieman --- as regards the "rankness" of Vietnamese chili sauce (I agree, at least as far as the type in the photo) ... do you know the Vietnamese names for different types of chili sauce? For instance, the one that's usually on the table at bun bo Hue places -- dried chili flakes in oil, sorta like Chinese la jiao. Or the type that's basically fresh red chiles pounded to a near paste with garlic (and perhaps a bit of lime juice and salt?), this one makes a nice addition to a bowl of bun thit nuong. We were angling for the latter a couple days ago at Ngu Vien and ended up with a saucer of the nastiness pictured above.
Happy travels, wherever you're off to...
Posted by: ecr | August 05, 2004 at 06:06 AM
Sorry ECR - dunno. Ut do tuoi??? That's fresh red chili - I think. I have a feeling the Vietnamese language is pretty undescriptive. I will ask next time I'm near any of the chili variants you mention though.
Posted by: pieman | August 05, 2004 at 09:54 AM
Hey Noodlepie,
Give me some eel any day...love it lots! This looks great! Now why can't I get something like that here? *sigh*
Posted by: Reid | August 05, 2004 at 10:55 AM