Gimme fire
I've always liked this place, but this is the first time I've eaten from here. I like it because it's the only scoff-shed on Cach Mang Thang Tham Street I smell before I see. The eight Banh xeo wood burners and the two large Bo la lot barbecues belch out thick, perfumed, barbecue fumes across a one hundred metre radius. It's the heavily scented, charring, sweet, la lot leaf sticking it to my nose. It's a quality Saigon pong. One you'll find at the junction with 01 Bac Hai street, Phuong 15 in District 10.
Shedfront, and we really are talking shed, it's hot, very hot. The young female chef above was sweating like a Narwhal in Namibia, poor thing. But, Banh xeo and Bo la lot are dramatic dishes. Fire, fumes, meat, grease, sweaty chicks. Vietnamese food prep. doesn't get much better than this. Watch the cameraphone film (4.4MB) to see what I mean. I thought the photos were gonna be wicked from this, but they came out a bit blurry and unfocussed which is a shame. What is it with digitals and nightime? Maybe it's just me? More snaps here.
The Banh xeo are mini. More Ben Thanh night market-esque than the utterly gobtastic Dinh Cong Trang street number. Just the pancake batter, beansprouts and pork. No prawns included here. Bit greasy. And served with fresh lettuce, basil, riep ca (fish mint), cai be xanh (mustard leaf) and a very sweet, hot nuoc mam (fish sauce). The Bo la lot, pictured cooking here, consist of scraggy, fatty beef, la lot leaf and a sprinkling of chopped peanuts. It comes with slices of starfruit, cucumber, green banana, bun (cold vermicelli noodles), rice paper to wrap everything in and a sweet/sour mam nem (pongy fermented prawn sauce with pineapple). More on mam nem in these comments.
I won't prattle on about either dish too much, just to say sometimes the place is more impressive than the food. This is just such a place. The food is average. I did order a takeaway which maybe took some of the edge off, but even allowing for the non-street experience, I think this is a wee bit weak in comparison to the classic Banh xeo and their way good Bo la lot - hit the links to learn more about those and read the comments to find out more on the la lot leaf. Here's a pic of the Cach Mang Thang Tham Bo la lot spread.
Even though the food ain't stella, I would recommend tripping along to this joint. It's fun, firey and cheap. Three Banh xeo and two orders of Bo la lot cost 25,000VD (about 80 whole new pence). I cadged a Chao trang with pork strips for the toad on the way home bringing a family dinner for three in under a quid. Nice. Oh, and incase you didn't catch that - yes - the toad eats streetfood. He's mad for it. Now go watch the film again - yum.
Pieman, you're joking me. I tried to find this joint last night. This is at least the 5th time that we've gone to the same place within a day or two of each other. You recommended this place to me in an email right? But the address you gave was 183B CMT8. We went to 183B but it was dead, only one family around a table. And no big grill like you describe in yer email. Oy, that looks good up there. Another night, I'll look for it. Thanks. BTW, I found a decent bia hoi... check my blog.
Posted by: Mr. NoStarWhere | October 14, 2005 at 07:47 AM
How odd... I was thinking of you as I rode up there actually. Yeah - it was last night. Thought it would be funny if I bumped into you.
This is the place I mentioned via email. Dunno what went wrong with the address on that. Sorry.
As I mentioned, you can better of the same elsewhere, but this is fun. Will check yr. blog forthwith.
Posted by: pieman | October 14, 2005 at 07:55 AM
BTW - you really should add an RSS feed to NoStar, no?
Posted by: pieman | October 14, 2005 at 07:58 AM
A what? RSS? I'm not much of a techie.
Ha, funny we both headed there (sort of) last night. No worries about the address. Had we not got lost looking for the place, we would have never found the bia hoi on Vo Van Tan. Bo la lot another time I guess.
Posted by: Mr. NoStarWhere | October 14, 2005 at 08:16 AM
I'm not techie either, but RSS should be easy to sort out on your blog. There's a few instructions/links here:
http://www.noodlepie.com/blog/2005/07/how_to_subscrib.html
I rarely read any blog that doesn't come through my RSS feeds, unless someone points me to it or links to it. I think yours is probably the only exception is I can't think of right now. RSS really saves you time, believe me... Well worth getting sorted on that front, IMO.
Posted by: pieman | October 14, 2005 at 08:29 AM
MMMmmmm!!! That banh xeo looks yummy! It's one of my favorite thing to eat. The other thing that I had in Saigon that was so good is called 'pho Hanoi'. It's pho, but it's steamed and then fried, slightly crunchy and then meat and vegetables are stir-fried and poured over it, with a little cilantro. I haven't found any since I've returned to the US!
Posted by: Thuy | October 14, 2005 at 10:34 PM
Re: the mam nem -- curious, at our last Saigon lunch at Hong Hanh the proprietress trotted out some "special" mam nem (by request only?) that was sour and greenish (I'm guessing coriander, tamarind, maybe kalamansi?) to have with our salad rolls (complementary -- as if she knew we were leaving). She'd prepared it herself and said it is a Hue specialty. Different to the one you had? But then mam nem just means "sour" mam so could cover a range of dips...
Posted by: Robyn | October 16, 2005 at 11:40 AM
Thuy - are you talking about Pho Xao? I used tho have that in Hanoi on , I think Bat Dan street, with beef, Pho XAo bo. Quite a greasy little number that one. Haven't had it for donkeys.
Robyn, I don't know the special mam nem you mention or the salad rolls. Or you talking goi cuon? Or bi cuon or what? MUst try this hong hanh joint soon...
Posted by: pieman | October 17, 2005 at 10:19 AM
Yes, goi cuon. What little Vietnamese (food terms) I mastered is already slipping away....
Posted by: Robyn | October 18, 2005 at 03:26 AM