Eating in Saigon

Our first morning in Saigon started with a trip to the market with our last cooking class on the tour (Saigon Cooking School).  The huge Cho Binh Tay market in Saigon was a bigger version of all those other Vietnamese markets we saw in Hanoi, Hue and Hoi An, and obviously with more selection. The instructors pointed out basically similar things so I will not repeat myself.   Please check the Travels with rarecat blog post on Saigon Streetscape for photos from this market.  We were at the tail end of our tour and by then, the cooking class seemed more like a practice session on spring roll rolling - nothing new.

What was new was the Lotus leaf fried rice.  The new ingredient I noticed was the lotus seed.  I have never seen that in a fried rice dish and it's something to keep in mind.  I've never used a fresh lotus leaf either although this dish is also Chinese.

Fried rice ingredients:  chicken, shrimp, lotus seed, carrots, peas

Giant paddle for stir-frying and look at the neat way it was served.  The rice was put on the lotus leaf which was used to line a bowl.  The sides of the leaf were then folded over the rice and then inverted onto a dish.

The lotus leaf was given a cross-shaped cut across the top and voilà - fried rice in fragrant lotus leaf flower!    

That was our lunch.  For dinner, we tried three different styles.  The first night we arrived in Saigon, we were too tired to go further than a block from our hotel.  This restaurant, possibly a chain, looked like it was visited by locals and the food was quite good, the prices reasonable.  We were seated beside the window and noticed customers who had finished their dinners were waiting outside for the jockey to bring in their scooters from the parking lot. There was valet parking for scooters!

One of our dishes - an excellent mushroom hotpot

Our second night, we ate at a restaurant recommended by our guide:  Nha Hang Ngon. This was a little like the Market Restaurant in Hoi An with one arcade lined with street food style stalls.  Customers ate in an open courtyard inside a two-storied yellow colonial building.   Of course it's not street food - it just created a street food ambiance which was really nothing like the real thing, but tourists loved it and the place was packed.  You can check out the rave reviews on Tripadvisor if you are planning a trip.  I thought our meal was good and I liked the open air courtyard.  But it was not my idea of authentic Vietnamese street food.

Excellent steamed Vietnamese crab

The colonial courtyard

Our last night in Saigon, we ventured out in a cab to an area where we were told we could find Vietnamese street food.   We were not even sure if this was the real thing even though the entire kitchen was on a street near the market, and all the tables were out on the street. It just looked too organized and on too large a scale - nothing like the street food stalls we visited in Hanoi.

The outdoor kitchen

Communal tables on the street

Our neighbours were cooking strips of meat on a piece of brick over a coal fire in a bucket - looked like too much work for too little return!

We opted for something easier, seafood wrapped in foil and a hotpot of morning glory and pho.

It was good - we were hungry!  
That marked the end of our Vietnamese culinary experience.  Looking forward to more food in Hong Kong.   

Ryozanpaku 京·百万遍 梁山泊

One of our favorite restaurants in Kyoto is Ryozanpaku (梁山泊).  

I was intrigued when I read about Ryozanpaku in magazines years ago.  The name suggested a Chinese restaurant for Ryozanpaku was where the characters of Shuihu Zhuan (水滸伝, one of China's Four Great Classic Novels, commonly known in English as "The Water Margin" or "All Men Are Brothers") lived.  I was surprised that the food was Kyo-ryori (京料理), the elegant Kyoto-style kaiseki cuisine. 

Owner/chef Hashimoto Kenichi-san (橋本憲一さん), with his desire for his guests to eat and drink with great pleasure and abandon, named his restaurant Ryozanpaku as the characters in the novel lived a lifestyle of “eat, drink and be merry” with “big bowls of wine and big plates of meat (大杯酒, 大塊肉)”. 

Every morning Hashimoto-san goes to the Kyoto Wholesale Market (Kyoto’s counterpart of Tokyo’s Tsukiji Market) for the best seasonal fish and vegetables that his kitchen turns into impeccable dishes.

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Ryozanpaku is in an extraordinary traditional Japanese house.  One walks through the wooden gate along a stone path in the small garden to its front door.  Immediately one is greeted by the kimono-clad Okami (女將, the Mistress of the restaurant) with a smile.  Beyond the foyer is the large front room with an exquisite hand-crafted oversized square wood table.  On the right is the open kitchen with a counter for customers.  Hanging above the counter is a long hand-written menu.  On the left are cabinets with displays, and the steps to an elevated level of zashiki (tatami rooms).  The floor of the front room is laid with flat stones and the ceiling is covered with latticed woodwork.  The tatami rooms are spacious and tastefully decorated in the traditional manner, each with tokonoma (alcove) that displays an ikebana arrangement and a scroll of painting.    At day time one can enjoy a lavish view of the garden. 

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 Here are some examples of the food we had at Ryozanpaku.

Sakizuke (先附) – Appetizers of chaburinamako (茶ぶり生子, sea cucumber shaken in tea),

 takenoko (筍 木芽和, bamboo shoot), kazunoko (数の子, herring roe)

 Osuimono (お吸いキの) – Clear soup with ebi, tofu and nama yuba maki

 Mukozuke (向附) -- sashimi (お造り) of sea trout, saroyi (針魚), kawahagi (皮剥),  

okoze (虎魚,scorpion fish), mongou ika (紋甲いか, cuttlefish);

Condiments of matcha-shio (salt with green tea powder, kimo sauce, and soy sauce

 Takimono (焚物) – Seasonal Kyoto yasai

Buri saikyouyaki (冰見鰤 西京燒, Kyoto style grilled Japanese amberjack),  

バナナ梅干わさびクリ一ム和 (banana and dried ume in wasabi cream), 

karasumi daikon (唐墨大根, dried fish roe on radish), 豆腐ス乇一ク (smoked tofu on mandarin), 

goma kon’nyaku (胡麻蒟蒻, sesame “devil’s tongue” jelly), namasu (膾, carrot and radish in vinegar)

 Yakimono (燒物) -- Awabi in kimo sauce (燒あわび)

 Gohan (御飯) – Green shiso gohan

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Ryozanpaku offers a large selection of sake as well as Champagne and Burgundy wines.  We had our first sparkling sake there a few years ago.  It was specially brewed by a sake toji (brew master) for Hashimoto-san.  Rice wine obviously could not produce bubbles like Champagne.  Nevertheless the fizzes were very pleasant.  Hashimoto-san also stocks Japanese whiskeys at the restaurant.  One evening, he paired our dinner with whiskey – Hakushu 12-y.o., Hibiki 17-y.o., and a special Hitomi 19-y.o. (a single cask of vintage 1991 by Yamazaki Distillery).   At another sumptuous meal, he shared with us a bottle of Jadot 2009 Beaune 1er Cru “150^th Anniversary Cuvee”.

    

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 Hashimoto-san is an exceptional chef, a gourmet of Japanese, Asian and European cuisines, and a connoisseur of fine Burgundies and whiskeys.  The Okami, elegant Mrs. and cheerful Miss Hashimoto, are most gracious and hospitable.  They ensure that every detail of the meal is properly attended to from the time of the guests’ arrival to their departure.  We have always enjoyed ourselves at Ryozanpaku whether we ate at the counter or in the tatami rooms.  Always the warm welcome, excellent food and drinks, impeccable service and lovely ambience; what more can we ask?

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In recent years, a number of eateries named “Ryozanpaku” have popped up in Japan, Hong Kong and the U.S.  They have nothing to do with our all-time favorite, the one and only Michelin 2-star Ryozanpaku in the Hyakumanben area of Kyoto (京·百万遍).  

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Restaurant website: 京·百万遍   梁山泊 www.ryozanpaku.net

Address: 5 Izumidono-cho Yoshida, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 京都市 左京区 吉田泉殿町5