Vietnam, Cambodia recommendations?

I have a trip to Vietnam (Saigon/HCMC, Hanoi, Hoi An, Hue, Sapa) and Cambodia (Siem Reap/Ankgor Wat) planned for next month. Anyone have any food recs?

Sadly, no.

But I will more than happily go along to carry your bags and taste your food, just to be sure it's safe.

Have fun! And don't forget to post when you return. I love to live vicariously....

Some of my favotires in Saigon

An Vien – Located at
178A Hai Ba Trung (down a lane, bakery on the corner). The
Tamarind Crab is incredible. It is an amazing old
colonial building filled with some sensational Vietnamese art.
Hoi An – reputedly the top Vietnamese restaurant in town. Serves
central Vietnamese food in a well located and traditionally decorated
location noted mostly for having ridiculously heavy chairs. 11 Le
Thanh Ton Street

Ngon at 138 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia. This is my very favorite.


I stay at the metropolitan when I am in hanoi, and in the Caravelle in Saigon. Ngon has a branch in Hanoi, too.

there are a lot of little stands that serve sandwitches and noodles, try at least a few of those, as well. have fun

My wife and I did a trip very similar to this about two years ago. It was definitely a highlight of our travel lives. Vietnam is a beautiful country with amazing food, and Angkor Wat is astoundingly beautiful. We would return in a heartbeat.

As to food, I have a couple of recommendations. I second the recommendation for Ngon (actually Quan An Ngon) in Saigon. The restaurant is open to the air. The owner searched for great street food vendors and hired them to cook for her restaurant. The restaurant consists of many food stations where one can order an incredible variety of authentic street food at a very reasonable price. If I recall, when we went, we ate until we could not eat any more and the tab for 4 people with drinks came to about $15. The restaurant is very busy, so be prepared to wait. However, the wait is worth it.

In Hanoi, you can eat pho to your hearts content for about 25 cents a bowl. One meal not to be missed (the best meal I have ever had) is bun cha. It is not available in the south, and I believe that it is a Hanoi specialty. It consists of grilled pork meatballs and pieces of grilled pork belly served with fresh herbs, garlic, hot peppers, nuoc mam (fish sauce) and lots of magic. Doesn't sound like much, but I would happily make the trip all the way back to Hanoi for this one meal. The tab for my wife and I, including drinks, was about $6. Here is a link to an article about this dish. Videos can be found on YouTube.

http://www.thingsasian.com/stories-photos/1031

Enjoy your travels and report back.

Jeff

Vietnam is my all-time favorite eating trip. So many great spots, so many great new experiences.

PM me if you have any interest in a wonderful guide. Quynh took us overnight for an amazing trip out of Hanoi into the countryside. He also had us for dinner in his home, which was an unexpected treat. (Happy to provide more details)

I couldn't agree more about Quan An Ngon in Saigon (they reportedly also now have a Hanoi branch). So very good. Fun to just walk around the restaurant and see what everyone was making.
http://www.noodlepie.com/2004/05/streetfree_stre.html

Hanoi was by far my favorite city in Vietnam, and food was no small part of it. We loved Bobby Chin's for some high-end fun fushion.
http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides ... 4654661732

Cha Ca fish with tons of dill was good, too.
http://www.noodlepie.com/2004/06/frying_tonight_1.html

But, the highlight was definitely the street and hole-in-the-wall food. We walked down several alleys and small streets and tried strange soups and other dishes in spots where no English was spoken. We eventually learned to bypass our hotels' free breakfasts and go eat for $.60 on the street. So much better.

Be on the lookout for the herb omelet ladies. They carry an entire restaurant on their shoulders and will set up shop for you right on the sidewalk. They provide plastic stools, and will cook a fresh tasty omelet for you in five minutes. Great stuff. How fast food should be.

The highlight, though, was Bun Cha Hanoi, an incredible pork dish. The previous poster mentions this, I believe. Our favorite spot was at #1 Hang Manh street (sorry, can't recall the name). Bun Cha is available for lunch everywhere. You get grilled pork and pork meatballs. Also, a cup of a fish sauce mixture with veggies. Finally, some vermicelli rice noodles. You take a bit of everything and dunk in the the sauce. So good. We found versions of this dish in Northern Virginia, but it just wasn't the same. If you go to #1 Hang Manh, don't neglect to order the crab spring rolls.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshuajamesgross/95369854/

We found the food in Hoi An to be pretty touristy and bland for the most part. Except for a hole-in-the-wall spot called Bale Well and the food in the market.
http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides ... 4654648158

ENJOY!! And, feel free to PM me w/ any questions.

It looks as though Vietnam is well covered -- and I agree with those who say it's a terrific food destination. One night when I was in Hanoi, we had dinner at the local French cooking school, which was fun -- watching all these hopeful youngsters work so seriously at being continental. So not an amazing meal so much as a fun cultural experience.

In Siem Reap in Cambodia, my favorite place was an open-air restaurant called Jasmine. Sorry, I don't know the address -- but Siem Reap isn't that big, so it shouldn't be hard to find. Whatever else you get (and this applies even if Jasmine has been shuttered), try the fish amok. It's the national dish of Cambodia, and consists of local fish cooked with fragrant herbs, spices, and coconut milk. The texture ranges from soupy to firm custard. It may be served in a coconut shell. As with most national dishes in most countries that have been around for a while, no two versions are exactly alike. But it's worth eating more than once.

And not food related, but worth seeing -- try to take a tour of the floating villages on Tonle Sap. Tonle Sap is the largest freshwater lake in SE Asia, and Siem Reap is not far from its shores. Because everyone is trying to find a way to stay cool (mostly houses on stilts and lots of shade), living on the water is surprisingly popular, and their are Cambodian villages, Chinese, Vietnamese, and more.

Have a great time. Vietnam and Cambodia are amazing, and I'd go back in a heartbeat, too.

I'm going on a similar trip in November, including a stop in Bangkok. This thread is getting me excited, and really hungry.

I have great recommendations for Phnom Penh. Been working here for a few months. Siem Reap has some good dining options, but I have only been there for a few days.

If anyone makes it to Phnom Penh (it's definitely worth a visit - a less-developed version of Saigon with signature Khmer hospitality) I have tons of suggestions.

Let me know!

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I was just sitting down to write some notes of can't-miss places for my trip. All these great posts are getting me really psyched-up about my trip. I'm trying to learn a little Vietnamese before I go. So far, I think I've mastered 'hello', 'please', 'thank you' and 'delicious'. My waiter at Hai yen was helping us practice last week. I'll post pics when I get back in late-August.