"Hometown dish"
People cannot know exactly when the delicious dishes of the Central region “entered” Saigon. It is only known that Saigon people have long been familiar with Hue beef noodle soup, mussel rice, Quy Nhon rice cake, Quang noodles, Hoi An cao lau, Binh Dinh nem tre… As familiar as daily food and drink.
My favorite dish from the Central region is the Hue beef noodle soup, made by a couple from Hue near my house. The most special thing about the beef noodle soup is not the tender and delicious meat or the shimmering annatto oil color, along with the fragrant Hue shrimp paste broth, but the spicy satay sauce that makes me dizzy. The spiciness is so special that I assume all Central region dishes are spicy like that.
But no, I later realized that the chili the owner used was a special type of chili brought from Hue to Saigon. There are countless beef noodle shops around Saigon, but I have never found a shop with such a special, strong chili lemongrass satay.
It is interesting that a Hue person who is devoted to his hometown's food like the restaurant owner and his wife, that devotion must also originate from a small detail, such as the fear that without it, the hometown's food will no longer be complete.
The second Central Vietnamese dish I had was Quang noodles - soft, golden noodles with a mild aroma mixed with tiny, strange-looking mustard greens. I say strange because up until now, mustard greens in Saigon, all kinds of leaves are huge, juicy, and you have to crush them to smell the aroma.
Quang noodles at Ba Dzu - a small shop owned by my friend, a native of Central Vietnam. Ba Dzu is Bui Dzu, a young man with a literary dream who took refuge in Saigon.
But in the end, you stayed in this land with the rich dishes of Quang, including the delicious Quang noodles that have been present for so many years, from a tiny restaurant hidden in the alley of Dien Bien Phu to "proudly" in Phu Nhuan, the people of Saigon remember and regret when you left to start a business abroad.
Delicious food for guests
I remember Dzu’s bowl of noodles, when placed in front of the customer, it had a faint aroma of fried shallots in peanut oil. Mixing the noodles, that alluring smell became even more attractive, enticing the customer’s taste buds, making the tongue continuously salivate.
Thanks to eating Dzu’s noodles, I learned about the shape of shallots, and learned that Saigon also has a market called Mrs. Hoa that specializes in selling Central Vietnamese dishes. From the tiny shallots to the thick stacks of rice paper that are completely different from those from Tay Ninh, they all come to Mrs. Hoa market. Of course, that strange bunch of herbs also comes from there.
Bui Dzu, a meticulous person, “cooks everything exactly as it is”. He cooks Quang noodles with all his experience and heart, with the charm of a literary dreamer. He knows how to skillfully adjust the preparation process, so that it suits the taste of the majority of Saigon people, while still preserving the very unique origin of Quang noodles.
Now, occasionally wandering around a few small corners of Saigon, stopping somewhere to eat a bowl of Quang noodles, breaking off a piece of crispy sesame rice paper and dipping it into the sauce that has been seasoned with a little sweetness to suit the majority's taste, I miss Dzu's noodles. I miss the way a Central Vietnamese person takes care of a delicious dish, everything is very emotional.
Having eaten Hue beef noodle soup and Quang noodles, I later had Quy Nhon fish noodle soup. But the first time I ate it was in Quy Nhon city, in a small restaurant facing the windy Thi Nai lagoon.
For Saigonese citizens who come there for the first time, the first surprise is, of course, the food. Eyes wide open because every meal has a stack of grilled rice paper next to it, and every soup has a bunch of sliced red chili floating on the surface of the pot. I was even more shocked when I ordered a bowl of beef noodle soup and got a few extra slices of… fish cake!
But thanks to that, when returning to Saigon, eating at authentic Quy Nhon restaurants, it is easy to recognize who is a real Quy Nhon person: no matter what dish you order, ask the owner to put fish cake on the side! And more, the dishes are all low in sugar, except for the chili satay which is sweet with maltose, it is completely different from the chili satay served with Hue beef noodle soup.
People from the Central region know how to please customers. When coming to Saigon, they will definitely research the taste to adjust and season to suit the taste and satisfaction of the customers. That is also considered a civilized business culture, I like it!
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