Grilled sticky rice banana stall of Mrs. Gai at the intersection of Lac Hong - Nguyen Trung Truc street, Rach Gia city, Kien Giang province
Every time I go back to Rach Gia, I always stop by the grilled banana shop at the corner of Lac Hong - Nguyen Trung Truc intersection to eat grilled banana.
Called a shop for fun because it is simply a fixed street stall: a bamboo basket of sticky rice and bananas below, a charcoal box with a grill above, on the grill are some bananas, bananas wrapped in grilled sticky rice rolled in fresh banana leaves.
The owner of the grilled sticky rice banana stall smiled as she wrapped the goods for customers to take away and proudly told me that her small stall has been selling at this intersection for 19 years, supporting almost her entire family.
"From the time my son was little until now he has had a son this big" - she said while looking at the little boy playing hopscotch on the sidewalk behind.
When talking about bananas, Mrs. Gai used Siamese bananas from Can Tho, peeled them, marinated them with sugar and salt, then wrapped them in sticky rice and grilled them over charcoal.
To make it delicious "properly", you have to wrap it in fresh banana leaves before grilling it. Mrs. Gai said this, stopped and smiled: "The money to buy fresh banana leaves is as expensive as buying bananas, but I still have to buy them, because without banana leaves to wrap the sticky rice before grilling it, the flavor of this dish will be lost."
Mrs. Gai quickly turned the sticky rice rolls on the charcoal grill, the banana leaf wrapping was scorched, giving off a light aroma – thanks to this layer of leaves, the outer layer of sticky rice did not burn, and at the same time, the moisture of the whole grilled banana sticky rice was guaranteed. There were also customers who wanted to eat the crispy sticky rice, so Mrs. Gai would remove the banana leaf wrapper to grill it a little longer. The owner was friendly, and the customers were happy to wait.
The specialty is a rustic snack, the "shop" cannot be more rustic, and so enjoying the dish is also extremely rustic: sitting on a brick or a tiny plastic chair borrowed from the "shop", enjoying the sweet, sticky, fatty taste of sticky rice, banana, with coconut milk in the sticky rice, while looking up to see the Tam Quan gate of Rach Gia not far away with the bustling traffic going back and forth.
If you have the opportunity to visit Rach Gia, don't miss this interesting experience, but note that just a little after noon, Mrs. Gai sells out all the sticky bananas, only grilled bananas left, because her grilled sticky banana stall is very popular.
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