It was hot and we were hungry, so going with the nearest recommendation by our guide, we went to Morning Glory Restaurant to have our lunch. The restaurant is located in the center of Hoi An on one of the busy tourist streets in an old colonial building and serves up typical Vietnamese street food dishes; just the place to enhance your Vietnamese experience!
As it was lunch time, the restaurant was pretty crowded so we were seated on the second floor of the restaurant, which was tastefully decorated with a Vietnamese flair – lanterns, wooden furniture and the setting. There wasn’t much air-conditioning inside the restaurant itself, but there were fans and the second floor was quite well-ventilated with open windows (with balcony).
Vietnamese lanterns of all shapes and color decorating the ceiling
The table setting was simple with the cutlery and plates all laid out
There was even a pretty eye-catching menu to match the décor.
There were quite a few items on the menu and we ended up ordering:
'Roll It' Barbecued Pork with Rice Paper
This was simply a delight for the taste-buds and the hands as we got to roll it ourselves (with help of course). It was so good that we had 2 servings of this. The barbecued pork was marinated well and green banana! Besides the meat and banana slices, there were mango slices, herbs and vegetables, rice wrapper and rice roll, all to be rolled up and dipped in the peanut sauce which tastes like yummy satay sauce. Check out the video below to see how we roll it... lol
Banh Xeo
Of course, just one roll would not do so we ordered Banh Xeo, which is apparently a traditional winter specialty: a small, savory, rice flour pancake, flavored with turmeric and folded over and filled with shrimp, pork & bean sprouts, served with garnishes of fresh herbs, mango and green banana, and dipped in the sauce. Check out our 2nd attempt at this roll below!
Banh Mi
Essentially Vietnamese style baguette (which is airier and has a thinner crust) stuffed with roasted seasoned pork belly, vegetable and herbs.
'Cao Lau' Noodles with Marinated Pork
It's like a dry version of pho but is only found in the town of Hoi An and the noodles are a little thicket and short than pho. It a regional Vietnamese dish made with noodles, pork, and local greens. The flavor was amazingly good (savory and unique)!
Rice roll
There were bits of roasted pork inside this roll, which resembles popiah a bit.
Duck Salad
The duck salad (I think) which we ate along with the crispy rice crackers. The salad was refreshing and resembled Thai mango salad, just not as sour and really palatable.
Banh Bap (Crispy Rice Crackers)
This is banh bap, or crispy rice crackers, is something like an appetizer to be eaten with sauces and salads; which turned out to be surprisingly addictive!
Lunch cost us 152,000 VND per person which is about S$9! For the amount of food we ate, it was definitely worth it!
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Love Vietnam and their food.. hmm
ReplyDeleteI'll be sure to keep this place on my to go list should I ever go to Hoi An. The food looks amazing! yummy....
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