Nhau: beer cocktails, fusion kitchen & Qi harmony

Shell fish in lemongrass garlic sauce, perilla leaves with deep fried tofu and fermented shrimp paste sauce (the grey dipping sauce)

Whenever there is something to celebrate, Vietnamese people often go nhau. According to the local friends, it stands for beer drinking, while eating "weird" food. Finally I experienced a culture shock... or kind of.

So, my first time nhau. We arrived at an outdoor beer restaurant that looked like a walled parking place with the typical kids-sized plastic furniture. As this means that your knees are closer to your face than your food is, these places may not be the most comfortable establishments to eat. Still, do expect amazing meals as the rule in Asia is often: the less effort put in facilities & decor, the more is spent on your plate.

Xôi gà - sticky rice chicken

xôi gà at the (street) restaurants with mung bean  milk (right corner above)

Xôi stands for sticky rice, gà is the chicken part. It is sticky rice served with chicken meat pulled from the bones. It is full of flavours and different textures, a great example of a typical Vietnamese party-in-your-mouth dish. Just perfect for lunch or as a big snack to survive the last hours before dinner.

Bún riêu cua - tomato crab noodle soup

Bún riêu cua, crab tomato noodle soup

Outside Vietnam, bún may be lesser known than its brother phở, the flat rice noodle, but within the boarders of this country full of fresh flavours, you will see far more dishes with bún than phở. It seems to be more versatile; served not only in soup, but also without soup base as a cold noodle salad (bún thịt nướng, with bbq meat), or inside fresh rice paper rolls (gỏi cuốn) or just "dry" with sauce on the side to dip in (like bún cha cá lã vong, with fried fish & dill).

This restaurant is a nice place to explore a in-soup version, bún riêu cua and a "dry" with dipping sauce version, bún chả.

Cơm Gà - Chicken rice

Rice with shredded chicken, cơm gà xé (above), and rice with roasted chicken, cơm gà quay (below)

There's a restaurant that sells great chicken rice. Simple and nice, with kind of salad on the side (slices of cucumber). It is opened for lunch and dinner till late night, but I am not sure about the mornings. The dishes are available the whole day, but only in the evening they serve a bowl of soup  along your order and something I would refer as the Vietnamese take on Kimchi; a lightly pickled cabbage that taste like its mixed with some sweet chili sauce. Try the rice with shredded chicken, cơm gà xé (the dish on the upper part of the picture) or rice with crunchy roasted chicken, cơm gà quay.

Bánh xèo & nem lụi - crunchy stuffed pancake and lemon grass pork skewer

bánh xèo, ready to get wrapped together with greens, herbs, pickles and dipped in peanut-liver sauce

One of the most delicious and best examples of a typical Vietnamese dish: bánh xèo.

It has the 5 must-have Vietnamese flavours (sweet, sour, salty, spicy & bitter) with an abundance in different textures; the crunchy pancake, the salty & juicy pork, fragrant herbs, pickled veggies, the bitterness of the unripe banana, crispy lettuce, rich and creamy peanut sauce (or a refreshing tangy one).. need I say more?

And another great thing, like many VN dishes, you devour it with your bare hands! As a wise friend once said "you taste more when eating with your bare hands, as you'll be using one more of your sense". Therefore, using cutlery would be foolish; like watching a movie in the cinema with sunglasses on.

Bánh căn - savoury mini pancakes

bánh căn, savoury crunchy mini pancakes, topped with a small egg or shrimp, served with fresh mint and lettuce

Bánh căn is one of the best snack available in Da Nang. It is a small "fried" savoury pancake, similar to bánh xèo. It is made of rice flour, lard and eggs and contain toppings like a quail egg or a shrimp (as shown in the picture). NOT to be mistaken with bánh canh, a chewy udon-like noodle that is served in many different flavored broths (in Da Nang bánh canh cá is very popular, with fish broth). When written, you can just spot the difference, but when spoken, it is all the same. They will tell you it is really pronounced differently but after many failed attempts, I decided to use pictures instead.