Bun Mang Vit, HCMC

If you do not fancy bamboo shoots or duck meat – Bun Mang Vit is NOT for you. Truth be told, I found bamboo shoots quite disturbing until I started living in Vietnam. An acquired taste indeed.

SkinnyKhoi loves this duck and bamboo shoots rice noodle stall at 71/1 Mac Thi Buoi, District 1, HCMC. He was there two days in a row! But I guess DelicateRose didn’t enjoy the dishes as much as Skinny did.

What I really like here is the duck meat salad – just look at the glistening duck skin and the nice tender meat with a slight tinge of pink! I usually dip them in the savoury and sweet salad dressing but you can also dip them into the fish sauce on the side.

This is a really local vietnamese haunt and I haven’t seen any foreigners visiting the stall save for those who walked past it to get to Warda and Lac Thai. So be prepared to speak some vietnamese if you would like to get yourself something to eat here. Or bring a vietnamese friend with you – like what DelicateRose and I did.

And most importantly, get here before 12 noon. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Com 13 (Cơm 13), HCMC

If you’re looking for a local vietnamese restaurant that serves good, authentic vietnamese fare in downtown saigon, Com 13 is the place to go. Located along Ngo Duc Ke street, and just a few doors away from the more well known Hoang Yen and french bistro La Fourchette, its close proximity to Dong Khoi Street makes it an ideal place to have lunch with close friends any time of the week.

I have lost count of the number of times I have eaten here, and the numerous visitors I have brought here on different occasions. Its simple home cooking style keeps drawing me back to their restaurant over and over again. Their sweet and sour pork is delectable and the deep fried pork slices were perfectly deep fried and drenched in their well balanced ketchup based sauce. One dish I never failed to order is their lip-smackingly good ca kho to (caramelised fish in claypot) but those who are watching their blood glucose level might want to refrain from having too much of the gravy that comes with this dish

Com 13 makes a good rendition of the canh chua ca loc (vietnamese sour soup with mullet fish) too. The mix of okra, snake-head gourd, tomatoes, pineapples, vietnamese sage and fresh fish fillet makes this an interesting soup that I fell in love with the first time I tasted it several years ago. Take the fish out of the soup, and it can be a dish on its own. Simply dip the fillet (beware of the fish bones though) into the fishsauce (or soysauce if you like) provided and have a mouthful of the warm sticky steamed rice . Dee-lish!

Get a serving of their bong thien ly xao toi (stir-fried flowers of a thousand miles with garlic) or rau muong xao toi (water spinach stir fried with garlic) if you’re feeling sinful from all the meat dishes. Otherwise, if you’re game for more sinful indulgence, order the deep fried chicken skins with fish sauce and I can assure you that you’ll be smiling as you sink your teeth into those delightful crackling skins!

And what’s food without wines? The bottle of beaujolais nouveau was nothing to shout about but it’ll make a nice Sunday afternoon drink with its hints of strawberry and candy aromas.

Icon Lounge, Hunter Valley, Australia

Located in the small winemakers centre, Icon Lounge was the place where I first tasted the legendary 1999 Brokenwood Graveyard Shiraz. Well, that was not all, there’s the 2003 Capercaillie Shiraz, 2004 Mount Pleasant OP&OH Shiraz and the 1998 Meera Park Shiraz that I really enjoyed tasting.

And I was lucky enough to have the priviledge to taste a portion of the prized 1997 ILR Reserve Semillion at Brokenwood, which is just opposite the road. A little praise on the graveyard shiraz goes a long way!

My only gripe on Hunter Valley is that restaurants there generally don’t encourage BYO and they either close on weekdays or don’t allow take-out. But it was really fun to hop from vineyard to vineyard tasting different stuff, identifying the wines that I like and talking to the cellar door people. You can see how their eyes would light up and the noticeable change in warmth when you show them that you know something about wines and not just some casual visitors who don’t even bother remembering the difference between a cabernet sauvignon and a shiraz.

If you’re heading to Hunter Valley anytime soon, do check out Capercaillie, Piggs Peake, Brokenwood, Tower Estate, De Bortoli (for its dessert wine tasting) and Briar Ridge. And if you’re in the mood for bubblies, swing by Peterson’s. But I would stick to the sparkling shiraz and sparkling chambourcin though

I just wished I had some perfectly charred mesquite BBQ to go with the intoxicatingly smokey, almost mocha-like chambourcin!

Pho Bo Vien Quoc Ky, HCMC

There are so many versions of pho in this city that almost every vietnamese I know has his or her preferred stall – it could be the broth, the quality of the beef, the hoisin sauce, the condiments, the pho (noodles) – you name it. I wouldn’t say this stall is the best pho in town, but it does have something different to offer.

The noodles here are not the typical thin strips of pho that you normally get at most stalls but they are more similar to the slurpy, smooth, delicate hor fun/ kway teow that I’m familiar with. Kinda reminds me of Ipoh Sar Hor Fun sans the shredded chicken. The broth is flavourful on its own but its aroma and taste will be magically lifted with the help of a squeeze of lime and a small handful of basil. The stall owner reminded me that I should not go OTT on the basil – just a few leaves would be more than sufficient or it would overpower the delicate taste of the broth – sound advice indeed.

And even the cafe sua da tastes a little different here

I’m pretty sure by now you would have noticed the chinese influence on the bowl that they served my pho in, the signature stainless steel spoon, and the unmistakable chopsticks? Let’s just say that it was comforting to enjoy a bowl of noodles here while listening to their chattering and gossipping in cantonese.

They are located at 52 Ngo Duc Ke Street, District 1, HCMC. Ask the driver to drop you off at the intersection between Nguyen Hue and Ngo Duc Ke. It’s a few doors away from La Nicoise.