Vietnam. Not sure where to start here. As a kid all I heard about Vietnam was the war. All the movies that were released when I was in high school – Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill and of course Apocalypse Now. Then I met Marie and her family and my entire definition of Vietnam changed. Now it was family, food, a language I still can’t come close to comprehending and a culture that is now part of my life and literally part of my kids. Marie came back to visit Vietnam two years ago and has said since that she could not wait to get us all there. Little did she know that we would make it here this quickly. So as we landed at Ho Chi Minh airport I think we all had some nerves going, in regards to what to expect and how we would feel.
For not the first time on our journey I was pleasantly surprised by this third world airport. It was really nice. Marie’s parents met us at the airport and that was that. We did not have to think about another thing. The hotel, taxi, food, where to shop, where to eat and anything else you can think of was taken care of. Just sit back and relax. And if you haven’t figured it out yet this family's primary way of relaxing is to eat. So off we went for meal number one. Lunch at a place called Quan an Ngon. This is directly across the street from the old South Vietnamese Presidential Palace. At one time it was street stalls selling all kinds of Vietnamese foods. They had a competition to determine the best of each kind of dish and then invited them to come into this restaurant. Now you can go in and order what you want and know it is going to be really good eats. Here are some pics of Quan an Ngon.
These are some of the stalls that are inside the restaurant. Each stall specializes in a dish.
This first dish is shrimp in tamariand sauce with greens.
This dish was really good. It was barbeque beef in a spicy sauce. The best part was the bread. This is a leftover from the old French colonial era. Really good stuff.
Marie and her mom had mung bean and coconut milk with other stuff for desert. The drink part is good but the "other stuff" I can do without. This placed rocked. Ok I can not lie. These pictures were actually taken the second day in Saigon after Marie's dad, bro and sis took off for suba diving down near the Cambodian border. But you get the idea.
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