reported: "If you're a bit overweight, you may be interested in taking a close look at the menu's detailed information on each dish?fs calorie count and vitamin content.
"'I like Australian beefsteak with chips, but I had to say no when I discovered the dish's calorie count was 560," said Tran Thanh Nguyen, a recent guest at the restaurant.
"Nguyen chose a rice soup called pineapple leaf and crab rice soup because 'the charming waitress advised me to buy the dish, and with only 280 calories, it's suitable for my diet.'
"Cooked with pineapple leaves, the sweet-smelling soup costs VND12,000 (less than US$1).
"Nguyen says the dish made her feel as if she had 'a sweet sensation in the chest,' a good choice for summer's hot temperatures.
f r i e n d l y + p h o
YES, HO CHI MINH CITY IS ONE OF THE BEST PLACES IN THE WORLD TO LOOK FOR WHAT I LIKE TO CALL EXOTIC MEATS -- I AM TALKING OF COURSE ABOUT SUCH SUCCULENT FLESHTYPES AS DOG, CAT, RAT OR BAT. All of these animals are eaten in Vietnam and have their fans among all strata of society. Now I know a lot of folks out there find the consumption of exotic meats strange and obscene. Some people in the West (and also some people in the East) are passionately opposed to the eating of some animals, particularly dogs and cats. I don't want to get into any fights about this issue, it's not worth the aggravation. I just think that travelling should be about opening your mind, and if you want your mind opened, Ho Chi Minh City will split open wider and faster than any other city on Earth. It is good to challenge yourself and exercise your morals a little sometimes. You should take a leaf out of the book of this guy, fellow Aussie, who while travelling in Vietnam was game enough to try the local delicacies:
On a more serious note, Ho Chi Minh City is also one of the world leaders in the cosumption of wildlife meat. The Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA) wrote in 2003: "The total estimated volume of live and wildlife meat in and out of Vietnam is about 3,050 tonnes per year, of which about half was for domestic consumption. Trade in wildlife meat accounts for 80% of the total and this is concentrated in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City. The total revenue and profit from illegal wildlife trade in Vietnam are estimated at USD 66.5 million and USD 21 million per year, respectively. In the study sites alone, the estimated total profit is eight times the expenditure on monitoring and enforcing. In the entire country, the estimated total profit is 31 times higher than such expenditures (USD 634,000 to USD 700,000); more than three times the total budget of Forest Protection Department staff (about USD 6.5 million), and four times the total fines collected (USD 5.5 million) per year. The estimated total revenue from illegal trade (USD 66.5 million) is 12 times the total revenue from legal wildlife trade (USD 5.2 million) per year. The study estimated that the average value of official confiscated live wildlife and wildlife meat from 1997 to 2002 accounted for only 3.1% of the total value of illegal wildlife trade per year.
"The main domestic sources of wildlife species in Vietnam are protected areas. The main international sources are Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar. Both sources travel along Road 1A to Ha Noi, and Ho Chi Minh City markets. From Ha Noi, wildlife species travel out to China through Mong Cai-Quang Ninh, and Lang Son...
"The most popular species are snake, turtle, bear, bird, pangolins, and monitor lizard."
Wildlife or partial wildlife meat restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City are mostly concentrated on Phan Viet Chanh Street. The estimated wildlife meat consumed in the city is about 465 kg valued at VND 116 million (USD 7,750) per day. The favored wildlife meats are those of forest deer, forest pig, pangolin, musk deer, palm civet, monitor lizard and muntjak. These are sourced from Laos, Plateau, Cambodia, the Central subsite and the Mekong River Delta. Although Ho Chi Minh City has 37% of the total number of restaurants in the South subsite, the total revenue and profit is about 79%. This is because of the larger scale and higher price in the area.
If you are game (no pun intended!), then here are some of the strange meats you can eat in Ho Chi Minh City, how to get there, and some of the alleged health benefits that these dishes provide:
Luong Son Restaurant: 31 Ly Tu Trong Street.
Said to be a lively and popular place, especially renowned for its barbeques. As well as some more delicious beef barbecue dishes such as Bo Tung Xeo, the restaurant also does a little walk on the exotic meats side. Inside the restaurant are tanks full of live scorpions and snakes.
There is more to the exotic meat market scene in Ho Chi Minh City than wildlife meat. Farmed exotic meat --particularly frog meat -- is really taking off. The interest in frog production in Vietnam is growing by leaps and bounds (once again pardon the pun -- and this time the pun is not mine -- it comes from SUSPER). Frog is a popular food in the country, where it is generally eaten in the form of frog legs and frog soup. It is a healthy meat that is low in cholesterol. As consumer worries over bird flu continue, the demand for frog is expected to rise here and abroad.
Thai frog is a special type of frog introduced from Thailand that is easy-to-grow with minimal costs. The large, brown, bumpy-skinned frog has quickly emerged as an attractive enterprise for farmers.
BLOGGERS CHOICE:
Professional food photographer and exotic meats connoisseur Owen Franken sounds like a man I would love to have by my side on a southeast Asian dining challenge -- on his blog he recounts munching spider and scorpion noodles on a Bangkok street with his 15-month-old daughter (and his daughter allegedly took a liking to the spider and its shrimplike flavor, according to Franken!) One month later both father and daughter dined on roast wild cat in neighbouring Burma! "We think it was lynx," wrote Franken with complete Politically Uncorrect aplomb. "It was too small for snow leopard." And out of habitat, because there are not too many snow leopards in tropical Burma!
When in Vietnam, Franken consumed dog sausage in Hanoi... and had this to say about a mystery exotic meats restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City: "There is also an amazing menagerie restaurant of wild animals outside of Ho Chi Minh City. Cages rather than menus, kind of like going to the zoo for dinner. I remember keeping it simple and having cobra, rather than fruit bat. A large fruit bat, I discovered, has a very cute face, hard to imagine eating it. On the other hand, I love rabbit. I make a mean rabbit with olives, although the best was made for my birthday dinner by the wife of a Tuscan ceramic artist..."
s w e e t + s t u f f
SOME OF THE SWEETEST SELECTIONS IN SAIGON/HO CHI MINH CITY, GOOD PLACES FOR DESERT AND JUICE AND WHATNOT:
Kem Bach Dang: 26-28, Le Loi Street (opp. Russian Market), Dist. 1. Phone: 829 2707.
I am only a beginner at Vietnamese but my guess is that "Kem" in this name means "cream" or "ice cream". I could be wrong though so I don't want to bet a testicle on it! Now this is a good place to go uf you like ice cream and sweet sh=t, but be warned, the prices are not cheap -- arasnosliw in one of his/her articles claimed?@some items on the menu creep towards US$10, which is a ripoff in Vietnam. Nonetheless, I have never been a sweets lover. Arasnosliw is, and he/she said in his/her article: "
by arasnosliwThis is some of the best ice cream in Saigon. There are lots of exotic flavors, making this place an ice cream lover's paradise. Toppings consist of many fresh fruits. This is a long withstanding shop within proximity to Ben Thanh Market. It is always swarming with people, so it is hard to find a table. Service is quick, the staff is efficient.
Au Lac Cafe: 57 Ly Thai To St. Phone: 84-4-825-7807.
Writes Vietnam Tonight: "If a bowl of pho, a rice noodle soup, at a street stall isn't your idea of a perfect breakfast, then start your day at Au Lac Cafe. The cozy French eatery in the courtyard of a large French villa is known for the best coffee in town and is a favorite with both locals and long-term foreign residents. If it is too hot or rainy, walk to Paris Deli (6 Phan Chu Trinh St., 84-4-934-5269), an indoor cafe in another colonial villa that also serves French breakfast favorites such as croissants and baguettes..."
"Coconut ice-cream comes in a young coconut shell topped with strawberries, dragonfruit, raisins and longan. If you are not that adventurous, there is plain and simple choices available."
v e g e t a r i a n + c u i s i n e s
DESPITE BEING A BUDDHIST COUNTRY THERE ISN'T A LOT OF VEGETARIAN FOOD IN VIETNAM -- BUT THERE IS SOME, AND I WANT TO INFORM ABOUT THE BEST PLACES TO GO. Here is the latest selection:
Com Chay Nang Tam: 79 bis Dien Bien Phu, District 1.
One of the new vegetarian eateries in the city, and becoming popular, especially among foreigners. It boasts some classic pieces of vegetarian kitsch on the menu -- fake chicken and beef made from soya, for example. Nonetheless, the food is said to be excellent -- and costing under 40,000 Dong a dish. Grover Reidi wrote in Vietnam News: "The food, like the restaurant, is simple and well-presented... The sweetcorn cakes and snowballs stole the show. The sweet-corn cakes have a creamy flavour and smooth texture, well complimented by the lightly breaded and fried crust. Honestly, when you say sweetcorn I can only think of babyfood puree. But this was definitely adult food, solid but viscous, just sweet enough, with a lasting aftertaste."
Giac Duc: 492 Nguyen Dinh Chau, Dist. 3.
