Apart from the number of tailors there, Hoi An also boasts a large variety of food, a large proportion of which is unique to the area itself. We tried out the food there and the Chinese influence is apparent.
One of the best places in Hoi An for food is this little restaurant tucked in a corner of the town called Truc Vien. It is probably the best eating establishment in town in terms of taste, price, ambience and service, which is almost all the possible criteria to rate an eating place with and it is definitely one of the best places I have eaten at in Vietnam so far. We went there for three meals in total during our 2 day stay there, one breakfast, one lunch and one dinner. Lonely Planet also recommends this place and I have to say that it is spot on.
Truc Vien is the first place I have been to in Vietnam where the food is done with a lot of heart. I don’t know how to describe it exactly but it is the sense that the person who cooks the food (a grandmotherly elderly Vienamese lady) actually cares about how the food is prepared and whether the person who consumes the food actually enjoys it.
The ingredients are fresh and the servings are generous. Pho came with an additional plate stacked with vegetables like onions, bean sprouts and mint, on top of the plate of pickled ginger that accompanied it. The soup base for pho is not MSG-laden as drinking the whole bowl of soup does not make us reach for the nearest glass of water, but rather tasty and clear. The fried wantons come with piles of vegetables stacked on top, and they are freshly prepared and fried with new oil. The fruit shakes are sweeeeet and sell for only 10,000 dong each.
Service was excellent. The middle-aged man who served us remembered our faces and asked about our plans in Hoi An. Every meal ended with freshly-brewed hot tea being served to us; they are so nice I couldn’t bear to leave my tea half-finished even though I am already stuffed with food.
The prices are great too. Pho went for 20,000 for a large bowl (20,000 is street food price!) and the shakes are mentioned earlier go for 10,000 (it usually sells for 20,000 at restaurants). There are options to increase the size of the portions too, so the differing stomach capacities of diners travellers are met.
It is a pity that the shop is located at a rather secluded corner of town, instead of the central area. There is less human traffic and hence less customers, which a place of this quality certainly does not deserve. Travellers visiting Hoi An should make it a point to visit this charming eatery which serves delicious and immensely affordable food. I am shamelessly plugging this place because it really deserves more business.
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The Cargo Club is a great place for chilling out and enjoying pastries at cheap prices. I have tried the coconut crispie, caramel tart, soya bread, chocolate baguette, french baguette, brownie and to top it all off the brownies on rocks dessert where a brownie is flanked by scopes of vanilla and caramel ice cream and covered in caramel sauce. The caramel tart is soooo sinful as the entire centre of the tart is filled with caramel sauce lathered on top of assorted nuts.
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As already mentioned earlier, the Chinese influence on the food here is very strong. We had com ga for about 20,000 dong, which is essentially chicken rice done differently from the way it is done in Singapore. The rice is less fragrant but the chicken is more flavourful. Heaps of onions, lime and herbs are dumped on top of the rice. There is a noodle dish called mi hiang too, which is done dry with a savoury broth and comprises noodles that taste and look like a mix between lor mee noodles and mee pok noodles, slices of pork, pork lard, bean sprouts and onions. We saw bao selling by the riverside but did not try any. I will try them in HCMC later.
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There is a family clan house along the streets of Hoi An which we happened to chance upon during one of our nights there. The elderly gentleman who happened to be the fifth generation to live that house invited us in, and he asked where we were from. We told him we are Singaporeans and he asked for our dialect group. He than spoke to us in fluent Chinese. We were quite surprised to meet someone who can speak Chinese so well in Vietnam. Apparently his family settled here in Hoi An about 100 years ago, and the current family house is 108 years old.
The house is filled with ancient ceramics dating back to the Soon Dynasty (as we later found out when we asked the man about the origins of the ceramics) and black-and-white framed photos of ancestors. I asked him if there are many Chinese still living in Hoi An and he replied that most of them have moved to America, France and China. It is sad to notice that he is probably the last person to live in the house; I wonder what will happen to the wonderful collection of ceramics once he is gone (bu mai, he said when I asked him if they are on sale, because I am sure they will fetch good prices).
The man gave us as a gift three copies of a commemorative book detailing the history of Chinese in Hoi An as well as documenting the history of the Chinese resistance movement against the Japanese during the Second World War. It was nice to meet someone who knows our language and share the same cultural background as us in the middle of a strange new foreign place.
