李明熙、Kimberlogic:越南滋味

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越式飲食/李明熙

在越南每天至少喝三杯咖啡,早午晚餐各一杯。冰的、熱的、加奶或齋啡,都一一嚐過。不怕越南咖啡太濃睡不著,只怕太甜,因為他們以煉奶代替糖。每杯份量只有兩至三口,但煉奶跟咖啡的比例卻是一比二,甚至一比一。有的店會給你滴漏,讓你先有視覺的享受。若點冰的,亦附上幾塊冰塊,等滴漏完畢自己再加冰;有的店會加冰後才遞給你。

左:Iced Coffee with Milk;右:Iced Milk Coffee
左:Iced Coffee with Milk;右:Iced Milk Coffee

天氣炎熱,一般我都會點冰的奶咖啡。在峴港火車站對面的 Cafe Wind,英文飲品單上寫著 Iced Milk Coffee 和 Iced Coffee with Milk 兩款,我跟Kim滿臉疑惑和好奇,各點一杯。咖啡加冰後才上桌,Iced Milk Coffee跟之前說的一樣,加煉奶加冰塊;而Iced Coffee with Milk則沒有煉奶,在齋啡上加奶泡再加刨冰。兩杯味道天淵之別,前者甜後者濃。我倆愛前者,認為有煉奶才有越南風味。記住越南名 ca phe sua da,不再點錯。

除了嘆咖啡,亦很想吃一碗正宗生牛河。知道牛肉是 bo,河粉是 pho,但點了幾次,來的都是熟牛河,唯有放棄。知道會安古鎮出名的是 mi quang 雜錦麵,據說秘密在於其井水,才做出口感一流的麵條。但會安古鎮是遊客重鎮,高價餐廳定價比香港還貴,會安街市內的食檔價錢雖然合理,但感覺還是非常商業化。

因為下雨,我們誤打誤撞在「日本橋」頭的一個街檔避雨坐下,少女店主獨沽一味只賣mi quang。我看她熟練的煮麵手法,再看看滿座的檔口,就知道自己走運了。mi quang本是街頭小食,蹲在街頭吃才最正宗不過。

Dine in a Vietnamese Way/Kimberlogic

Growing up in the USA, I didn’t quite know what to expect when traveling to Vietnam. As a student, all I heard about was the war and the jungles, nothing about the culture. So, when I found myself leaving the Da Nang airport on foot, I was in for a number of surprises. It was about a 2 hour walk from the airport to the hotel in the blazing hot sun. Although each café we passed had a few patrons, I couldn’t quite tell what they were eating or drinking, but I was excited to try for myself. Finally, when the heat and the traffic took its toll on me, we found a restaurant to have lunch before the last leg of the journey. The food wasn’t as tasty as I thought it would be. Just before coming to Vietnam, many people told me how wonderful the food was, but if this was what they called wonderful I felt I was going to struggle to eat for the next few days.

Later that evening, we jumped into a taxi to head to downtown Da Nang, and it started dumping rain. We began wandering the streets of downtown in the cold rain with empty stomachs. Finally, when we couldn’t take it any longer, we found a restaurant that was full of people. Seeing the crowd as a good sign, we were sure to get a proper, tasty meal. It turned out that we actually crashed a birthday party and our dinner was even worse than our lunch. Our spirits started to sink along with our desire to keep eating, so we went back to the hotel to get a good night’s sleep.

The next day, we were to take a train to Hue. Arriving early at the train station, we decided to try a café across the street for a proper Vietnamese coffee. The coffees were so good, our hunger to find great Vietnamese food was restored. After drinking 2 coffees each, we ordered a plate of “Banh Hoi” to share. After the first bite, we knew that we had to put yesterday in the past and continue trying everything we could. After that meal, we never had a dish that wasn’t extremely tasty and very unique.

10_One million dong amazing seafood dinner

Each meal was so fresh and bursting with flavour, the fresh vegetables and mint served with each dish probably had something to do with it. After eating our way through central Vietnam, we ended our trip with an amazing seafood dinner. We happened to pass by a local place called “Quan Be Man” that was overflowing with customers. When we walked in, a waiter told me to sit and motioned for Ming Hay to follow him. While away, Ming Hay chose fresh, live seafood; how he wanted it cooked, grilled, steamed or sautéed; and what sauces to go with each dish. We ate like royalty that night, it was an exquisite meal, but the atmosphere and the experience are what made it so memorable. And it cost only 1 million dong (HKD350).

※ 此欄文章為作者觀點,不代表本網立場。 ※

我們沒分東方或西方思想,只想以雜碎的遊歷去建立自己的世界觀和價值觀。We are neither eastern nor western mind. We just want to establish our worldview and values through traveling. 【李明熙】 曾用七個月時間從柏林踏單車回港,又不自量力參加蒙古越野單車賽。現從事影像製作、旅遊、教育等,自我催眠周身刀。著有「陌路回家」、「單車遊牧」及「良業遊民」。 【Kimberlogic】 An American who resides on the small island of Peng Chau, in Hong Kong, has a passion for traveling, partaking in local food and drink, different cultures and customs and watching people react to the world around them.

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