The previous post in this series on our recent trip through Vietnam (thanks to my winning an incredible sweepstakes from Central Coast Vietnam Tourism on Facebook!), was about the wonderful place we stayed for five nights in Hoi An: the magnificent Nam Hai Resort! It was so special- and the staff was so marvelous- that it truly deserved a post of its own!
We’d been to Hoi An back in 2008 (see my many posts after April 2008), and so we knew that there were Tons of things to do there, and that we were lucky to have 6 days to enjoy it all! Hoi An is an historic UNESCO Heritage Site, and so there are lots of museums, beautiful temples, and the Japanese Bridge to visit. It’s truly a wonderful place to simply wander around and nosh, with 100s of street food stalls, cafes, and pubs on the river, and it’s now lit up with colorful lanterns in the evening, which make it simply beautiful… Since Hoi An is justifiably famous for its great street food, cooking classes, and excellent restaurants, and as Dan is a chef and I am his “foodie”, this was a true highlight of our trip and I’m devoting this post to the “foodie” side of Hoi An!
Basically the first thing we did after we arrived was go into Hoi An to EAT! We first sought out Morning Glory Restaurant, which is owned by Trinh Diem Vy of “Vy’s Market” fame. Morning Glory is as excellent as everyone says it is, and we ate there several times, attempting, in vain, to eat our way through their excellent menu! We signed up for a Cooking Class at “Vy’s Market”, too. Vy is literally the Mario Batali of Hoi An, and Vy’s Market is not only the setting for her excellent cooking classes, it’s a great restaurant of “street food stalls” where you can learn about and try lots of fascinating and yummy things you see around town but may be afraid to try on your own! Naturally we got Vy’s cookbook, which she signed to us, and aprons, too, to add to our growing collection of aprons from cooking classes we’ve taken around the world!! The class, which includes a boat trip to a great market, where you get to learn about and taste lots of things, too, was absolutely excellent. We not only got to learn to cook several dishes, creating ourselves a delicious lunch in the process, but we took home new techniques and recipes that Chef Dan is adding to our menu at the Elkhorn Inn! The last time we were in Hoi An we did an excellent cooking class at the Red Bridge Cooking School, which took us to a farm, and there are several others, as well, that sound excellent and have 5-star reviews. If you’re any kind of a “foodie”, Hoi An is your dream town!
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| Fishing nets… |
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| On the boat ride to the market… |
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| Hoi An, from the river… |
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| Motorbike taxi… |
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| Floating market… |
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| The start of our Market Tour… |
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| Learning about & sampling herbs and green… |
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| Learning about the veggies… |
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| In the Market… |
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| Trying fruits and veggies… (and yes we got wear silly hats, too!) |
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| In the market… |
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| Meat… |
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| Sausages… |
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| Oodles of noodles! |
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| Making dumpling wrappers… |
One of the “foodie” things we love to do when we travel is bring home spices and condiments that are the specialty of wherever we are, so Chef Dan can make his dishes as authentic as possible! So from Hoi An we brought home the special Hoi An Chili Sauce for which the town is famous! It’s shown below surrounded by spices, pepper, chili salt, and sauces we bought in other places around Vietnam!
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| Fish… |
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| Hoi An Chili Sauce, among other spices & condiments we brought home… |
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| FISH! |
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| Snails & crabs… |
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| Seafood… |
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| Hoi An from our boat… |
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| Our boat to the market… |
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| Hoi An… |
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| Fresh fruit drinks at Vy’s Market |
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| Vy’s Market stalls… |
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| Trying all the yummy “street foods”… |
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| Spicy Snails and Lemongrass Frogs Legs! |
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| Yummy and interesting things! |
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| YUM! |
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| Dan gets ready to feed Elisse a spicy snail! |
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| Breads… |
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| Noodles, and fixins’ of Pho |
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| Elisse makes noodles- badly! |
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| Chef Dan shows how it’s done RIGHT! |
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| Grinding rice… |
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| Chef Dan makes rice noodles! |
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| Elisse makes rice noodles! |
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| Banana flower! |
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| Shaved banana flowers for salads… |
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| Steamed Savory Rice Flour Cakes… |
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| Vy’s Cooking Class |
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| Chef Dan rolls a dumpling in a cabbage leaf… |
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| Elisse’s dumpling, tied with a scallion! |
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| Miss Vy checks our cooking… |
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| Chef Dan! |
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| Ready to roll, dip, and eat! |
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| Chef Dan with his masterpiece! |
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| Elisse carves a mango… |
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| Chef Dan expertly slivers a mango! |
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| Our cooking class lunch entree: YUM! |
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| Learning about herbs in the market… |
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| In the market… |
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| Fruits… |
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| “White Rose” Dumplings |
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| Our soup, with shrimp-pork dumplings! |
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| Vy shows how to make the dumpling filling… |
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| And what it’s supposed to look like after being poached! |
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| “Fresh Beer” and local hooch! 🙂 |
“Fresh Beer” is a specialty of Hoi An, and we had to try it- as well as the local spirit! Throughout Vietnam I always look for the local wines and specialty liqueurs on the menu- and almost every place has at least one! On our last trip to Vietnam we ‘discovered’ Dalat Wine, and I found a local liqueur in Quin Yan that way, and ever since then I’ve kept my eye out!
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| Adorable, yes?! |
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| Hoi An at night… |
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| Another fun place we stopped for drinks and a small bite… |
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| A delish dinner at Morning Glory… |
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| At a Hoi An Temple… |
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| At a temple in Hoi An… |
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| Hoi An Temple |
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| GAM- a lovely art gallery/cafe we stopped at for an ice coffee… |
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| In a museum in Hoi An… |
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| A “memory boat” on the river in Hoi An… |
Hoi An is also world-famous for it’s speedy, inexpensive, and very good tailors, and with 6 days (and thus time to have several fittings…), we Had to get some clothes made! After making the rounds of tailors throughout the city and looking at fabrics, styles, and samples of various garments, we decided to go to one of the most highly recommended ones in Hoi An, Yaly Couture. While more expensive than many of the tailors in Hoi An, their selection of fabrics was much better, their tailoring was finer, and they had a huge selection of styles. We stopped in several times over the course of our 6 days for fittings, and their service was great, too; they delivered our finished garments to the Nam Hai! Dan had a cashmere-wool suit and a shirt made, and I got a silk Ao Dai; the Ao Dai is the classic and elegant traditional Vietnamese outfit of a long, side-slit tunic and pants, and it is probably The most flattering outfit on the planet! I also had a casual maxi dress made when I found a fabric I loved… The total cost for everything we had made was $245, which is pretty darned good! (They have our current measurements on file now, too, so if we ever win Lotto and want a wardrobe made and sent to us…)
My next post will be about the Adventure Tours we took- Wet Rice Farming with Water Buffalo, and Fishing!
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