Leaving Saigon for street food in Nha Trang

… plus fun in the mud

What could be better than a surprise 4-day trip to Nha Trang?

Last Wednesday evening at 10 p.m., Hai announced to me that he was closing his restaurant “tomorrow”!  We would be joining his family for a 4-day trip to Nha Trang.  The plan was for all interested family members to rendezvous in front of his restaurant at 3 am the following morning, board a family-chartered bus and head out on a quickly-organized family vacation.

I resisted.  I need more time to prepare, to plan, to pack! 

OK … thirty minutes later I had stuffed my backpack with my bathing suit, sun lotion, a few T-shirts, iPad and toiletries – I’m ready, LET’S GO! 

Two hours sleep later at 2 a.m, the alarm went off, we called Mai Linh taxi to take us across town to Hai’s restaurant and were ready to board the family bus at 3 a.m. sharp, as directed.

The rest of Hai’s family members (only 21 of them had decided to join the trip) gradually arrived at the meeting point, one-by-one, over the next 90 minutes.  (This was to be a clue about things to come over the next 4 days concerning the logistics of moving 21 family members from point to point.)

Actually, one of the more memorable moments of the trip occurred even before we left Saigon.

During the 90-minutes wait for all of the other family members to arrive, Hai and I decided to find some street food for breakfast.  (We had left the motorbike back at our apartment, but a family bicycle was available at Hai’s restaurant.) Hai peddled, I jumped on the back, and we (he) peddled through the dark streets of Binh Thanh district looking for a place to eat at 3:30 am.  We never did find an open place.  But, exploring deserted Saigon streets at the wee hours by bicycle was a magical experience.  It was the first time in 5 years I felt we had Saigon streets completely to ourselves! No doubt the few individuals working on the dark streets at that hour rubbed their eyes to clarify they has just seen an ông tây (old white guy) being peddled through the small alleys of Bình Thạnh district a 3:30 am!

Finally, at 4:30 a.m., we pulled away from the curb and began our all-day bus journey to Nha Trang … via Dalat!  Who planned this trip??

It turned out that our first travel day would include a visit to the Phương Liên Tịnh Xứ Buddhist temple outside the southern highlands town of Dalat.

Hai’s family’s has a long-standing tradition of annual pilgrimages to this site to relax in its beautiful natural surrounding, give their thanks and prayers to Buddha (including donations), and enjoy some excellent vegetarian food prepared by the local monks.

After several peaceful hours enjoying the temple grounds, we resumed our family road tour to Nha Trang.

Both between Saigon/Dalat and Dalat/Nha Trang, our route took us through some amazingly beautiful natural geography, past dense forests and beautiful small mountain ranges. The densely forested hills before the town of Bao Loc, and later near Chu Yang Sinh National Park were wonderfully unpopulated and lush. (Now I want to do some research to find out how accessible these natural areas might be for future visits.)

We finally arrived at our destination Nha Trang hotel at 10 p.m., assessed our room choices, negotiated roommate arrangements, and rushed a welcome shower before beginning our hunt for Nha Trang street food!

It didn’t take long to stumble upon what would turn out to be one of our top 3 street food discoveries in Nha Trang.

Bánh Căn

Bánh căn are small rice cakes cooked in clay dishes over a pot of hot coals.

Bánh căn is all about texture! A crispy, crunchy rice exterior shell.  A smooth creamy rice-paste interior.  And, in the middle of our small cakes was a layer fluffy, whipped quail egg.

The rice cakes themselves were an absolutely wonderful biting and chewing experience – but surprisingly had little-to-no flavor!  That’s where the sauces came in!

We got to mix our own bánh căn dipping sauce, blending mắm nêm (salty fermented watery purple-colored sauce), nước mắm (fish sauce), chopped green onions, and ground red chili.  Very very yummy.

 

As a bonus, the elderly woman also served up a small bowl of ground pork meat balls (xiú mại) to supplement our late night bánh căn snack.

Cooking and serving bánh căn at this site for over 10 years, this sweet elderly woman can be found sitting on her stool, hunched over her simmering tray of bánh căn:

Bánh Căn
At the corner of the small alley, just to the left of
21 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai
Nha Trang
OPEN: 5pm – late

Bún Cá

Our second Nha Trang street food find – and absolutely delicious – was bún cá at Bún Cá Năm Beo.

A locally-famous Nha Trang noodle dish, this dish was the eating highlight of our visit.

The dish was chuck-full of fish! Throughout the noodle dish were quantities of chả cá (ground fish paddies) prepared 3 different ways – steamed, deep fried, and bbq’d.

Then, there was the transparent, crunchy sứa (spotted jelly-fish) hiding among the noodles.  And finally, several very nice-size chunks of a firm, meaty ocean fish – perhaps cá thu (mackeral), but couldn’t get a clear answer on that?? Spiced up with a squeeze of lime, a cautiously applied dash of mắm tôm (fermented shrimp paste sauce), and some ground chili paste, bún cá was another real Nha Trang street food treat.

Bún Cá Năm Beo
B2 Phan Boi Chau Street
Nha Trang
OPEN: 6 am – late

Nha Trang Seafood

Finally, our third great Nha Trang street food find was  Xuân Anh street food restaurant.  (Sorry, no food photos here.  I didn’t break out my camera that night, since I was eating together with many of Hai’s family members and wanted to take a night off from “my job” – eating and shooting.)

But, please trust me when I say, I can’t imagine you’ll find fresher or better-prepared Nha Trang seafood then at Xuân Anh.

The tables and plastic chairs were small, the street was crowded, and at peak dinner hour, chaos reigned.  But the food was amazing delicious!  Stuffed bbq’d squid, bbq clams buried in crushed peanuts and herbs, crab, toasted oysters with cheese (the cheese was a strange, but yummy surprise), shrimp in tamarind.  We ordered rice just to have an excuse to soak up the delicious tamarind sauce!

The specialty dipping sauce here was thick, sweet, spicy and scrumptious.

We ordered up a bánh đá (crispy rice cracker) from a strolling street food vendor and continued to dip away until all the sauce bowls on the table hit bottom!

And the price for 8 aggressive seafood eaters – $1 million vnd ($50 usd – just $6/person).

From Nha Trang tourist-central, head north on Trần Phú street. Just over the Trần Phú bridge, take a left turn and look for Cù Lao Trung street.  A highly rewarding Nha Trang street food adventure!

Xuân Anh
9C Cù Lao Trung street (Tháp Bà), Vinh Tho
Nha Trang
0906498059

Mud & More 

Of course, during our 2 full days in Nha Trang, before our journey back to Saigon on Sunday, we enjoyed more of Nha Trang than just great street food.

Tháp Bà Hot Spring provided a full afternoon of swimming, soaking, mudding (is that a word?) and lounging enjoyment for all 21 of us!

A bit crowded and crazy on a summer Saturday afternoon, perhaps it’s best to visit here on a weekday afternoon or off-season.  But still, the mineral mud baths were slick, gritty and fun.  (Try to imagine 21 bodies of every size, shape and age writhing in a vast pool of slick mud – wrestling, laughing and generally frolicking together.)  And the non-stop water plunges in the pools, jacuzzis and under the waterfall were a blast.  At 100,000 vnd per person, it was both a good deal and an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon at a giant water spa facility.

Of course, the Disneyland-wanna-be of Vietnam, Vinpearl land, newly constructed on an island in the Nha Trang Bay, is an almost obligatory stop for any Nha Trang visitor.  Roller coasters, bumper cars, video arcades, water parks, restaurants, beautiful imported-sand beaches, and more, it can provide yet another full day of family entertainment.

The food at Vinpearl land was overpriced and pathetic.  The arcade and amusement rides are of interest primarily to children and adolescents.

But, if you bring your own food (or are content to choke down a 3rd-rate deep fried meal), and decide (as Hai and I did) to spend most of the day at the water park and beach, the 450,000 vnd entry fee (including a boat ride to the island and a scenic tram ride back) can turn out to be a really fun way to spend one of your Nha Trang tourist days.

A wonderful surprise 4-day Nha Trang get away.  Very Exhausting – Very Fun!

And then, the 12-hour busride back to Saigon.  Trời ơi!

My new mission – find some excellent  Bánh Căn and Bún Cá here on the streets of Saigon. 🙂

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