Eating Saigon! in Northern California

Home-Chef Hai takes northern California by storm!

In recent months, readers of Eating Saigon! may have noticed a bit of a lapse in our postings of Saigon eating adventures – and perhaps wondered why?

Well, the truth is we’ve continued to eat amazing Saigon street foods – we’re just doing that on the other side of the planet … let me explain.

Hai and I have spent much of 2015 enjoying life at our home in northern California. There, for the past several months, Hai partnered with a small start-up food company, Josephine.com in order to introduce authentic Vietnamese foods to our neighbors and friends in Berkeley, Oakland, and Emeryville, California.

Hai’s partnering with Josehine.com

Several times each week, Hai spent his days shopping in local Vietnamese neighborhoods. He sought out authentic Vietnamese ingredients, including many imported from Vietnam, and  Vietnamese herbs, home-grown by local Vietnamese neighbors.  In our small kitchen, he shred and pickled vegetables; marinated meats; created magic (and pungent) sauces; ran the rice cookers in overdrive; and created truly unique, authentic, and delicious Vietnamese dishes for dozens of our neighbors.

They’d come to our home to pick up their meals, visit with Hai and I in our kitchen, learn a bit more about Vietnamese cuisine, and take home the evenings yummy treats to their families. And, they loved it! It was a truly fun culinary and community adventure for both Hai and I.

You can actually read a bit about Hai’s California cooking adventure and all of the amazing dishes he created for our neighbors at https://josephine.com/cooks/hai .

We’re now on our way back to Saigon, arriving in just a few more days. We’ll be jumping back on our motorbike in search of more hidden street food treasures – and revisiting our old favorites on Saigon’s streets and alleys as well. And, of course as always, sharing those new eating adventures here.

But, before we do that, we thought it would be fun to share some of the dishes that have now made Hai a household word, and now missed, in our northern California neighborhood.

See you all again … back in Saigon!