Crepes And Corks: Nha Hang Ngon and Crab Eating

Before a day of sight seeing in Saigon, our group had lunch at a restaurant called Nha Hang Ngon, walking distance from the Reunification Palace. The restaurant is all outdoors, set up in a garden. The entire circumference of the restaurant is small food stations, each specializing in their specific foods. The menu is extremely extensive and separated into sections by Asian country. Vietnamese food was the most extensive, but Korean, Japanese, Chinese, etc. were all featured. It was a fun way for us to try different foods and see them being prepared in the different sections. Something I have noticed about Vietnamese restaurants is the food comes out right as it is made. Which usually means that everybody is getting their food at varying times throughout the meal. This is nice in some ways since you can be assured the food is fresh and warm, and not sitting under a heat lamp. But it does feel weird to start eating when not all members of the group have gotten their food. It wasn't uncommon for someone to finish their entire dish before the rest of the group had received their food.

Japanese/Sushi Station

Rau Xao Hai San (Stir Fried Vegetables and Seafood)

A dish from a non-Vietnamese section

Pho (Beef Rice Noodle Soup)

Bun Moc (Vermicelli in Soup with Sautéed Pork Balls and Pork Sausage)

Pretty Garden Sitting Area

2nd floor Garden overlook

Traditional Vietnamese Dishes from this particular kitchen

Crab is quite popular here in Vietnam, called Cua in Vietnamese. One evening, we decided it was time to try some local crab at a restaurant a few blocks from our apartment, called Cua 1 Cuang. It is an open air restaurant with seating that extends into the sidewalk, which is not uncommon here. This place in particular caught my eye since on the sidewalk sits shelves of live local crab and other seafood. When ordering crab, you can choose how you want it prepared, then go up to the crab "shelf" and choose which ones you want cooked, and they were still alive and moving. You can rest assured that is as fresh as seafood comes! We got our crab grilled. It was a little bit of work to pick apart the shell to get to all the meat but it was definitely worth it.