STREETS Restaurant Cafe @ Hoi An, Vietnam

STREETS Restaurant Cafe is a restaurant created to keep youths off the streets. The youths that are involved in the program are considered disadvantaged, orphaned or vulnerable. STREETS is an 18-month comprehensive program where youths are taught by top culinary professional from around the world. I love the overall concept of the restaurant.
Upon walking in to the restaurant we were seated down and provided with menus, and there was a friendly vice. The overall service at STREETS was exceptional. We also had an interesting scenario with the owner, who had recognised us from seeing us earlier in the day bike riding to the beach. Scary that he actually remembered us, but he was nice about it.

Sesame twirl with satay sauce

 Woo hoo complementary dish. Way too addicting. Could not stop snacking on it.

Pork with quail eggs

It is a Vietnamese dish known as 'thit kho' which is when meat (usually pork) is braised over a few hours so that it becomes nice and tender.Served in a clay pot, the pork had a lovely saltiness to it and the eggs mixed with the marinade was delectable.

Green Mango salad

A bit of a twist on the usual Thai styled green mango salad. It had a bit more sweetness due to the dressing used (known as nuoc mam), but what I really enjoyed was the prawn chips on the side. Placing a bit of the salad on the prawn resulted in a great crunch and tasty twist.

Cao Lau Hoi An

Similar to the one at Morning Glory the only difference was that this dish was saucier. The meat was juicier than Morning Glory, and the warm sauce made the dish nicer. 

Grilled eggplant and tofu

This dish was a lot better than the one at Morning Glory. I think it was due to the fact that it was grilled eggplant and not smoked. It was soft and tasted beautiful. Eggplant only tastes good when cooked properly and this was done extremely well.

Bread and butter pudding

One of the best bread and butter puddings I have tried. It was not at all oily, and was dense. There was warm passion fruit sauce that was eaten with the pudding, this was my favourite of the 3 desserts.

Ice cream with passion fruit sauce and pineapple

This was a standard dessert, which was perfect for another hot night. The use of pineapple in dishes across Vietnam is prominent in the spring/summer season when they are at there peak.

Coffee Creme Caramel

Definitely one for the coffee lovers, which unfortunately is not me. It had a very prominent coffee taste, which was still nice for me, but it became a bit overpowering. The texture of the creme caramel was smooth. The overall dessert was good even for a non-coffee lover, but for a lover of coffee this dessert may have been the best of the 3.

Good food, good times!

Morning Glory @ Hoi An, Vietnam

As my Twitter followers and Facebook friends know, I recently went on a holiday to Vietnam. It has been 19 years since all the kids (4 of us) of the family have been to Vietnam at the same time, so it was a wonderful and memorable holiday. My next few blog posts will be about my various restaurant dining experiences in the homeland, which made me realise the power and my love of food. 

Morning glory, is a popular restaurant in the heart of the Hoi An city centre. Morning glory is the English word for a famous Vietnamese vegetable known as Rau Muong. The owner of the restaurant goes by Ms Tring Diem Vy who is internationally renowned. From her Hoi An Restaurants website she was the first restaurant to cater for foreign tourists who visit Hoi An, by creating a menu filled with the local street foods and family recipes so visitors could experience Vietnamese specialities in comfort (i.e. a lot of tourists fear street food due to the stomach issues that may arise).

Left: Cham Island Sunet - pinapple & orange juice, line juice, grenadine, soda water.

Right: China Beach Sunset - pineapple, water melon juice, orange juice, strawberry syrup

Let's start with the drinks, both were non alcoholic and very refreshing. It was a perfect way to start the meal considering it was a warm night. All the juice was made from fresh fruit which made it that much better.

Banh Uot Thit Nuong: Barbecued Pork with Rice Paper

The barbecued pork is famous on the streets on Hoi An, being able to smell it everywhere you walk in the city centre. This dish came with the barbecued pork, rice paper, cucumber, green mango and fresh herbs. Same concept as other rice paper rolls you place all the ingredients on the rice paper, wrap it and dip in the designed sauce. The slight difference is that it comes with two types of rice paper, one wet and one dried. The dried sheet goes on the outside which allows it to be easier to roll and provides are nice  crunch.

 Cao Lau Hoi An

A famous Hoi An dish composed of cao lau noodles, marinated pork, croutons, fresh herbs and a subtle broth. This was one of my favourite dishes, it was like eating a warm salad. The noodles have more bite compared to rice noodles, but are similar thickness to chow mien noodles. The pork was soft and easy to bite, there was also bean shoots which added extra crunch. A very easy and safe dish to eat.

Banh Xeo

This is another famous dish of Hoi An, and is well known as a crispy savoury pancake. In this case you were to wrap some of the banh xeo in lettuce, and dip in sauce of your own choosing. It wasn't as oily as other banh xeo I have tasted.

 Prawn Curry

A subtle curry which I am very glad for, since it was warm night, we didn't want anything too spicy. The curry was composed of potato, broccoli and other vegetables, and came with a side of fresh bread that is baked by a co-business called Cargo Club.

 Ga Nuong La Chanh: BBQ Chicken with lime

Given the title of the dish, you can safely assume there wasn't anything flashy about it. Lime leaves were used to provide the flavour of the dish, not freshly squeezed lime juice. The little side of salad added freshness to the dish.

Smoky eggplant with minced pork

I was hoping this dish would be similar to an eggplant dish that is served at Chef's gallery, but unfortunately it wasn't. Smoked eggplant has a strange taste, can't quite describe it, but I didn't like it. I was constantly trying the dish in hope I could get used to the taste, that didn't work. 

Pork Belly with 5 spices and caramel sauce.

A popular dish on the menu of Morning Glory, and I agree. Slow-cooked pork is always tasty. The meat and the fat on the meat was soft and broke a part very nicely. The caramel sauce had a slight stickiness to it, in which the flavour just stayed on your lips, delightful!

Profiterole with chocolate sauce

My favourite of the dessert options, the custard was delectable, and for Vietnam standards, the chocolate sauce was pretty good.

Waffle

Looks can be deceiving, and this was the case. The waffle was rather dry, and the cream was hard. The ice-cream was good though, but its hard to come across bad ice cream.

Creme Caramel

Creme Caramel with ice, definitely a new experience. Creme caramel is every in Hoi An, a slight obsession of the locals and tourists. Personally, I am not the biggest fan of creme caramel, so to me this was an okay dessert.

Good food, good times!