VIETNAM REVISTED

For a couple of decades, food lovers here have learned to appreciate a delightful bowl of pho bathed in an exquisitely flavorful broth topped with rare beef slices and a healthy helping of fresh herbs. Arguably it is one tasty quick meal that beats a greasy hamburger. You can find Vietnamese restaurants everywhere from Orange Country California to suburban Virginia, San Francisco, Boston and Miami. Thankfully, we now have a much greater variety of fine Vietnamese dishes and regional variations to tantalize and please all our senses. Grilled shrimp puree on sugar cane, salt and pepper crabs, seared Mekong Basa fish and shaky beef, just to name a few popular dishes. The phenomenal success of chefs such as Khai Duong of Ana Mandara and Charles Phan of The Slanted Door is testimony to how this cuisine has reached great heights.

Cedric Tovar, Executive Chef of Peacock Alley, The Waldorf Astoria Hotel

Numerous celebrity chefs around the world, including Anthony Bourdain pick Vietnamese cuisine as one of their favorites. He has his own favorite local restaurants which are off the beaten path. That is why New Asian Cuisine launched a tour to Asia with Vietnam as a key destination earlier this year. It was led by distinguished and well-traveled Cedric Tovar, the executive chef of Peacock Alley, the highly acclaimed restaurant at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. This was Cedric’s second visit to the country, returning as an “old hand.” Previously, he was part of a group of chefs touring Vietnam covering Saigon in the South, the Mekong delta region, the coastal cities, Halong Bay and all the way up to Hanoi. “The sights, sounds and smell of an open air market add up to an unforgettable sensual experience,” remarked Cedric, sharing his experience with NAC. Typically, in a “wet” market, you find hawkers peddling their freshly harvested fruits and vegetables, swimming fish and live crabs caught that day, or chickens and pigs that were slaughtered that morning. “It truly is a refreshing contrast to the highly processed, engineered, packaged and often tasteless foods that are available in our temperature-controlled, nutritional-label-obsessed, sterile supermarkets.” When you visit an Asian wet market, usually there is an intoxicating blend of aroma that captivates you. There is the fragrant (or pungent, depending on who you ask) durian, the fresh basil, and all the shellfish and seafood from the local waters that contribute to this medley of smell. Without refrigeration (still not that common in many parts of South East Asia), all items displayed are meant to be sold, and enjoyed, that same day. So they are as fresh as one can get. “It blew my mind away when I saw this young Vietnamese girl, crouching while cleaning the inch-long tiny fish and baby crabs one by one using a spoon.  I love the local produce and seafood in Vietnam a lot,”admitted Cedric, who is partial to seafood. He has essentially turned his NYC restaurant’s menu into a seafood-oriented one. He has also incorporated much of what he’s learned from his Asian travels to his cookery. In his upcoming event at the Culinary Institute of America’s Worlds of Flavor conference in Napa Valley this November, he plans to cook a linguini with clams dish using lemongrass, coconut and curry.
The NAC group spent time in Hanoi and a beautiful coastal city of Hoi An, where tourism has gone through hyperbolic growth from just 5000 tourists a decade ago to now over 1 million visitors a year. It is also home to many swiflets whose precious edible nests harvested from caves are considered the best in quality. Interestingly, many chose this destination not just for the breathtaking scenery, or even the famous silk factory, but for food– including learning more about how fish sauce is made or how to make a fresh rice crepe from scratch, for the favorite “summer roll.” So, if you’re into Asian food, it is worthwhile to consider Vietnam, and enroll in one of the many of the cooking classes offered to tourists.