Hoi An Restaurant in Saigon

Ho Chi Minh City - We walked around Renaissance Riverside Hotel looking for breakfast and came to Bon Sen Hotel cafe.   Bon Sen Hotel is within walking distance from Renaissance Riverside Hotel and opposite Sheraton Hotel.   It was so near - Outside of Renaissance Riverside Hotel, make a left turn and the first junction turn right and walk straight down the road and you will surely reach Bon Sen Hotel.
The breakfast was reasonably priced.

We went to visit a customer and was offer fruits - some rambutans on a plate.  The Rambutans tasted very sweet but it's very small as compared to the ones in Singapore.  The Rambutan skin is very thin.

rambutans on the plate

For dinner, I decided to go to a Vietnamese restaurant called 'Hoi An Vietnamese Restaurant' located @ 11 Le Thanh Ton Street, District 1.     We were directed upstairs and the atmosphere was fine dinning and most of the patrons were foreigners.   The waiter gave me a menu of drinks, which I put aside and asked for the food menu.  He then brought me a set menu and the special set menu of the day started at USD 45++ per person.  So, I asked him again - can you bring me the ala carte menu?  of which he reluctantly brought it for me.   This is a very expensive Vietnamese restaurant and you come here once for the experience.   You need to be really 'street smart' in this restaurant. 

I observed that when you sit down, they will served you the wine menu.  If you are Japanese and European, they will immediately put a bottle of wine on the table.   Next, they will slip you the set menu.  Avoid that as the prices starts at USD 35++ with simple dishes.    On the ala carte menu, stick to the Vietnamese dishes rather than go for BBQ steak or Lobster.  If you ask the waiter, they will always recommend the most expensive dish on the menu.    

They had live traditional Vietnamese performance, which was pleasant to the ears.

Traditional Vietnamese performances

So, I ordered the apetitiser of scallops pancake which is so delicious.

Scallop fried pancakes

The next dish was intricately sculptured by the chef out of carrots and its a vegetable dish of flower buds and beef.  Also another delicious dish - the beef is so tender.

The next dish is rice vermicilli (Tang Hoon) with crab in clay pot. 

Another interesting dish was fish; also tasted good.   It was still cooking over solid fuel keeping the fish steaming hot.

Next dish was pork ribs in Mulberry leaves.  You feel that the Chef has taken extra care to prepare the food with utmost professionalism.

As for desert, I order mango flambe.

Flambe is a french word that means flamed.  Thus it is a cooking proceedure whereby Alcohol is added to the hot pan to create a burst of flames.  The waitress roll out the cart to prepare this desert in front of us with flaming fire.  The result was a nice sweet taste of mango and alcohol.

This is the wine which made the flambee

Raining in Saigon - Ngon Restaurant

Saigon - Arrived at the new Ho Chi Minh Airport.  The last time I was here was with my family in Dec 2010.  The airport was spanking new but the hordes of people waiting at the entrance are still the same.  It was amazing to watch so many people just waiting at the entrance. 

I exchange at HCMC airport which is much cheaper than in Singapore.  In Singapore - I would have exchange for 13,000 dong to SGD 1 but here at the airport it was 16,527 dong.   Beware that the money changers charged SGD2 for transaction fee.   In Vietnam, buyers beware!!

The taxi fare was just 150,000 dong to Renanissance Riverside Saigon Hotel.  

Our lunch was at Pho24 @ Vincom Building.  The menu has much more dishes.  I has Pho Bo (Beef noodles) and fresh spring rolls.   I have been waiting to eat this.  But Lesley had the following which is a mixture of Vietnames dishes.

We went to our customer building and I took some bird eye's view from the Top Floor of the building.  They had an outdoor cafe where we had our meeting.

Later Lesley and I went for our dinner at Ngon Restaurant.  This time I tried a different dish.  

Saigon Special Beer

Kang kong with garlic

 A very simple dish and it was not very tasting.

Ngon Special Fried Rice

Also another dish that is no so tasting.   As we look around we realised that the local Vietnamese were eating fried rice pancakes and so we order one for ourselves.  I think Vietnamese food excel in freshness and not in fried and stir fried food.

Contents of the Fried Rice pancake 

1hr for check-in

Bandung - After breakfast and checking out of Hyatt Regency Bandung - there was a complimentary bus to the airport.   The next trip, Hyatt Regency can arrive for complimentary pick-up.

There was already a long queue forming at the AirAsia baggage drop counter and the reason was the system is slow and intermittenly down.   It took me 1hr in the queue to reach to baggage drop counter.

This is what it feels like to walk on the tarmac to the plane.

Sudanese Food & Bandrek

Bandung - Lesley and I had breakfast at around 8am and half way through out breakfast, Lesley informed that staff that there was a 'fly' in one of the fruits containers.  The manager came and apologize to us and waive the breakfast.   

Lunch was a 10 minutes walk from our appointment.  Sindang Reret restaurant is a Sundanese restaurant.   Sundanese cuisine is very popular with Indonesia, and they originate from West Java, Indonesia.

Sindang Reret Restaurant

Bajigur

Bajigur is a hot and sweet beverage native to the Sundanese people.  The main ingredients are Coconut milk, Aren sugar, ginger salt and vanila powder. 

Bandrek

I had Bandrek which is a traditional Sundanese drink.   I took the first sip and the taste 'hit' me because it has ginger essense and and drink is hot.   The Sundanese people who live on the highlands prefer Bandrek to keep them warm during the night and cold weather.   The ingredients are jahe (ginger), kayu manis (cinnamon), star anise (a common Indonesian spice), cloves, coriandar seeds, lemon grass, gula merah (palm sugar - in Singapore/Malaysia we called in Gula Malacca) and slices of coconut.

Seafood bee hoon

Gurame Goreng (deep fried)

This is the signature dish of Sundanese food.

Soup Butut (Ox Tail)

We also had another dish which Ginseng special vegetable - it is a stir fried dish with prawns, fish dice and ginseng leaf.  

There was a fish tank and the largest predator was this huge arowana fish and it's food was small frogs at the top end of the tank.

Arowana Fish

struggling frogs as food for Arowana fish

Another view

The great thing about staying at Hyatt Regency Bandung is that it's next to the mall - BIP - Bandung Inda Plaza.  I went and watch a movie 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' only Rp20,000 (S$ 3), Singapore will cost S$8.50.  But the quality of the screening was not digital and not so sharp but it's good enough for me and it's in English.   At around 9.30pm, most of the restaurant was closed only  Texas Chicken - so I had a meal there.

My first trip to Bandung - Bancakan restaurant

Bandung - This city is Indonesia's 3rd largest with a population of 7.4m and the capital of West Java province.   Bandung is cooler all year round because of its elevation of 768m (2520 ft) above sea level.  It is so similiar to Bangalore - 3rd largest city in India and located at a higher elevation.

Singapore Airlines and SilkAir does not fly to Bandung so I had to choose AirAsia - flight QZ 7972.   The last time I flew AirAsia was 5 years ago.   It was quite an eye opener for me as flying full-fledged airline - you are pretty much pampered.  AirAsia is a purely budget airline - totally no frills.  There is a self service kiosk to print your boarding pass - someone had to help me as it was my first time trying to figure which barcode for the machine to read.   The boarding pass was printed on a thermal paper.  Then you had to queue up to check-in your luggage and check your passport.  This was done seamlessly and very professional.

The flight was due to depart @ 2.25pm but the plane only arrived at that time.   I pre-ordered a chicken satay for my on board meal but the satay was 'totally out of the world' - in the bad sense.  It tasted awful like eating grass with chicken - they had too much lemon grass in the chicken satay and was not edible.  

Upon arriving, I had to walk from the tarmac to the airport and the queue was very long.  Only 2 immigration officers and I was one of the last to clear the queue.   I picked up my bag - cleared custom, turn left and paid for taxi Rp40,000 to Hyatt Regency Bandung.

The front desk service of Hyatt Regency Bandung was excellent - you had a cold refreshing towel and a welcome drink.   

Hyatt Regency Bandung Elevators

Hotel Lobby

Lobby - infront is the front desk

Taken from my room floor looking down at the Lobby

Our colourful taxi

Bandung famous restaurant - Bancakan

Lesley choosing his dinner

Good Japanese food

Kuala Lumpur - Donny drove Edward and I to Mid-Valley for lunch and as we alight the escalator we came across this Japanese restaurant.  The food is very good and fresh similiar to what I tasted in Tokyo.

Address: Yuzu Japanese Restaurant - 3rd Floor, The Garden, Mid Valley City.
If google 'Yuzu Japanese Restaurant Malaysia' there are many good reviews on this restaurant too..

Donny and his fresh Soba

Edamame (Soya beans) and it's still steaming hot

Ebi Tempura

So fresh Sashimi - it just melt in your mouth

Sashimi - Tuna belly, Yellow tail, Squid and Salmon Belly

End of Mid Autumn Festival

Singapore - Today is the end of the Mid Autumn Festival or Mooncake Festival.   I brought my children downstairs to play with sparklers and laterns.  We had a great time...

Enjoying ourselves

Laterns around the bench

Sparklers show