Rough Guide to Vietnam - Jan Dodd [30]
With its diverse climate, Vietnam is blessed with both tropical and temperate fruits, including dozens of banana species. The richest orchards are in the south, where pineapple, coconut, papaya, mango, longan and mangosteen flourish. Da Lat is famous for its strawberries, while the region around Nha Trang produces the peculiar “dragon fruit” (thanh long). The size and shape of a small pineapple, the dragon fruit has a mauvish-pink skin, studded with small protuberances, and smooth, white flesh speckled with tiny black seeds. The slightly sweet, watery flesh is thirst-quenching, and so is often served as a drink, crushed with ice.
A fruit that is definitely an acquired taste is the durian, a spiky, yellow-green football-sized fruit with an unmistakably pungent odour reminiscent of mature cheese and caramel, but tasting like an onion-laced custard. Jackfruit looks worryingly similar to durian but is generally larger and has smaller spikes. Its yellow segments of flesh are deliciously sweet.
Eating and drinking |
Drinks
Giai khat means “quench your thirst” and you’ll see the signs everywhere, on stands selling fresh juices, bottled cold drinks or outside cafés and bia hoi (draught beer) outlets. Many drinks are served with ice: tempting though it may be, the only really safe policy is to avoid ice altogether – dung bo da, cam on (“no ice, thanks”) should do the trick. That said, ice in the top hotels, bars and restaurants is generally reliable, and some people take the risk in far dodgier establishments with apparent impunity.
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Eating and drinking | Drinks |
A traditional tipple
While beer and imported spirits are drunk throughout Vietnam, the traditional tipple is ruou can, or rice-distilled liquor. Until recently, ruou can was regarded as decidedly downmarket, the preserve of labourers, farmers and ethnic minorities. Nowadays, however, it’s becoming popular among the middle class and especially young urban sophisticates – including a growing number of women – as city-centre bars and restaurants begin to offer better quality ruou can.
Recipes for ruou can are a closely guarded secret, but its basic constituents are regular or glutinous rice, the latter of which is said to be more aromatic and have a fuller, smoother taste. Selected herbs and fruits can then be steeped in the liquor to give it further flavour, not to mention all sorts of medicinal and health benefits. You’ll also see jars containing snakes, geckos and even whole crows. Traditionally, the basic ingredients are heated together and buried in the ground for a month or more to ferment. Nowadays, more modern – and hygienic – techniques are used to produce ruou can for general consumption. Look out for the high-quality rice-distilled liquors marketed under the Son Tinh brand (www.sontinh.com).
The ethnic minorities of the northwest (Thai and Muong) concoct their own home-distilled ruou can, sometimes known as stem alcohol. Visitors are often invited to gather round the communal jar to drink the liquor through thin, bamboo straws. In more traditional villages it’s regarded as a sacred ritual, which it would be an insult to refuse. Chuc suc khoe (Your health)! Or, for more serious drinking sessions, Tram phan tram (down in one)!
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Eating and drinking | Drinks |
Water and soft drinks
Bottled water is widely available at around 7000đ for a large bottle (1.5 litres); avoid any other water, and even drinks that may have been diluted with suspect water (see "What about the water?" for more on this).
Locally made soft drinks are tooth-numbingly sweet, but are cheap and safe – as long as the bottle or carton appears well sealed – and on sale just about