Saigon Hangover

Back in Manila and I keep thinking...

I should have had one more bowl of pho...
one more plate of fried spring rolls...
one more of the fresh ones...
a couple more glasses of the ca phe...
another serving of the tapioca dessert...
Should have tried that baguette sandwich sooner.
That was hands down the BEST DAMN SANDWICH I've had in my entire life!

OMG.

I want to go back. The food was awesome. I could stay there and eat in the market everyday and I will not complain.

We did try Com Nieu Saigon on our last day upon arrival from the Mekong Delta tour. But I was very surprised to see that the place was nothing like I saw in the show (A Cook's Tour). It seems that from a humble carinderia style resto, they have made enough money to renovate the place and relocate into a two story brick structure with wide open spaces. I was afraid they weren't going to let us in since I told everyone it was a like a carinderia and we all went dressed in shorts and rubber slippers. The place looked really really nice I was almost ashamed to go inside.

So, how was their infamous com nieu, you ask?

Honestly, I expected better. It was like eating old rice scraped from the bottom of the rice cooker. Bourdain said it was crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. Ours was tutong all over. The nuoc mam sauce that topped it was amazing though. The same sauce on their plain (and seriously delicious) rice would have been better. The rice by itself is soft, fragrant and has a taste that uniquely its own. I was going to post video clips of the other dishes we had but I figured I'd save it for the full feature I'm about to edit this weekend. My Com Nieu Saigon dining experience as a whole was truly memorable and I will recommend it to anyone who plans to visit Saigon. I suppose what added to it was the fact that the man who made me want to go to Vietnam was once in that same place. I can see why he fell in love with the country and it's food. I will agree that Vietnamese cuisine is one of the best in the world.

Currently in the process of sorting through (literally) hundreds of video clips and photos and I really want to get it done before (damn) work gets in the way.

Saigon photos part deux, click here.