Ben Ninh Kieu offers ambience of a south
Dishes to try: Banh trang, banh xeo, lau cu lao
No time to fly down to a Mekong Delta?Step into this new grill in Hai Ba Trung District, that serves uninformed open rolls, herb-laden stew and other standard southern fare. Elisabeth Rosen reports.
Roll it yourself: Banh trang cuon gio heo, a classical multiple of thinly sliced pork, rice vermicelli, pineapple and spices that diners hang in rice paper.
Heaps of basil and shiso leaves lonesome wicker portion platters, interspersed with spices we never knew could be eaten. Teardrop-shaped honeyed potato leaves twisted around thick stems; rugged mango leaves alien from a south tangled with lemon-scented rau coc, an intriguing herb that bursts with a extraordinary citrus flavour.
Eating during Ben Ninh Kieu offers a doctrine in such ingredients, that form a heart of southern cuisine. The restaurant’s name refers to Ninh Kieu Wharf, located in a Mekong city of Can Tho, and a taste conjures adult a Delta’s tractable vibe. Large photographs of floating markets and sprawling beaches line whitewashed walls. On a ceiling, unclothed bulbs hook from a grid of acacia trunks curled together with ropes.
Architect Du Thanh Trung fell in adore with this charming cuisine on a business outing to a south. When he came behind to a capital, he non-stop Ben Ninh Kieu. It wasn’t only a personal project, yet a business opportunity. Although Hue-style food has already done inroads in Ha Noi, there are few places to eat authentic southern fare.
Southbound: Ben Ninh Kieu conjures adult a Mekong Delta’s tractable vibe, with light, ethereal decor. — VNS Photos Hoang Trung Hieu
Perhaps this is since prior generations of Hanoians saw no need to wandering from normal food, generally when nonesuch done it formidable for them to do so. Today’s immature people, however, have embraced a newness of informal cuisine. The throng here is all internal Vietnamese; as shortly as any new image arrives, out come a tablet-sized mobile phones and DSLRs.
This new multiply of consumer has spurred a origination of mid-range restaurants, such as Ben Ninh Kieu. It’s a transparent step adult from travel food, with light, ethereal taste and an importance on cleanliness and service. Prices are a bit higher, too – for a cost of one appetiser, we could have 3 bowls of pho or bun cha – yet dishes are still distant some-more affordable than in some-more high-end restaurants. This is generally loyal if we come in a large group, Vietnamese-style, as these dishes are meant to be enjoyed.
After all, particular diners would skip out on all a fun of organisation dishes like do-it-yourself open rolls – an English interpretation that, as usual, does small probity to a product. Unlike pan-fried northern open rolls, those in a south are eaten raw, utilizing rice paper wrappers and inexhaustible heaps of uninformed herbs. These wrappers change extremely depending on a filling. The paper for banh trang has a rough, sandpaper-like texture, while a one for banh xeo has a well-spoken glaze of cosmetic (it’s distant some-more appetising than it sounds).
Grainy: Com chay (baked rice), a cracker done from a rice that sticks to a bottom of a pot.
Without English translations, a menu can be daunting for non-Vietnamese speakers. A good beginner’s hurl is banh trang cuon gio heo (VND98,000 or US$4.6), a classical multiple of thinly sliced pork, rice vermicelli, pineapple and herbs. Banh xeo, thin, crispy rice flour crepes that originated in a executive city of Hue yet are also a standard plate in a south, also come in a few variations: we collect adult a frame of crepe and hang it in one of a well-spoken wrappers along with a requisite herbs. Traditionally, they’re filled with shrimp, pig and bean sprouts (tom thit gia, VND68,000), yet we can also get fungus or coconut. It’s also value perplexing banh khot tom (VND78,000), ethereal deep-fried cakes dappled with little shrimp that we hang in crunchy lettuce leaves.
There is distant some-more to southern food than open rolls, of course. One of a many revelatory dishes is goi cu hu dua (VND78,000), a salad of coconut beef and pig patches that we eat with crunchy rice crackers: The juiciness of a coconut brings out a meatiness of a pork, intertwined with sprigs of cilantro and preserved carrot and slivered shrimp. For a comfortable starter, try bo nuong nuoc mam (VND98,000), beef and okra enthralled in a flavorful fish salsa brine and grilled until only tender.
Save room for hotpot. The one we should get is lau cu lao (VND348,000). Cu lao literally means island, and a arrangement is indeed suggestive of an island of sorts: beef, squid and large shrimp distortion in a ring around a pot of simmering gas and are enthralled as shortly as it boils. Filled with colourful colour, a gas has an addictive sweet-sour essence from a tamarind base; pulling out bites feels like finding treasures, one after another. There’s a proposal immature stalk; there’s cha ca, a ethereal sausage done from a doubtful multiple of pig and fish. The fish balls competence be a best part: stained a grassy paint from an herb called rau cu neo, they emerge honeyed and tender, distinct a tough white spheres mostly used in other cuisines. After walking outside, we competence be tempted to book a moody south. — VNS
Article source: http://vietnamnews.vn/sunday/restaurant-review/255008/ben-ninh-kieu-offers-taste-of-the-south.html