Vietnam: Bo 7 Mon

I was utterly excited when I had the chance to dinner with my parents, and dinnering in Vietnam made it that much more special. I can't remember the last time I ate with my parents at a restaurant, my dad can be extremely picky and lazy.

I knew my mom wanted to try beef 7 ways in Vietnam, supposedly better? This was definitely my first true experience.

The set up for Beef 7 Ways, looks like Korean banchan here.

A pot of vinegar, onions and an egg. Bo Nhung Dam is like a fondue but with vinegar, love the sweet and tartness it gives off. The egg was actually something different because when we make this at home, we don't usually add an egg but it was a nice touch.

The beef and cow's stomach which you boil in the pot of vinegar. The beef looks beautiful!

Get some rice paper, add some herbs, throw in the beef and onions and wrap it up. They have this type of dipping sauce, not nuoc mam but it's called mam nem which is fermented anchovy sauce, very pungent but works really well with the vinegar-ed beef.

Right in the midst of beef fondue, I asked my dad to order me a bottle of Vietnamese beer. He ended up ordering me Tiger which was definitely not from Vietnam, should've just told him I wanted a 33 beer...

Goi Bo is my favorite so far because the thin slice of beef was absolutely perfect. I didn't need to dip this into anything, wrap the beef around the greens, onions, and cilantro and bam! Orgasm in mouthhh.

This plate is a little crazy because they fit 4 different kinds of beef here. Starting from top left going clockwise -- Bo Cha Dum (steamed beef that comes with this crunchy sheet of rice paper (shown below) but a lot of places uses shrimp chips), Bo Nuong Mo Chai (beef wrapped with fat), Bo La Lot (lolot leaf wrapped in beef) and Bo Nuong Hanh (scallions wrapped with beef).

This was definitely not the shrimp chips because it tasted like rice. Tasted great with the Bo Cha Dum.

And the 7th course was Chao Bo, beef congee aka porridge. Most likely they just grilled the grains of rice to give it some aroma and throw it in the beef stock/soup hence the grains of rice looks weird and nothing like congee. I find that Vietnamese don't like the thick congee but they prefer it less dense.

That was not enough so we ordered...

...two large crabs! Cua Rang Me which is crabs in a sweet tamarind sauce was the total bomb! My dad says otherwise, see what I mean when I say he's picky and hard to please. I thought the crabs was delicious and the sauce was seasoned just right. The crab meat were so sweet and fresh. I regret not eating much seafood in Vietnam...

After stuffing ourselves with the crabs, to finish the meal off we were offered Banh Flan. One of the things the Vietnamese picked up from the French. Delicious, strong, lightly sweetened flan was a great finale.

And if you're curious and/or adventurous...

...tada! The address and name of the restaurant. Mind you there's no air conditioners, just fans. It can get pretty darn hot there. But all worthwhile with the delicious food.