Huong Lai
Last Monday night, dad and I looked at my Lonely Planet book
in search of places to eat and we came across a place called Huong Lai located
in District 1 on Ly Tu Trong Street (http://huonglai2001saigon.com/en/index.html). We were drawn by the philanthropic design of the restaurant as all the staff were originally from disadvantaged
families or were former street children. They were taken in and provided with training, education and a place to stay. Oftentimes in Ho Chi Minh City, you see such a class divide between the wealthy and the poor. Despite the fact that it's a Communist country, there really isn't a whole lot of "giving-back" here, so it was refreshing to see a place that gentrified the community.
There’s also an interesting write-up about it in the Wall
Street journal from a little over a year ago. Apparently, it was started by a
Japanese expatriate who enjoyed traditional home-cooked Vietnamese food…who
would have thought?!
The food was inexpensive and pleasant. To start, we split
the appetizer sample platter and had a glass of Dalat wine each. The appetizer was good but nothing to write home
about. There were okay spring rolls (4 fried and 2 fresh) and some
miscellaneous vegetables and spices that you put on those Japanese crackers you
tend to get in sushi restaurants. Just as I typed that, I pieced together the
relevance of those crackers to the ethnicity of the owner…it all makes sense
now! As for the wine, I knew it wouldn’t be good because…it’s Vietnam. However,
Dad wanted to try it so I suggested that we opt for a glass rather than a
bottle. This was a wise decision because Dad, being the wine connoisseur that
he is, did not enjoy the Dalat wine
whatsoever. I laughed it off because I’m 22 and have had to settle for shitty
wine many times throughout my college career (despite being spoiled by my
parents excellent taste whilst at home), which only ended about six months ago.
After the curiosity killed the connoisseur we switched to
Huda beer, which is quite nice. It’s a pale lager from Hue, Vietnam. It started
out as joint enterprise between the Hue Brewery LTD and the Carlsberg Group, but
now is owned solely by the Carlsberg Group. It seems to be a trend for
Vietnamese beer to be much better in the north. I’m sure this is largely due to
climate as it is much cooler up there for the wheat crops. Clearly, I picked
the wrong region to live in (but I do love Ho Chi Minh City flaws and all).
For entrees, I had chicken with lemongrass and dad had some
sort of braised pork with mixed vegetables. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of this...but it is home-style cooking so the presentation wasn't fancy anyway--which suits the sentiment of the restaurant. We both enjoyed the food but the
biggest “wow” I had there was from the staff. Everyone was incredibly friendly
and nice. I’m sure a lot of this had to do with their gratitude for being taken
in and given a fresh start to their lives. Yet, their kindness felt the most
genuine in comparison to my other dining experiences thus far in Ho Chi Minh
City. I’m sure this was probably overemphasized in my head because I knew their
background, but it is very easy for me to tell when someone is being genuine
and I felt a strong sense of that here. Thus, I would definitely come back and
recommend this place to friends. It feels really good to be apart of something
bigger than your own gratification.
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