COOK WITH VIETNAMESE WOMEN CHEFS

A special tour for foodies developed with Aurora Travel, based in Hanoi. Have a look:

Ho Chi Minh City – Mekong Delta – Hoi An – Danang – Hue – Hanoi – Halong Bay
11 Days/ 10 Nights

 

Vietnam is known as a gourmet paradise for its fabulous, exotic cuisine that differs between the Southern, Central and Northern regions of the country. The package designed with a combination of cultural highlights, cooking classes and dining in gourmet restaurants along the way. From a cooking demonstration at a local Saigon home, to classes in a beautiful garden houses. Above all, this tour is special as all selected chefs are Vietnamese women. You will have chances to be interacting with local chefs, explore home kitchens as well as enjoying the professional cooking lessons.

Day 1: HO CHI MINH CITY - Arrival (D)   

Upon arrival at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City, company representative and Vietnamese girls in Ao Dai will welcome you with flowers. You are then escorted to your boutique hotel in the city center.  Time to freshen up and relax after a long journey.

Welcome dinner at a nice restaurant. Overnight stay in Ho Chi Minh City. 

Day 2:    HO CHI MINH CITY – Cook with Saigon Women Chef (B/L)

In the morning, we will enjoy a cooking lesson at Mai’s Home with daily menu.  During some hours, you discover the culture of Vietnamese culinary art. With our Grand Chefs, participants will entertain a "Hands-on" cooking of Vietnamese traditional dishes. Full of joy and pride, you savor your own culinary creation. When you are back home, with full of emotion, a handbook with recipes will help you to reproduce the dishes to make surprise to your family, your friends! 

Afternoon tour includes the Reunification Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral, Central Post Office and China Town. Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City.

Day 3: HO CHI MINH CITY – MEKONG DELTA – My Tho Fruit Market (B/L)

Heading out of the bustling city, we drive along the rice fields to My Tho, one of the Mekong Delta’s provinces. Upon arrival in My Tho, we embark a boat and navigate through the small canals in the Delta region, stop at the My Tho Fruit Market, where you will see heaps of tropical fruits. Continue rowing along the canal so as to enjoy taking in the daily activities of local people and take pleasure in the atmosphere of the water world along the canal and the Tien River. 

 

The exciting cruise continues on to Unicorn Island, where you can taste scores of seasonal fruits and enjoy the local traditional music, performed by the islanders. (Optional short biking tour before lunch) Have lunch at a typical countryside garden house. Next stops include the handmade coconut candy “workshop” and some other local industries in Ben Tre Province.  Drive back to Ho Chi Minh for overnight.

Day 4: HO CHI MINH CITY – DANANG - HOIAN (B/L)                    

After breakfast, we transfer to the airport for the flight to Da Nang. Upon arrival, transfer to local restaurant for lunch before check-in at hotel in Hoi An. After freshening up, enjoy a half-day’s visit to Hoi An’s ancient city. The visit includes the fascinating Japanese covered bridge, Chinese Assembly Halls, and typical 18th century Vietnamese houses. Hoi An is also famous for its large number of tailoring shops, so if you wish to have a new wardrobe, this is the right time. Known as Faifo to early Western traders, it was one of Southeast Asia’s major international ports and today it still retains that special old-world feel. Free time afterwards to enjoy walking through the old streets and sample some of the local specialties. Overnight in Hoi An City. 

Day 5:  HOIAN (B/L)
In the morning we drive to The Tra Que Vegetable Village to discover traditional gardening methods, join the farmers in the fields, spend  a little time learning how to prepare ‘Tam Huu' spring roll & ‘Banh Xeo’ with your local hosts. Before leaving, enjoy a relaxing foot treatment using therapy mixture from the garden.
Free time in the afternoon for more shopping or relaxation.
Overnight in Hoian city.

Creative food preparation at Y Thao Garden

Tra Que Vegetable Village

Day 6: HOI AN – DANANG – HUE (B/L)
In the afternoon we will drive to Hue - Vietnam’s old capital city which is still considered by many to be a culinary capital, with a visit to the Cham Museum on the way. Continue to Hue through the famous Hai Van Pass.
In the afternoon, we get to know more about Hue by visiting the Imperial Citadel and taking a boat on the Perfume River to visit the King Minh Mang tomb and Thien Mu Pagoda. Overnight in Hue City.

Hue's Imperial Citadel



Day 7: HUE - Cooking Class – HANOI (B/L)
Today we enjoy a half-day cooking class with Mrs. Cuc, one of Hue’s famous chefs and is the owner of the Y Thao Garden House. Follow her to Dong Ba central market, where she will demonstrate how to choose suitable ingredients for our cooking lesson at 9:30 a.m at the Y Thao Garden House (maxium 6 pax accepted per class). Lunch will be served with the food you have just prepared with Mrs. Cuc. We leave Hue on a late flight to Hanoi. Overnight in Hanoi.

Day 8: HANOI – HALONG BAY (B/L/D)
Moring: leave Hanoi for Halong Bay, a World’s Heritage. Upon arrival, board a luxury boat to cruise around Ha Long Bay with delicious seafood lunch served on board. Enjoy the spectacular views of Halong bay while passing by rocks, islets. Visit a floating fishing village by rowing boat. Enjoy a romantic night on board with special treatment. Overnight on board

 

Day 9: HALONG – HANOI (Brunch)
In the morning, while the boat is cruising through Bai Tu long bay, you may attend a Tai Chi class or take photos of the spectacular Halong Bay. Then take a short stop to explore the Surprise Cave. After breakfast or brunch, you disembark the boat and return to Hanoi.
On the way to Hanoi, stop for a 2-hour visit to a special place in Bac Ninh, the cradle of Vietnamese folklore music in the Red River Delta. We take a horse-drawn cart through country lanes to visit the Dinh Bang Communal House & Do Temple. After that you will be invited to enjoy Quan Ho folk songs (duo of love songs) performed by local artists and singers. Overnight in Hanoi.

Dinh Bang Communal House

Day 10: HANOI- Cooking class with Madam Mai at Corlou’s Home Cooking Centre (B/L)
Then meet the Chef at her own French style restaurant and follow him to a local market. With over 30 years of worldwide experience and particularly 14 years as Chef of Sofitel Metropole Hanoi, now owning three restaurants in Hanoi and one in Ho Chi Minh city, your accompanied chef has many interesting things to share. After the local market visit to learn more about Vietnamese spices, you will attend a hand-on cooking class demonstrated by Corlou’s Vietnamese wife (Madam Mai) at their own home cooking centre just some km from Hanoi downtown. 

The excellent culinary adventure lasts after you tasted your own creations at lunch.  After lunch, we would like to bring you to a special place at Trung Nguyen Coffee Center where you will enjoy a cup of Vietnamese strong coffee and get to know more about coffee-culture of Vietnamese people. Next,, we visit the Temple of Literature and the last stop should be Hoan Kiem Lake, Overnight in Hanoi.

Day 11:    HANOI - Departure (B)
Free for last minute shopping until transferring to the airport for departure flight. End of service.
======End of service======






Selected hotels:
City
Standard
Superior
Deluxe
Premium

Hanoi
May de Ville Old Quarter
Maison De Hanova
Mgallery
Sofitel Metropole Hotel

Ha Long Bay
Bai Tho Cruise
Victory
Bhaya Cruise
Ginger/Jasmine

Hue
Hue Queen
Mondial
Imperial
La Residence

Hoi An
Thu Duong 3
Hoian Historic
Golden Sand
Victoria Hoi An

Ho Chi Minh City
Sapphire
Saigon Palace
Majestic  Saigon
Intercontinental SG


Services Included:
-3    Accommodation with daily breakfast based on twin share as mentioned or similar
-4    All private air conditioned transfers
-5    Entrance fees, other boat fees where applicable
-6    Cooking classes with meal where applicable as indications
-7    Meals (food only) at local restaurants as indicated  (B: breakfast; L: lunch; D: dinner)
-8    Tours with local English/French speaking guide in each city
-9    Mineral waters on car during the tour
-10    Government tax and service charge

Services Excluded:
-11    All kinds of international airfares and airport taxes
-12    Domestic airfares in the tour (see supplement quotes)
-13    Dinks and meals not clearly mentioned
-14    Travel Insurance
-15    Personal expenses & Tips
-16    Surcharge for public holidays (if any)
-17    Vietnamese visa processing fee, visa stamping fee (see supplement quote)
-18    All other services not stated in the program

email me for pricing, based on double occupancy; if you are traveling alone, no worries, we will pair you with another single traveler!

It's the food, the food...

Are you still with me? We are spending the day in "Little Saigon" and with good reason, I made a big deal about the food and went into a huge supermarket to make my point. Those of you who have gone to Vietnam know exactly what I'm talking about. Forget Chinese food, Thai food, even Japanese food. There is something about the scent, the arrangement, the ingredients (ah, ngoc mam, or Nước chấm in VN) of the foods in Vietnam that is more addicting than drugs. So, where are we heading?

As we drive on Bolsa, it is hard to resist entering here, due to the welcome look of the typical Asian roof design which adorns the mall's shops. And of course, the portal is also lovely, borrowing from the Chinese elevated hip rafters and half-round tiles which form the roof. This is where we will find and enter the Asian Dong Market, mentioned in my previous post, and none other than Conficious will be there to greet us.

Here is what some folks had to say about the A Dong Market on yelp.com, where you can read all twenty reviews; I am only citing a few below:

Quynh Tram T.

Huntington Beach, CA

4 star rating

6/25/2011  

One of the best Vietnamese supermarkets around that offers cheaper prices than other Vietnamese supermarkets! A Dong is located right across from Asian Garden Mall (and in the same plaza as Seafood Cove #2), so if you go during a weekend or a special event, just forget about finding a decent parking spot. What I also like about this location is that there is a lot of walking room in the store, unlike ABC Supermarket (which is also super close to A Dong).....

 

Elite '11

4 star rating

4/5/2010

1.  The prices are cheap as you would expect from any Vietnamese supermarket
2.  You literally will find every thing you need here to prepare any Vietnamese dish your heart desires
3.  Come here on a Friday night if you're lame like me with no plans, you will definitely appreciate that parking will be easy to find.
It's really that simple, and besides distance...not sure why anyone wouldn't go here to fullfill your Asian grocery needs.

 

So, going thru all the reviews, I noted the most prominent complaint to be parking availability...yes it's damned crowded, but if you read closely, Friday night affords you some breathing room. Some remarks about rude people, stinky fish and loud music in the store. Otherwise, as far as quality and variety, the reviews do rave. I just went around with my camera and started shooting those things I either loved, and/or recognized:

Who doesn't love mangoes and guavas? The insane and the uninitiated. Luckily, I can get these in New York without any problem because Goya provides most local supermarkets with their brand, but they are 20 cents more than these. To their credit, Goya has a wider selection, including Guanabana. Use these as refreshing juice with ice cubes, or as I do, blend them with other fruits for heavenly smoothies.

Noodles are as important to the Vietnamese diet as blood is to the human body. If you are a noodle, you will find yourself most likely swimming into 'pho', the most amazing soup ever made. Forget chicken noodle or anything your mother ever told you. It can be simple, as just noodles in magic liquid broth, lemongrass, and some lime on the side for extra flavor, or you can have it with beef, fish, chicken, and spring onion as in Bánh hỏi. 

The noodles also find their way into another one of Vietnam's most popular foods, Bún chả, which combines vermicelli, ground pork,with salad greens, herbs and sprouts. The variety of dishes is infinite.

The banh pho are flat rice noodles; above them you can spot yellowish colored noodles, and above that more noodles.

 

Ah, the magical fish sauce that gives the dishes of Vietnam that certain 'je ne sais quoi'.I have seen the exhaustive process of manufacturing this sauce, and believe me, it's extensive. It must be allowed to ferment over a certain period of time to achieve the desired flavor. The largest factory in Vietnam for this product is located in Phú Quốc.

I can proudly say that if you come to my kitchen, you will find this product in my pantry. I am never without it. Even though my Asian market in New York, as well as this one, have an entire aisle of 'white coffees, the Vinacafe brand is the one that comes closest to the authentic Vietnamese Cafe sua da, which has often been referred to as Vietnam's black gold. Forget Starbucks. This stuff ROCKS!

Dessert is a weakness I have never been able to overcome, nor do I want to. However, in Asia, as in Vietnam too, desserts are understated and so much tastier than their Western counterparts. No goo, no whipped cream, lots of fruit based delights. The very first time I had bean in dessert form was in Bali. It was almost soup-like, but tasted like angels. I've since had bean ice cream, buns with different bean paste, - my favorites are red bean, mung bean, and taro root.

There was nothing special about this frozen corn, other than its esthetics. I'm sure it was very sweet.

Oh Dear, how can I talk about Durian in a positive sense?  This fruit is gynormous, and has a smell to match. No wonder the Vietnamese name for it means 'one's own sorrows' (Sau Rieng). Think of strong cheese that has gone bad. Yet, it is one of  Vietnam's most valuable fruit. The inside is yellow, and frankly, I cannot tell you about the taste, as I have not had the courage to try it. 

These are wrappers or small pancakes if you like made of rice.  The center display brought me right back to Saigon, where Hai Ba Trung is a main street in District One, and named for the heroic Ba Trung Sisters.

The bakery section is a death sentence if you are dieting. There are buns here filled with anything you can imagine. 

There are also prepared foods you can eat on the spot or take out.

Of course, I would not remember this since I don't drink beer, but this is the brand made in Vietnam.

If you have enjoyed this little tour, then you're going to love the Cooking Tour of Vietnam that I'll be posting very shortly.