For me, the sticky rice in Laos is just that - simple, but one of the most memorable things I have eaten on our travels.
I am all for gourmet meals that take hours to prepare and look like they are straight out of the pages of Gourmet Traveller - but sometimes it is the most simplest of foods and dishes that are the most memorable.
For me, the sticky rice in Laos is just that - simple, but one of the most memorable things I have eaten on our travels.
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Until we arrived in Laos I used to associate Papaya Salads with a traditional Thai cuisine, but after eating my body weight of Papaya Salad since being in Laos I have realised I was misinformed.
Papaya Salad – in all its glory – is actually a traditional food of Laos. Because the countries are so close, the dish filtered through the border and was claimed by the Thai’s. Happy to have set the record straight I was also happy to start the eating portion of the Papaya Salad story. There isn't a lot that I wont eat, but on this day in Phnom Penh I found something I just couldn't bring myself to taste. One of my favourite shows back home is Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern where he travels around the world and eats local delicacies that Westerners like us would find inedible. In Phnom Penh I decided to have my own Bizarre Foods moment when we came across Balut – a Cambodian delicacy – which is a developing chicken or duck embryo which is boiled and eaten in the shell. As we came across a street vendor selling them Jeff told me that if I was going to have a food blog I needed to try one.
Usually when I write about the food we have eaten I can safely say what it is called and what was in it.
This unfortunately isn’t one of those times. However it was so unusual and delicious I am still compelled to journal it and give it its moment to shine. We had only just eaten breakfast when we walked past this street vendor on the streets of Phnom Penh. Those avid readers of my blog (come on I know you're out there!) will know that Carrot Cake - both sweet and savoury - are amongst my favourite things to eat in the world.
In Singapore I went crazy for their savoury take on carrot cake that strangely enough contained no carrots just radishes. After a morning bike riding around Nha Trang we had worked up quite an appetite.
We hadn’t heard great things about the food in Nha Trang but I would definitely like to say, for the record, that we loved the food here. One dish in particular was so memorable that when I look back in the years to come and reflect on my time in Nha Trang I will think of this dish. Man I love street food – but what I love even more is that every city we go to there is a new local speciality to try.
It literally excites me and this dish reminded me why we hunt back streets looking for these local delights. The dish is called Banh Can – on paper it doesn't sound like much but wow oh wow it was bludy sensational. When we are at home in Sydney, I drink a lot of milk. We go through at least 3 litres a week just the two of us. I’m not even sure what we do with it.
As well as cows milk, I love to drink soy and almond milk so when I heard that a speciality of Da Lat was hot soy milk I knew I had to give it a try. As we walked the streets trying to work off our bowl of Bo Kho I saw multiple stands with signs saying “Sua Dau Nanh” and knew I had to get myself one. |
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About MeWelcome to Food Fuelled Travels where my partner Jeff and I will attempt to eat our way across SEA! The month by month journey |