Searching in Sapa
May 30th, 2009
Pig Roast
Sapa, Vietnam – High in the emerald green mountains of northwest Vietnam sits Sapa beset by rice paddies cascading down steep mountain slopes. The town is known for its stunning vistas and the hilltribes that live in surrounding villages. The town itself is quite touristy, mostly composed of hotels, western eateries and tour services, topped off with persistent hill tribes people looking to sell their wares to tourists.
No one I spoke to about the town mentioned anything about the food there so I wasn’t expecting anything amazing. Instead I just asked a local where he ate and he told me Com Binh Dan right near the lake so I headed off. There was a little piglet rotating on a spit outside the restaurant, which seemed to be a good sign.
I caused a bit of a stir when I walked in, but soon had three typical dishes sitting in front of me fried tofu in tomato sauce (dau phu sot ca chua), stir-fried river greens (rau muong xao and of course some of that pork (lon nuong gang nong). Unfortunately the pork, which looked promising on a bed of mint and lettuce, was tough and musky and the greens were extremely garlicky. The tofu, the most palatable of the three, tasted like tofu in an extremely salty Italian pasta sauce.
Adding insult to injury, I’m pretty sure I was overcharged for being a foreigner. There are no prices on the menu and the woman tallying my bill took a look back at me before totaling it. My waitress, upon glancing at my check on the way over to my table, couldn’t help laughing. What could I do? I paid and headed to the bar.
Lon Nuong Gang Nong (Grilled Pork in Hot Plate)
Rau Muong Xao (Stir-fried River Greens)
Dau Phu Sot Ca Chua (Fried Tofu in Tomato Sauce)
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