Kim Son’s Tet in woven baskets
*Guest post in Vietnamese by my Mom, translated by me*
Back in the day, I seldom ate from street stalls or vendors’ baskets, my conscience imprinted with my mother’s unmovable doubt on the street food’s cleanliness. Nonetheless, I scurry with no hesitation to make it to Kim Son for lunch today, just because the TV news last night showed that Kim Son has a 9-day New Year food festival where the goodies are sold in baskets, mimicking the vendor stalls in Vietnam.
Like usual, the display is a buffet style, but this week the dining hall is decorated with flowers, fruits, and Tet greetings, the food selection is also larger and more interesting than normal days. I notice thịt kho and dưa giá (slow braised pork and pickled bean sprout, two traditional Tet savory dishes), bánh xèo (sizzling crepe), bánh bèo (water fern banh), bánh bột lọc (translucent banh) bánh cống (mung bean fried muffin).
In the baskets lie a few types of xôi, bánh tét, and mứt. A tightening mix of homesickness and joy rushes through me as I see woven baskets, bamboo shoulder poles, and the waxy green banana leaves holding and covering morsels of Tet.
We load our first plate with seven-course beef, though the kitchen churns out only four: grilled beef (bò nướng vỉ), beef loaf (bò chả đùm), lolot beef (bò nướng lá lốt), and beef sausage in omental fat casing (bò mỡ chài). The little pinky-length fat beef sausages are extraordinarily tender, grilled on medium fire and so well seasoned they have the sweet smell of talents.
Meanwhile, my husband chooses the restaurant’s recommended special of the day: grilled snail sausage in banana leaves. I don’t like snails but have a taste anyway just out of curiosity. It is slightly spicy, but I get blown away. There is no hint of the wet and grassy snail scent that used to give me goosebumps when I was little. The banana leaf wrapping protects the velvety sausages from the burnt smell of open fire grilling, and gives it a sweet green aroma of summer breeze. As much as I like fish, I must admit these are better than the Indonesian fish sausages I’ve had a few months ago.
Another special is bánh canh cua Nam Phổ. I only learned about Nam Phổ, a village in central Vietnam, and its famous udon-like noodle soup from books, so I am overjoyed to see the real thing on the menu today. Bits of crab meat amidst chubby slick chunks of banh canh in a scarlet broth rich of crab sauce is the loveliest sight of all noodle soups. Banh canh Nam Pho, unlike banh canh of the South, doesn’t have loads of shrimp or pork, the broth isn’t starkly clear, yet its thickness delivers just a mellow natural sweetness. The first bite reveals little taste, but the second, the third, and a few sips of the broth in between start to sweep in waves of riverbank wind and meadow fragrance.
The country lunch sets us back $35.75 and 90 minutes. As we get ready to leave at 12:30, the parking lot gets ready for a massive lion dance and firecracker show. The sight of sixteen gaudy lions and hundred-meter long red squib strings and their boisterous sounds follow me all the way home, as I think of how we, the Asian expats, try to bring with us our lunar new year and our motherlands wherever we go.
Address: Kim Son Restaurant
10603 Bellaire Blvd
Houston, TX 77072
(281) 598-1777
This post is included in the February 2011 edition of Delicious Vietnam, a blogging event organized by Anh from A Food Lover’s Journey and Hong and Kim from Ravenous Couple.
Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to far added agreeable from you! However, how could we communicate?
1Hi there very nice website!! Guy .. Beautiful .. Wonderful .. I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds additionally?KI am glad to seek out numerous helpful info here in the put up, we need develop extra techniques in this regard, thank you for sharing. . . . . .
2I loved as much as you will receive carried out right here. The sketch is attractive, your authored material stylish. nonetheless, you command get bought an impatience over that you wish be delivering the following. unwell unquestionably come further formerly again as exactly the same nearly a lot often inside case you shield this increase.
3Some times its a pain in the ass to read what website owners wrote but this website is rattling user genial! .
4I like what you guys are up too. Such intelligent work and reporting! Keep up the excellent works guys I have incorporated you guys to my blogroll. I think it’ll improve the value of my site :).
5Please let me know if you’re looking for a article writer for your blog. You have some really great articles and I think I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d absolutely love to write some content for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please send me an e-mail if interested. Kudos!
6It’s really a nice and useful piece of information. I am glad that you shared this helpful info with us. Please stay us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
7Some genuinely nice and utilitarian info on this site, as well I think the style and design contains wonderful features.
8I’d constantly want to be update on new articles on this web site, bookmarked! .
9I’d perpetually want to be update on new blog posts on this internet site, saved to fav! .
10I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post…
11Hi, i think that i saw you visited my weblog so i came to “return the favor”.I’m trying to find things to improve my web site!I suppose its ok to use a few of your ideas!!
12Super-Duper site! I am loving it!! Will come back again. I am taking your feeds also
13Hello there, just became alert to your blog through Google, and found that it’s really informative. I’m gonna watch out for brussels. I will appreciate if you continue this in future. Many people will be benefited from your writing. Cheers!
14Hello, Neat post. There’s a problem along with your web site in internet explorer, could check this… IE nonetheless is the marketplace chief and a big component to people will pass over your magnificent writing due to this problem.
15Hi, Neat post. There is a problem together with your web site in web explorer, may check thisK IE still is the market chief and a good component of folks will leave out your fantastic writing because of this problem.
16Hello, Neat post. There is a problem together with your website in web explorer, might test this?K IE nonetheless is the market chief and a huge component to other folks will pass over your excellent writing because of this problem.
17I’ve been absent for a while, but now I remember why I used to love this web site. Thank you, I’ll try and check back more often. How frequently you update your site?
18Lovely just what I was looking for.Thanks to the author for taking his time on this one.
19You can certainly see your expertise in the work you write. The sector hopes for more passionate writers like you who are not afraid to mention how they believe. Always go after your heart. “There are only two industries that refer to their customers as users.” by Edward Tufte.
20Very efficiently written information. It will be useful to anybody who usess it, including me. Keep up the good work – i will definitely read more posts.
21Excellent blog here! Also your web site loads up fast! What host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host? I wish my web site loaded up as fast as yours lol
22Thanks for ones marvelous posting! I genuinely enjoyed reading it, you happen to be a great author.I will make certain to bookmark your blog and will eventually come back in the foreseeable future. I want to encourage one to continue your great posts, have a nice evening!
23WONDERFUL Post.thanks for share..extra wait .. …
24Some genuinely interesting points you have written.Helped me a lot, just what I was searching for :D.
25Thanks , I’ve recently been searching for information about this topic for ages and yours is the best I’ve discovered till now. But, what about the bottom line? Are you sure about the source?
26I went over this website and I believe you have a lot of fantastic info , saved to bookmarks (:.
27You are my aspiration, I have few web logs and very sporadically run out from post :). “Follow your inclinations with due regard to the policeman round the corner.” by W. Somerset Maugham.
28Thanks for the sensible critique. Me and my neighbor were just preparing to do a little research on this. We got a grab a book from our area library but I think I learned more clear from this post. I’m very glad to see such magnificent information being shared freely out there.
29What’s Happening i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I have found It positively useful and it has helped me out loads. I hope to contribute & help other users like its helped me. Good job.
30Hi my family member! I wish to say that this post is awesome, great written and come with approximately all important infos. I would like to see more posts like this .
31I went over this web site and I believe you have a lot of fantastic information, saved to my bookmarks (:.
32Hello! Someone in my Myspace group shared this website with us so I came to look it over. I’m definitely loving the information. I’m bookmarking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Excellent blog and great design.
33I saw a lot of website but I think this one has got something special in it in it
34Outstanding post, I believe people should learn a lot from this blog its very user genial.
35I’ve been surfing on-line greater than 3 hours as of late, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It is lovely price enough for me. In my opinion, if all site owners and bloggers made excellent content material as you did, the internet will probably be a lot more useful than ever before.
36Utterly pent content, thank you for entropy. “You can do very little with faith, but you can do nothing without it.” by Samuel Butler.
37I really appreciate this post. I have been looking all over for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You’ve made my day! Thanks again!
38An interesting discussion is worth comment. I think that you should write more on this topic, it might not be a taboo subject but generally people are not enough to speak on such topics. To the next. Cheers
39As a Newbie, I am always exploring online for articles that can help me. Thank you
40Thank you for each of your hard work on this site. Kim really likes participating in research and it is easy to see why. We all know all concerning the dynamic manner you present advantageous thoughts via the website and attract participation from other individuals on this idea then our own princess is truly being taught a whole lot. Take pleasure in the rest of the year. You are carrying out a pretty cool job.
41Would love to incessantly get updated great weblog! .
42We are a gaggle of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your web site provided us with useful information to work on. You have performed a formidable activity and our whole neighborhood will be grateful to you.
43I love it when people come together and share opinions, great blog, keep it up.
44Youre so cool! I dont suppose Ive read anything like this before. So nice to find anyone with some authentic ideas on this subject. realy thank you for starting this up. this web site is one thing that’s needed on the net, somebody with a little originality. useful job for bringing one thing new to the web!
45Hi, Neat post. There’s a problem with your web site in internet explorer, would test this… IE still is the market leader and a big portion of people will miss your great writing because of this problem.
46Very good information can be found on web site. “Every artist was first an amateur.” by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
47Some really nice and utilitarian information on this web site, besides I think the design has fantastic features.
48Hi, Neat post. There is a problem with your website in internet explorer, would test this… IE still is the market leader and a good portion of people will miss your magnificent writing because of this problem.
49Its like you read my mind! You appear to know a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with some pics to drive the message home a little bit, but other than that, this is wonderful blog. A fantastic read. I will definitely be back.
50