[Saigon, Vietnam] Imperial Hue lunch at Quรกn Ruแป‘c

๐˜‘๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต 3 ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ข๐˜บ๐˜ด ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜Š๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ท๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ 25 ๐˜บ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ด. ๐˜ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ข ๐˜Š๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ 8 ๐˜บ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ด, ๐˜ง๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ 2007 ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ 2015, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ 1,174 ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ด.

๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜๐˜ฐ ๐˜Š๐˜ฉ๐˜ช ๐˜”๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฉ ๐˜Š๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บโ€™๐˜ด ๐˜˜๐˜ถรก๐˜ฏ ๐˜™๐˜ถแป‘๐˜ค ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ง๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฌ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ 2015 ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ด, ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜Š๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜บ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ถ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ ๐˜๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ด ๐˜ง๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ. ๐˜‘๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ณ๐˜บ ๐˜–๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ. [๐˜›๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ง๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ ๐˜Š๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ, ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜‘๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ 23, 2015]


My colleague from Hue insisted that Iโ€™ve not experienced true Vietnamese cuisine until Iโ€™ve had Imperial Hue cuisine, purportedly more refined than other regional cuisines in Vietnam, and whose finesse reflect the exacting demands of Tu Duc (1829-1883), the 4th Nguyen emperor and a die-hard gourmand in his time.

For lunch today, my Hue colleague brought me to Quรกn Ruแป‘c, reputedly one of the top spots in Saigon to have a true taste of Imperial Hue cuisine. This very popular Hue restaurant is owned by the famous Saigon-based writer-poet-artist, Mฦฐแปng Mรกn, and is more than a decade-old.

The restaurant is named after the pungent, addictive shrimp paste from Hue: mแบฏm ruแป‘c. Westerners might be turned off by the salty, overwhelming fishy odour (fermented smell) of mแบฏm ruแป‘c, but for folks like me who love โ€œbelachanโ€ (our own shrimp paste in Singapore), the aroma was irresistible.

Mรณn khai vแป‹ (hors dโ€™ล“uvres).

Each table has a tray of tasty banana leaf-wrapped mรณn khai vแป‹ (hors dโ€™ล“uvres). There were 3 types to choose from:

Cรกc mรณn bรกnh (steamed cakes)


A selection of steamed rice cakes:

  • Bรกnh ฦฐแป›t tรดm chรกy: steamed, flat rice rolls with grilled shrimp (similar to Chinese โ€œcheung funโ€).
  • Bรกnh nแบญm: rice cake filled with grilled shrimps.
  • Bรกnh bแป™t lแปc: steamed dumplings with pork and shrimp (almost similar to Singaporean โ€œsoon kuehโ€), tinged reddish-brown with annatto seeds.
  • Bรกnh bรจo: small, saucer-shaped steamed rice cakes, topped with dried shrimps and pork crackling (similar to Singaporean โ€œchwee kwayโ€).

Mรฉp bรฒ (Boiled cowโ€™s lips)


This trademark Hue delicacy is absolutely unmissable: parts of the cowโ€™s mouth, eaten with a salad of bittergourd, starfruit, mint leaves & Hue figs (smaller & sweeter than Saigon ones) - very tasty when dipped into mแบฏm ruแป‘c/shrimp paste.

Powdered chilli was provided to be mixed into the mแบฏm ruแป‘c and was super-spicy: Hue cuisine is perhaps a few hundred thousand rungs above Saigon on the Scoville range when it comes to spiciness.

Hแบฟn xรบc bรกnh trรกng (Baby clams with rice paper wrap)


Another signature Hue delicacy, though my colleague explained that the version here is a non-spicy one, an inexplicable departure from the usual Hue rendition where itโ€™s very spicy.

Mรณn bรบn giแบฅm nuแป‘c (Hue summer noodles with jelly-fish)


Mรณn bรบn giแบฅm nuแป‘c - a staple Hue summer noodle dish of thick rice vermicelli (roughly the same as Singapore laksa noodles) topped with crunchy, thick jelly-fish slices (from Hue, and very difficult to procure in Saigon), pork, shrimps, rice crackers studded with black sesame seeds, groundnuts, finely-julienned curls of banana blossom, mint leaves and coriander.

Sour soup accompaniment to mรณn bรบn giแบฅm nuแป‘c


Accompanying the noodles is a small bowl of sourish seafood soup with crabmeat quenelles, wafer-thin pineapple slices, cherry tomatoes, scallions and coriander. The โ€œtraditionalโ€ Hue way to consume this is to finish the noodles first, then proceed to the soup, although some Viet diners would pour the soup over the noodles. Either way, itโ€™s absolutely scrumptious.

Bรบn ฤ‘uรดi bรฒ - thick rice vermicelli with ox-tail broth and pigโ€™s blood.


Iโ€™m a sucker for pigโ€™s blood, so this dish is irresistible for me.

Chรจ ฤ‘แบญu ngแปฑ - โ€œngแปฑโ€ bean dessert.


Hue cuisine does not favour the sweet flavours much loved by the Southerners and Saigonites. Conversely, its selection of dessert also pales in comparison, and seemed limited to sweet soups containing syrupy legumes and beans, called chรจ.

Address
Quรกn Ruแป‘c
145A Nguyแป…n ฤรฌnh Chรญnh, Phฦฐแปng 11, Quแบญn Phรบ Nhuแบญn, TP. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Tel: +84 838463614

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