No Reservations Season 6 Episode 9: Vietnam Central Highlands
The camera shows a French style home with classical music playing. Tony narrates, saying “inside it looks like France, but outside its Vietnam”. Tony describes the Vietnam Central Highlands as “a place of peaks and valleys and mist”. Tony tells the viewers when the French left the Central Highlands after WW II they kept their French influence. The Vietnam Central Highlands are located up in the mountains where it is cooler at altitudes of 4,500 to 5,000 feet.
Tony is back in his favorite place on earth, Vietnam. Tony drinks beer with Linh, his old friend and guide from his previous visits to Vietnam at Duck Restaurant, a street-side food stall known for duck preparations. Tony and Linh drink beer as they receive crispy rice cake, spicy coleslaw with star fruit and boiled duck pieces. They enjoy some spicy sweet and sour duck dish next, then meaty duck soup and finally a savory porridge with duck.
Tony and Linh visit the emperor’s palace, decked out in French decor with beautiful grounds surrounding the palace. Tony and Linh visit Linh Phong Monastery Pagoda, known for their vegetarian meals made with fresh local ingredients. Thirty Buddhist nuns live at the monestary and cook the vegetarian meals they will enjoy. The Buddhist nuns work hard to make the food. Vegetarian meals are often spicy since there is no meat. Tony says he can go five days without meat but he craves it. Tony and Linh enjoy a meal of rice, spicy mushrooms and vegetables, and spicy soup.
Next Linh takes Tony to Thu Khoi Restaurant for a meat meal. This lakeside restaurant features a “taste of the forest”. Linh tells Tony the meats for the meal may include wild boar, venison and mouse deer. Tony likes wild boar and venison but is not excited about the mouse deer. Linh assures him they are having wild boar and venison today. As Tony eats the venison it seems that the meat is tender but the skin is tough and rubbery. Linh is unusually quiet as they eat and Tony surmises he is eating mouse deer, as Tony narrates he curses Linh for the deception.
Tony and Linh walk through an ancient graveyard reserved for the elite. Linh tells Tony in the past warriors would capture elephants because they thought so highly of them. Elephants helped with transport and were known as a wealth item. Tony is surprised to find out the elephants at that time were not killed or used for their valuable ivory tusks. The villages nearby make money entertaining tourists, a different lifestyle than villages years ago. Tony and Linh join one of the village families for a meal. The atmosphere is uncomfortable with little conversation between the visitors and the villagers. The atmosphere lightens as they begin a meal of boiled pork and pork lungs with chili sauce, eggplant with fish, stewed fish and bitter greens soup, rice cooked in bamboo and rice wine to drink.
Tony, Linh and Linh’s friend visit Hanoi next. Tony says the only way to truly appreciate Hanoi is to travel on a scooter so you can visit all the stalls and markets in the alleys, the back alleys are where the good stuff is. Tony narrates that 70% of the population in Hanoi is under 30 years of age. Linh takes Tony to the “No Name” restaurant where there are jars of birds in alcohol decorating the walls. Linh’s friend tells Tony the restaurant is switching from specializing in serving birds to insects, and the jars of birds are a special drink offered here. The meal consists of whole deep fried sparrows (Tony loves them) and fried larvae and shallots with the strong bird alcohol drink to wash it all down. Tony says of the drink “imagine turpentine with road kill particulate” after downing the bird tainted alcohol.
Tony, Linh and Linh’s friend head to tour the shrines and temples, where locals offer prayers and gifts. They find a meal of snail noodle soup with fried tofu, one of Tony’s favorite meals in Vietnam. Tony, Linh and Linh’s friend eat spring rolls that are thin like crepes, filled with meat. Large water bugs are a specialty there, something Tony is not keen for. Tony finally relents and takes a bite, saying they taste like airplane glue and look like giant roaches. Tony and Linh head off on a scooter to discover more places to eat in the area.
Tony, Linh and Linh’s friend end the evening with a drinking fest. Near the banks of the red river they dine at Tu Hai Restaurant, famous for their chicken dishes and cock fighting shows. Apparently the losing roosters end up in their dishes. The meal features stewed rooster and stir-fry chicken with a strong rice wine. As Tony narrates the scene of them eating and drinking too much wine, Tony laments he is leaving Vietnam soon but yearns for it already.
