Calm Within the Chaos -
A Culinary Adventure
Thailand and Vietnam are both renowned for their culinary offerings, so what better way to spend a honeymoon than to eat a path across them?
Alliance Airlines Magazine - Feb/Mar 2020
Words by: Michelle Hespe
Bangkok. Crazy busy, eye-wateringly colourful, bonkers Bangkok. Upon leaving the airport, the first thing that strikes most people is the order somehow rising from the chaos. Thousands of pedestrians, bicycles, motorbikes, tuk tuks, cars, trucks and buses all stream raggedly along – merging, tangling, drifting, dodging – in a frenetic flurry of human motion that somehow manages to move forward. And then there’s the intense heat of the day, ramped up by the humidity.
Which makes stepping into the palatial lobby of five-star sanctuary Anantara Siam Bangkok a somewhat surreal experience. After the doors close, cool air envelopes my partner and I as the city’s never-ending boom crash opera dissolves. Immaculately dressed Thai staff greet us with sweet smiles and gently spoken welcomes. Our luggage is whisked away and before we know it we’re seated in the hotel’s Spice Market restaurant, with a quietly delivered glass of champagne and a local craft beer. An artfully arranged platter of local Thai delicacies is placed before us, setting the tone for the culinary adventure we’ve excitedly embarked upon.
Just beyond the restaurant’s walls – lined with hessian bags, woven baskets and jars of traditional Thai spices – are hundreds of plump red, white and
black koi fish. They swim nonchalantly around in enormous ponds surrounded by jungle-like gardens and picture-perfect wooden bridges spanning the rockeries they call home. We’re told by the waiter that the fish symbolise prosperity, health and good luck. }
Brunch of the Gods
There’s so much to do in Bangkok. There are sprawling high-end malls aplenty, night and day markets galore (head to MBK for eight floors of insane shopping options where you can haggle your heart out), river cruises to enjoy, rooftop bars to indulge in and a plethora of tailors ready to whip up your dream outfit, straight from the pages of Vogue.
If architecture, history and fashion are your thing, make time for a fascinating tour of Jim Thompson House in downtown Bangkok. Jim was an American entrepreneur who, after making the city his home, was pivotal in saving then developing Thailand’s silk industry. He mysteriously disappeared in 1967, leaving behind his remarkable home with an enviable collection of Asian art, furniture and antiques.
Food is our guiding force, so on Sunday we follow our noses to one of our hotel’s expansive sunlit courtyards, where more than 20 chefs from around the world cook dishes for what is considered Bangkok’s biggest and best brunch. Like a well-oiled machine, it’s been tantalising the tastebuds of guests for 36 years. We settle on the dining plan that offers us unlimited champagne, wine, beer and soft drinks, with as much food as we can eat from 11am to 3pm.
Luckily, we prepared by attending with empty stomachs and our largest elastic-waisted pants. Thai duck pancakes and chilli jam stir-fries, Chinese dumplings, honeyed chicken, Italian pastas and pizzas, European chicken and beef roasts with gravy, Middle Eastern kebabs and Mediterranean platters, Indian curries and samosas, Japanese sushi and sashimi... all this and so much more is whipped up and delivered to tables while a band plays jazz songs by the fish ponds.
Then there’s the range of buffets – cheeses of the world; seafood platters piled high with oysters, prawns and lobster; a creative salad bar, and a dessert laboratory with a mind-boggling array of cakes, slices, chocolates, lollies, cookies, pancakes and pretty much anything sweet you can think of. We wander from one exhibit to another, taking breaks to sip on French Champagne and consider our next moves.
Four hours later we roll down the hotel’s opulent hallways, babbling like toddlers high on sugar, recounting course after course of some of the finest food of such diverse origins
that we’ve ever seen arranged in the one space. As the lights of Bangkok twinkle, we fall into food comas and dream of the next phase of our food-first journey: Quy Nhon.
Good Morning, Vietnam
A flight from Bangkok through Ho Chi Minh City has us landing in the small airport of Quy Nhon – a coastal city a few hours south of the more widely known tourist hot spot Hoi An.
On the drive from the airport to our resort, quintessentially Vietnamese rural landscapes, bustling villages and urban scenes roll by us like a kaleidoscopic slide show: ride paddies with locals toiling under conical straw hats, old toothy men selling fish and fruit on the roadside, construction happening everywhere with bamboo the scaffolding of choice. Everywhere we look people are on motorbikes, transporting everything from chickens, pigs and eggs to pieces of furniture and entire families – babies and toddlers wedged comfortably between smiling parents and siblings.
We arrive at Anantara Quy Nhon, which is sandwiched by a grassy mountain on one side and a beautiful beach on the other. The sun sets behind islands on the horizon, the sea where fisherman bob in their round fishing bowl-boats glowing golden.
Each night we sit in the resort’s restaurant, Sea.Fire.Salt, the sound of crashing waves the only music we need. The signature dish here is meat and seafood cooked on an ancient slab of rock salt. The meat is still sizzling when it arrives, alongside a trolley of locally produced aromatic salts in miniature pottery bowls. We soon learn that naturally enhanced flavours are everything here, and British chef Marcus Meek is a master with his fresh takes on classics such as lobster thermidor and surf ‘n’ turf.
Our days at the resort glide gently by – we visit a 1000-year-old temple and an incense-making factory where women create millions of joss sticks a week, take a martial arts lesson with the charismatic local legend Mr Phuc, and wake every day to calming views across the ocean, tropical gardens and palm trees rustling like whispers on the breeze. A couple’s massage in the resort’s spa, positioned above the sea and in the jungle, has us walking on air.
Stoically set on our mission, we once again turn our attention to Vietnam’s food. In a hole-in-the-wall local café we dine on rice paper rolls that have the crunchy bonus of deep-fried prawn and chicken crêpe-like fillings. It’s a Quy Nhon specialty, we’re told.
We visit a floating restaurant in a fishing village and choose our seafood from the ‘menu’ – which consists of live tubs of lobsters, crayfish, prawns, squid, snails, mussels and pippies straight from the sea. Beer is a staple wherever you go and will usually set you back a dollar… or just 50c from the supermarket.
Anywhere, at any time, you can order the country’s most famous meal, bánh mì. If you haven’t sampled one from a Vietnamese-Australian outlet, picture a sandwich on a crusty white baguette, with a mix of meats and vegetables from native Vietnamese cuisine such as cha lua (pork sausage), coriander, cucumber, pickled carrots and daikon, with some condiments from French cuisine such as pâté thrown in, along with chili and mayonnaise. I can’t help but eat one for breakfast every morning along with noodles, green tea and a papaya or watermelon juice.
Back at the resort we take a cooking lesson with the resident Vietnamese chef, who teaches us how to make a papaya and green mango chicken salad, a traditional Vietnamese noodle dish, and rice paper rolls. Then we sit by the sea and dine on our own creations with some French wine. By day five we’ve actually lost weight, as the food is so healthy. It’s no wonder that the Vietnamese are so slim – they mainly live on seafood, chicken, vegetables, fruit, noodles and rice.
Markets and Mayhem
And then we’re off to the big smoke. Ahhh, Ho Chi Minh City. Mad busy, eye-poppingly chaotic HCMC. This city (formerly known as Saigon) has a similar feel to Bangkok – same same, but different. It’s somehow more rhythmic in its madness, and the only way the city can continue at its established pace is to ensure that no one stops. Ever. Motorbikes are the main means of transport and everyone simply weaves in and out of obstacles in a never-ending stream of humans. Once you decide to cross a road, commit and
just keep going. Maybe pray as some people even drive the wrong way down a road without a care in the world.
My partner and I checked into the grande dame of HCMC – New World Saigon Hotel. After a recent multimillion-dollar renovation, it retains its position as the city’s most popular, modern hotel. Its enormous domed lobby is just a taste of the style and sheer size of the place. The Executive Suites are well worth your money as they grant access to the Club Lounge, where cocktail hour kicks off at 5pm and includes free wine, beer, and an assortment of delicious nibbles. Put a day aside for lounging by the pool, as you can order food, relax and watch from the balcony as the locals do their crazy traffic thing.
The hotel is also a stone’s throw from the historic markets, which have more than 7,000 stores. It’s utter madness. Get your best wheeling/dealing face on, as the Vietnamese are incredible salespeople. You can pretty much be assured getting 50 per cent off the original price quoted on anything, but don’t be rude. Word travels fast in this place and although most vendors love a good haggle, like anyone, they don’t appreciate being ripped off or being spoken down to. Smile, laugh, and play the game with them. It’s a lot of fun.
To wrap up our food odyssey, we squeeze in one last meal of rice paper rolls and some drinks in the lobby bar of New World Saigon, where the wine list is superb. Sporting healthy glows from some poolside downtime, we look back at what we’ve done in just one week then raise a glass to good food and long health… and to finding a sense of calm within the chaos.
The writer was a guest of Anantara Hotels: anantara.com and New World Saigon Hotel: newworldhotels.com
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