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Vietnam - Saigon - 8/07
Saigon- Com Nieu/Com Dap
After reading "a Cook's Tour" by Anthony Bourdain, the famous American Chef that travels the world in search of the perfect Meal, describing his experience at Saigon Com Nieu, I decided to go there and check it out.
Bourdain described the restaurant as follows:
"...when you order a rice side, a waiter retrieves it from the kitchen, smashes the crockery with a mallet, the pieces falling to the floor, then hurls the sizzling-hot rice cake across the dining room, over the heads of customers, to another waiter, who catches the cake on a plate, flips it, sends it up in the air a few more times like a juggler, then cuts it into portions tableside, dressing it with fish sauce, peppers, sesame, and chives ... Every few minutes, searingly hot dishes of rice go sailing by my ear..."
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A taxi dropped us off in front on the restaurant. The area around the restaurant is actually pretty scary and poorly lit. The street is very narrow and there are so many people hanging around. |
The waiter is starting to break off the clay pot by turning the clay pot upside down, then he uses a little hammer to break the pot.. You can see pieces of clay falling. |
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Now the clay pot of broken! On the left hand side you can see the waiter wearing gloves (the rice is very hot) and he is holding the crispy rice cake and then he will throw it to another waiter across the room.
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The waiter on the right caught the crispy rice with a plate. The other server is moving away to make room for the catcher. I've seen them miss the rice so they have to start it again until it is caught. |
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Once the rice is caught the waiter bring it to your table and start cutting the rice in smaller portion..
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Closer look at the crispy rice. The waiter will then pour Nuoc mam Pha (fish sauce), then black and white sesame seed and then finally Mo Hanh (hot oil with chives). |
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Just in case the com trai (crispy rice) is too hard for you to chew, the restaurant is also serving regular steamed rice in clay pot shown above. |
The food is traditional Vietnamese such as co kho to (cat fish in clay pot), Canh chua (soup) etc... |
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We are enjoying our food and while eating the waiters are throwing the rice pretty regularly and it makes it a really neat show to see. |
More action... The waiter broke another clay pot and is ready to throw it the other side of the room |
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1, 2. 3... He is ready to toss the rice on the other side of the room... |
The waiter missed the rice and had to start over. Patrons just laugh and the show continues... |
Next... Cho ben Thanh
