New dining promotions at Renaissance

The Renaissance Riverside Hotel Saigon has these food and beverage specials in November: “Peking Duck returns @ Kabin” by resident chef from Hong Kong, Yeung Loi Ming, till December 30; “Thanksgiving Dinner @ Riverside Café” on Nov. 25 featuring mouthwatering traditional Thanksgiving turkey with many other delicacies complimented with a glass of Beaujolais Nouveau; “Beer Buckets Galore @ Poolside Terrace”; “Seafood Extravaganza @ Riverside Café”; “Sunday Brunch @ Riverside Café” and “The Art of Dim Sum @ Kabin”.

For more information, contact the hotel at 3822 0033.

French cuisine at Square One

Until November 20, Chef Benjamin Attwater from Square One Restaurant of the Park Hyatt Saigon Hotel will introduce a “Culinary Journey through South West France”. Chef Attwater has designed a six course degustation dinner menu, consisting of dishes and produce from the South West of France, matching each dish with wines from the same region.

Dinner set menu at USD110++ per person with wine.

For more information, call +84 8 3824 1234 or email saigon.park@hyatt.com

Traditional English High Tea at InterContinental

The InterContinental Asiana Saigon introduces nostalgic - English High Tea this month at the hotel’s library.

Visit the hotel library from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. to have a pot of traditional English loose tea accompanied with fresh-cut sandwiches, scones with strawberry jam and whipped cream and sophisticated sweet bites. The price is VND300,000++ for two persons.

The Library also offers a sophisticated all-day snack menu devised by the hotel’s Executive Chef Rolando Manesco. The wide selection of tempting treats is paired with a “royal selection” of the world’s finest teas, coffees, wines and spirits served in an elegant setting.

For more information or reservations, call 08 3520 9099 or email dine@icasianasaigon.com.

The hotel is at corner of Le Duan Boulevard and Hai Ba Trung Street.

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John Blanco appointed as general manager of The Nam Hai

John Blanco, new general manager of The Nam Hai

Luxury hotel and resort management company GHM has appointed accomplished international hotelier, John Blanco, as general manager of The Nam Hai, an all villa resort on Hoi An Beach.

Blanco comes to The Nam Hai after opening The Bristol Buenaventura in Panama. He has also worked at luxury resorts in Switzerland, France, Mexico, Spain, Singapore, Bali and the United States during his 25-year hospitality career.

“John is a well-respected and highly experienced hotelier who, in his role as general manager, will continue to drive the success of the resort and take it to new heights,” said Hans Jenni, president and director of GHM, in a statement.

Blanco’s first general manager role was at The Ritz-Carlton, Penha Longa Portugal. From 2006-2009, he was managing director of The Landmark Hotels Group, responsible for properties in Hawaii and Mexico.

Born in Venezuela, Blanco is fluent in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese, and conversant in Italian and German. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and the prestigious Centre International de Glion in Swtizerland.

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Con Dao from hell to heaven

A local woman waits for her husband’s fishing boat to return at dawn

One rainy November day in Saigon, with news of floods in the Central, I had a desire to explore something new. I decided to risk bad weather and backpack to Con Dao. 

From Tan Son Nhat International Airport it’s only half an hour on the plane to Co Ong or Con Son Airport. It’s mid-afternoon, but the weather is mild with a gentle sea breeze. The driver from Saigon Con Dao Resort picks me up with a friendly smile and we go to the resort, 12km from the airport. One thing surprises me about this resort - one side faces the sea but the old prison, Phu Son, is behind it. It was a little bit unnerving. When visiting Con Dao, don’t forget to visit the historical sites, the jails where revolutionary fighters against the French and the U.S colonialists were incarcerated and tortured. A tour guide tells me there are eight prisons including Phu Hai, Phu Son and Phu Tuong.

I spend all afternoon to visit the jail system in Con Dao and go to Hang Duong cemetery to burn incense for the dead. Over 20,000 prisoners are buried at the 19-hectare cemetery including the tombs of famous patriots Vo Thi Sau, Le Hong Phong, and Nguyen An Ninh. 

Tourists visit Con Dao’s notorious tiger cages at Phu Tuong prison - Photos: Tuong Vi

Con Dao has passed the 113 years where it was known as “Hell on earth”, to be transformed into something quite different – a peaceful archipelago surrounded by sea. It is now called “Heaven of the sea” or “The pearl in the middle of the ocean”.

A district of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Con Dao is 230km from HCMC. The coastline is still largely undeveloped especially on the beaches of An Hai, Nhat, Dam Trau, Lo Voi or Ong Dung. As darkness comes, I sit at a street café overlooking the historical Quay 914 built by the French where some people are fishing for cuttlefish.

The sun rises at 6a.m. sparkling like pearls on the ocean. A new day has come, and the fishing boats are ready to head to sea.

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RMIT Ultimate Club holds Frisbee Tournament Saturday

RMIT Ultimate Club players jump to compete for the disk - Photo: The organizers

Ultimate Frisbee fanatics can expect some high flying action in HCMC on Saturday, November 20, when the RMIT Ultimate Frisbee Club holds its yearly RMIT One Day Hat Tournament at the university’s fields.

“It promises to be a great day of competition,” the head of the tournament organizing committee, Lam Minh Tuan said.

Registrations exceeded expectations this year, said Tuan, who is a Professional Communications student at RMIT.

The organizers only expected about 45 to register for the ultimate frisbee competition, but they had over 60 so far, he said adding that Saturday’s hat tournament aimed at pitting RMIT Ultimate Club (RUC) players against more experienced players so they could improve their Ultimate skills.

The One Day Hat is also an important training ground for the Vietnam Hat, which is organized by RUC’s sister club Saigon Ultimate Club. Players come from all over the region and the world to play Ultimate Frisbee at the Vietnam Hat. This year’s Vietnam Hat will be on December 18-19 also at RMIT.

Tuan said most of the entrants of this Saturday’s hat tournament were from the two local clubs or RMIT alumni.

He said there are currently about 40 active members of RUC, which started in 2006 with only 10 members with the support of the Saigon Ultimate Club.

The student team has competed internationally at the Singapore Open, Bangkok HAT and Phom Penh HAT.

Tuan, whose Ultimate nickname is Zero, said the team was improving every year… It came 19th at its first Singapore Open in 2007 and worked its way to 14th in 2009.

He said RMIT Ultimate Club provided a friendly and competitive environment at training and competitions.

RMIT has helped out by sponsoring the One Day Hat with the use of the fields, planning, marketing and equipment.

The venue for the RMIT One Day Hat Tournament is RMIT, 702 Nguyen Van Linh Boulevard, District 7, HCMC. For more information email frisbeeruc@gmail.com or Tuan at tuanlm2607@gmail.com.

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Nhan Tower – witness of time

Nhan Tower at nightime in Tuy Hoa City, Phu Yen Province - Photo: Dang Hoang Tham

Nha Trang City is famous for its ancient Cham icon - Ba Tower that looks over Xom Bong Bridge, but Tuy Hoa City in Phu Yen Province is equally proud of its own piece of ancient Cham architecture on top of the legendary Nhan Mountain.

If you visit Phu Yen, the 800-year-old Nhan Tower is on the list of attractions with Da Dia Cliff, O Loan Lagoon, Xuan Dai Bay and Vung Ro Port.

The tower’s image is reflected on Da Giang River below, near National Highway No. 1. It was built by the Cham in the late 11th or early 12th centuries. The ancient brick shrine is 25m high, has four stories and each side of its square base is 11m. There are some walking paths and roads to the site.

The valuable vestige of Cham culture has survived many conflicts through the centuries and much of many of the carvings are well preserved.

The view from Nhan Tower is awesome. It looks across endless rice fields, the magnificent Da Bia Mountain and the winding Giang Da River.

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Tiny crab soup does a body good

At H’s Cua Dong Restaurant, paddy crabs can be found everywhere.

But you won’t see them anywhere.

Instead, the silver-dollar sized, freshwater crustaceans have been pounded into a paste (shell and all) and strained into savory broths that flavor the vegetables, soups, and dipping sauces that make up the menu.

Around twenty field crabs are required for a single bowl which is served with little winged beans and sliced green bananas.

Every once in a while, you will find a white, spongy sliver of the meat in one of the dishes alluding to the tiny source of this huge flavor.

The taste is like no other.

During Ho Chi Minh City’s wet, sultry summers, there’s nothing like a hot pot flavored with the little brown crabs.

The pesky critters have been known to cut into rice yields in the Mekong Delta. It’s no surprise that southern farmers view crab catching as both a cheap protein harvest and a good gardening practice.

WHERE TO GO

Brown paddy crabs can be found at the following restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City: * H’s Cua Dong18A/5/A1 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1 * Cua 9 mon290/3 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, District 3 * Ho Cau Phu Huu816/46 Nguyen Duy Trinh Street, Phu Huu Ward, District 9

The easiest way to eat them is to toss heaps of crabs in salt and then roast them on hot coals. The bodies are cracked open and the roe, meat and lungs are eaten like oysters.

Sometimes, bunches of crabs are simply boiled until the meat separates from the body. The resulting mush is then dipped into prepared fish sauce and eaten.

In the North, they are fried.

In and around Cambodia, the little crabs are sometimes fermented in huge jars. The resulting fishiness factor overwhelms most Western palates. But, in rural communities, the fermented freshwater crabs are heralded as healthy snack for expecting mothers.

In the city, the most popular iteration of this creature is known as bun rieu cua (rice vermicelli and sour crab soup).

Cua dong (known, alternatively as paddy, field and mud crabs) are first soaked in fresh water to clean them of sand and grit.

After being smashed with a mallet, the crab’s roe is extracted and stir fried with onions to produce a fragrant base. The rest of the creature is ground, with mortar and pestle.

Vermicelli noodles are flash boiled and added to the broth which bears the sour flavor of tamarind. Bowls of the noodles are served piping hot with chili, split water spinach and lettuce.

The soup can combine with many other vegetables such as hoa thien ly (Tonkin creeper flower), rau ngot (sweet leaf bush), rau day (jute plant) and rau sam (pigweed).

Dipping sauces are prepared by boiling the crabs with ginger, chili and fresh bamboo sprouts.

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Tiny crab soup does a body good

At H’s Cua Dong Restaurant, paddy crabs can be found everywhere.

But you won’t see them anywhere.

Instead, the silver-dollar sized, freshwater crustaceans have been pounded into a paste (shell and all) and strained into savory broths that flavor the vegetables, soups, and dipping sauces that make up the menu.

Around twenty field crabs are required for a single bowl which is served with little winged beans and sliced green bananas.

Every once in a while, you will find a white, spongy sliver of the meat in one of the dishes alluding to the tiny source of this huge flavor.

The taste is like no other.

During Ho Chi Minh City’s wet, sultry summers, there’s nothing like a hot pot flavored with the little brown crabs.

The pesky critters have been known to cut into rice yields in the Mekong Delta. It’s no surprise that southern farmers view crab catching as both a cheap protein harvest and a good gardening practice.

WHERE TO GO

Brown paddy crabs can be found at the following restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City: * H’s Cua Dong18A/5/A1 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1 * Cua 9 mon290/3 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, District 3 * Ho Cau Phu Huu816/46 Nguyen Duy Trinh Street, Phu Huu Ward, District 9

The easiest way to eat them is to toss heaps of crabs in salt and then roast them on hot coals. The bodies are cracked open and the roe, meat and lungs are eaten like oysters.

Sometimes, bunches of crabs are simply boiled until the meat separates from the body. The resulting mush is then dipped into prepared fish sauce and eaten.

In the North, they are fried.

In and around Cambodia, the little crabs are sometimes fermented in huge jars. The resulting fishiness factor overwhelms most Western palates. But, in rural communities, the fermented freshwater crabs are heralded as healthy snack for expecting mothers.

In the city, the most popular iteration of this creature is known as bun rieu cua (rice vermicelli and sour crab soup).

Cua dong (known, alternatively as paddy, field and mud crabs) are first soaked in fresh water to clean them of sand and grit.

After being smashed with a mallet, the crab’s roe is extracted and stir fried with onions to produce a fragrant base. The rest of the creature is ground, with mortar and pestle.

Vermicelli noodles are flash boiled and added to the broth which bears the sour flavor of tamarind. Bowls of the noodles are served piping hot with chili, split water spinach and lettuce.

The soup can combine with many other vegetables such as hoa thien ly (Tonkin creeper flower), rau ngot (sweet leaf bush), rau day (jute plant) and rau sam (pigweed).

Dipping sauces are prepared by boiling the crabs with ginger, chili and fresh bamboo sprouts.

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• Visit hell then heaven