Two months ago I moved to Vung Tau, which you know if you've been following at all. This is a smallish resort city whose claim to fame is the more than 80 kilometres of beaches. During the French occupation, it was known as Cap St. Jacques, and during the Vietnam war, it was where many American soldiers spent their R&R time.
I am enjoying my new life here. I can get almost anywhere I want to go by bicycle without expending too much effort. The sea breezes really calm my soul. And the food! There are so many places to eat that it takes forever to make a decision about where to go. there are probably at least 50 places to eat within walking distance of my apartment! I have decided to go out for lunch every day when I'm not working, and for dinner at least once per week and to a different place each time. So far I've tried a Ukrainian, a Vietnamese/American, a couple more Vietnamese, a pub, a pizza place, and some places that cater to Eastern and Western tastes. And I would go back to every single one of them!
Yesterday I tried the Rhinoceros Inn. I didn't see any rhinos, but I did have a lovely bowl of soup and some fried cuttlefish. The soup called itself cold cucumber soup, but it was more like potato salad soup as it had, along with cukes and potatoes, boiled eggs and ham. Lovely cream and fresh dill, and it was refreshing. The cuttlefish was good as well. I wish they would adopt the Western custom of garnishing fish dishes with a wedge of lemon.
Today at lunch time it was raining hard, so I waited and went out tonight instead. Now last Sunday I was at Ned Kelly's pub and had what I thought were the world's best onion rings, but I don't know. Tommy's, just up the street a bit, does a pretty good job too. It was a generous serving, and before I was finished I worried that I might not be able to do justice to the sea bass florentine I ordered. However, I managed.
While I was enjoying my onion rings, a motorbike pulled up in front of the restaurant. One of the servers ran out to it and then ran toward the kitchen clutching a bag of something green. I have a sneaking suspicion that it may have been the spinach for my dinner! It was very good, served with a bit of cream sauce and a lovely bit of salad made of onions, yellow and green peppers, tomato, served on lettuce. The only thing wrong was the overgenerous amount of mayo on the salad. It was also served with the french fries that one sees everywhere here, and that I wish someone would just drop into the sea.
A ka phe sua da finished my dinner nicely, and I sipped it while watching the lights on the bay. Apparently the sea wall is the place to be in the evening, because tonight there were motorbikes and cars lining it all along the street. An altogether pleasant evening.
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