I had this one trip the last time I went to Vietnam. It was my first time and it was marvelous. Don’t forget to visit my travel blogs, http://daytripswashbuckler.wordpress.com and http://travelpod.com/pokamamil from time to time. It’s a tough job managing travel and food at the same time though. Hoho..

Anyway, I was on my way return from Cao Dai Temple for Cu Chi Tunnels and it was around noon, the time when stomaches growl. Not to worry though, the travel agent has kindly reserved us all tourists, somewhere between those two places, still on the northwestern highway and amongst countless Vietnamese local coffee shops or restaurants with boards written the word ‘Cơm‘ or ‘rice’, we found ourselves stopping outside a humble, but clean and nice place called Quán Cơm Kiều.

The place was quite spacious and can contain the whole bus full of tourist plus also their regular customers. The menu? You might wonder what Vietnamese eats beside their cơm tấm (broken rice) or phở (beef and noodle soup) right? Well, their cuisine can be somehow similar with Chinese food. For instance, I ate Squid Cooked with Onion/Cauliflower and Steamed Rice (VND 40,000) and it looks quite similar with Chinese stir fry dishes, but they do serve more veggies and they even put stir fried veggies on the rice too. It was quite good. Not as tasty as it would be in Indonesia but clearly better than several other countries I had visited before.

My friends had different dishes. Those were Fried Rice with Egg Fried Vegetables (VND 30,000), Fried Flour Prawns (VND 40,000), and Fried Fish with Steamed Rice (VND 35,000). The prawns were great though it’s only like battered prawns, chili sauce, and rice only which I found not enough since I always need balance nutritions in my dish and that would be the veggies. The fish was awful though. It’s a bit smelly and bland. The fried rice however, was better but still bland though the egg covers most of the plate and it seemed very inviting once you dig in.

The price scale was strictly in between VND 35,000-VND 40,000 for the foods. Add that with the always good cà phê sữa đá or Vietnamese iced coffee with milk. So it’s not gonna be far from VND 50,000 for everything and that’s very cheap for a hearty Vietnamese dish with a refreshing beverage after a hot long day traveling in the countryside.

So whenever you’re around the route to Cambodia, be sure to seek this place out. Happy traveling! ^^

LOCATION:

Northwestern highway from Saigon. Haven’t pinpointed it yet. Wait up fellas. ^^v