Pho

I enjoy a bowl of  Pho and I have some very strong feelings about it, so here goes.

The best Pho is to be had in Ho Chi Minh City - no ifs or buts. I know it is a Northern dish, but in general the quality of ingredients in the South is still far superior to the North, and the Southerners are inclined to add a little pizzazz to their Pho, while the more conventional Hanoians are content to enjoy a humbe beef broth.

Chain Pho restaurants are despicable, every last one of them. The Pho to be had at such places is quite inedible, though every day scores of Westerners are herded into such places in the name of hygiene and menus and seats that won't collapse under a hefty Western bottom. None of these factors is worth the sacrifice.

For my money I like the Pho at Pho Anh on Ky Dong St, in District 3. Be warned though that the restaurant is only open in the mornings and the evenings. Delicious pho with a hint of five spice, the crowds that jam this place are testament to its deliciousness. There is also a very good and justly famous Pho shop right around the corner from my house on Le Van Sy in Tan Binh district, just before the corner of Pham Van Hai. This is a late night haunt of some repute, and you may catch movie stars, singers and gangsters there in the small hours. This is actually the best Pho in the city, but it doesn't really have a name that I can remember.

I like Pho nam (with pre-cooked beef sliced on top), though most plump for Pho tai (with thin slices of raw beef plunged into the hot broth). My nephew also likes extras like a raw egg broken into a small bowl of hot Pho broth, and a little bowl of beef balls in soup (bo vien).

Eating Pho in the SBS Feast Food Awards

Anyone who has visited Saigon knows that eating Pho is a regular pastime in Vietnam. More than a snack, less than a meal, it is a moment in time where you can sit and enjoy an exquisite treat at a strange juncture in the day or night when hunger might overtake you - late at night when you are drunk is a perfect moment for Pho consumption, don't ask me how I know.

If you live in Australia the final word on Pho is published this week in the fabulous SBS Feast Magazine. Attached to the mag is a fantastic little booklet detailing the results of the 2012 Feast Food Awards, giving the lowdown on the best places to get the key dishes in each capital city.

Judging Pho for Sydney is a prominent food blogger and someone pretty close to my heart, Thang Ngo from Noodlies. No need to declare an interest here - crack open your copy of my book Destination Saigon and you will discover that it is dedicated to him.

So who did he declare the best Pho in Sydney? I'm not saying - get the mag and find out for yourself, as well as where you can get the best Peking Duck, Pad Thai and Tandoori Chicken all over Australia. This little booklet is a treasure that is going straight into my carry-on luggage.

And the rest of SBS Feast magazine is always terrific reading - and I'm not just saying that because Mr. Noodlies is featured this month. It is always one of the magazines I look forward to most every month, filled with quirky and subastantial stories about food and eating all over the world.

Monday Blogcrawl

It must have been the phase of the moon, but for some reason all of my friends in Vietnam decided to contact me last week, and I was overcome with nostalgia and longing. Especially exciting was to hear that Kien has welcomed his baby son into the world - welcome to the Universe baby Khang! So now, let's look at some of the more interesting news from Vietnam, or about things Vietnamese, this past week:

A view of Saigon's Bitexco Tower from the blog SaigonNezumi.com

• Jenni Young has created a beautiful poster using the words of Vietnamese Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh. On further matters Buddhist, the University of Hawaii Press has released a new book on Buddhism and gender in Vietnam. And the Supreme Patriarch of Cambodia visited Vietnam last week.
• Hanoi is angry at Lonely Planet again - over the naming of a sea! In that same vein, Vietnam seems to be wanting to play off India against China to gain a little bit of leverage.Continuing matters nautical, there was a mutiny on a Vietnamese ship anchored off India
• The Phnom Penh Post says that all is not going so well economically in Vietnam
• A group of Vietnamese tourists experienced a horror bus smash while touring Cambodia - many injured, one died
• I missed this riot by parents at a primary school in Hanoi last month
• Voice of Vietnam tells us that Serbia has given some previously unseen photographs of Ho Chi Minh to the Vietnamese people

Co Dau Dai Chien (Angry Brides)

When we were visiting our favourite DVD shop in Cabramatta recently the owner slipped an extra disc into our bag for free. "You'll love this one," he said. "A brand new movie from Vietnam."
Which is how we discovered Co Dau Dai Chien, a sex-comedy released in 2011 that details the adventures of a rather gormless nouveau riche lothario and the clutch of women to whom he has promised his hand.

Now, don't be expecting any great delicacy of observation in this movie. In terms of sexual politics I dare say it is quite problematic. But in terms of entertainment this is a wonderful, and surprisingly sophisticated film. It represents the most fascinating meeting of cinematic traditions, combining the martial arts aesthetics of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with the sleek and sexually-charged repartee of the Rock Hudson & Doris Day movies, throwing in a generous dose of camp self-knowingness which at times put me in mind of Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
It is also a remarkable evocation of contemporary Saigon, with its yuppie try-hards, its ambitious young career women, and centuries of tradition being fast jettisoned in the face of a growing prosperity. The film's hero is despicable in his treatment of women, but he is also ultimately punished for it in the most intimate and devastating way.
I absolutely loved this film, and simply couldn't stop laughing. The comedy veers from the slapstick to the cerebral, and the performances similarly slide from exquisitely subtle to over-the-top campery. But it is all such tremendous fun, and with such a complicated and even wicked moral, that the variety of experiences seem to be an intentional part of the journey.
Watch it with an open mind and tell me that the end isn't a kind of feminist triumph. Or I could have got it totally wrong.  

Basic Concepts of Buddhism: The Sangha

The basic act of Buddhist devotion is taking refuge in the Three Jewels: Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

Monks at Tinh Xa Trung Tam, Saigon

The Buddha is the person of the most enlightened one, the Dharma is the body of the Buddha's teachings - but what is the Sangha?  

Buddha shrine at Vien Giac Temple, Bui Thi Xuan St, Tan Binh district, Ho Chi Minh City.

Sangha is a Sanskrit and Pali word meaning "Assembly" or "Community." Traditionally the Sangha has been interpreted to mean the monastic community of dedicated religious practitioners living together in a community devoted to the Buddha's teachings.

But Vietnamese Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh has taken the concept further. In his book Joyfully Together: The Art of Building a Harmonious Community, he explains Sangha in this way:

"Any group of people can practice as a Sangha, as a community that is determined to live in harmony and awareness. All we have to do is commit ourselves to going together in the direction of peace, joy, and freedom. Together, we benefit from each other's strengths and learn from each other's weaknesses. A family is a Sangha, the members of a monastic and lay practice centre are a Sangha; even the United Nations is a Sangha! A Sangha is a family, a spiritual family connected by the pactices of mindfulness, concentration, and insight.  The Sangha may be Buddhist, or even non-Buddhist, so long as it is a community that walks the path of liberation together."

These days the Sangha is normally spoken of as "the community that follows the Dharma," thereby incorporating all Buddhists, lay and monastic.

Catherine Deneuve

Having once been the face of Chanel No.5, muse of Yves Saint Laurent and partner of photographer DavidBailey, Catherine Deneuve remains one of the most stylish women in the world, and she was, perhaps, at her most stylish when she starred in Indochine RegisWargnier’s 1992 epic about the French colonial period in Vietnam. 

I saw Indochine long before I ever saw Vietnam, and it indelibly coloured my vision of that country. And I still see myself in a vauguely Deneuve-ish light, swanning about in the Vietnamese heat in some gorgeous Vietnam-inspired couture.

When we finally did get to Vietnam in 1994 the shadow of Catherine Deneuve still loomed, particularly in Hanoi. She must have been quite the shopper, because shop after shop in the Old Quarter featured a blown-up picture of the proprietor standing next to a gorgeously humble Miss Deneuve, her hair pulled back from her beautifully sculpted face.

Now in late middle age, Deneuve’s name remains the very byword for a certain kind of old-world Gallic glamour that has almost totally disappeared. She is the last of the great French film stars.

And she’s back and going strong in a new French romantic comedy called Beloved. She was also just awarded the Stanislavsky Prize for a lifetime’s acting – well deserved. 

Monday Blogcrawl

Oh I am missing Vietnam.
I was there about 7 weeks ago, and now the longing has set in. It doesn't help that this week  three friends from Saigon spontaneously sent me messages, leaving me even more desperate to get back.
Here is some Vietnam-related stuff from the net this week:

• The costs of international education in Vietnam
• Why Vietnam doesn't like to call it China Beach any more
• A review of G. B. Tran's wonderful graphic novel Vietnamerica - and an interview with him here. Yes, he is gorgeous.
• Buddhist temples in Vietnam teach foreign languages for free to local poor kids
• Vietnam and Cambodia celebrate an official border being established at last. My guess is on-one's happy. 
• Gordon Ramsay visits Vietnam