Seafood 2000, Quy Nohn, Vietnam

Seafood 2000, Quy Nohn, Vietnam
Thursday 27 September, 2005

You have to visit this place to see it for yourselves. Seafood 2000 is tucked away in a quiet residential street in Quy Nohn town. It is a four story building that is packed every night. We were led to the fourth floor but not before taking in the scenes on the floors below. Shells by the hundreds are strewn all over the floor and the crowd is largely families and friends.

You don't order, the food just keeps appearing - & it is brilliant. Beers all round we kicked off with bowls of pippies and chilli, followed by platters of scallops with roasted garlic, calarmari with chilli paste, an entire crayfish each - smoked on the BBQ, then the finale a whole red snapper - grilled.

I can guarantee two things - you will not be able to finish all the food that comes to the table and you will enjoy tossing the shells over your shoulder onto the floor (it is perfectly acceptable - the staff are offended if you don't).

As it is a residential area, it is likely the families will be sitting out in the street after dinner. If you have a digital camera, the kids love having their photos taken and are blown away when they can see themselves on the screen seconds later.

Total cost per person - $20 Australian

Mango Room, Hoi An, Vietnam

Mango Room, Hoi An, Vietnam
Tuesday 25 September, 2005

Our host, chef and all round international man of mystery is Mr Duc. The only man who can carry off a scarf wrapped around his head and look very sexy. He was born in Malaysia and has lived and worked in many countries and has now found himself in Hoi An. The food is called fusion as it incorporates Vietnamese, Japanese, Mexican and French.

The Mango Room is a very cool spot to hang and enjoy a drink or dinner. If dining with a small crowd request the table inside near the entrance where you sit on a raised platform on cushions. The vibe is loud, young and the emphasis is on the cocktails. Passionfruit margaritas all around we enjoyed large platters of prawns - lightly fried and scallops topped with mango/ tomato garnish. It just didn't stop coming and we finished off the night with mango sorbet - delicious!

Total cost $20 Australian each including alcohol

Red Bridge, Hoi An, Vietnam

Red Bridge restaurant, Hoi An, Vietnam
Monday 24 September, 2005

We arrived at Red Bridge restaurant by boat - very impressive and what do you know - we docked by the red bridge with red hanging lanterns to guide our way. Stepping off the jetty onto the garden area, there were low intimate tables set up around the gardens with big pillow as chairs. We passed by these and were led up the stairs to the open air pavilion for dinner. Our host, the dapper Mr Hai, was a classic. We soon learnt that he enjoys his food (and alcohol) as much as the next person and was partial to a whisky or two or three.....and then enjoys riding his motorcycle into town to visit the nightclubs (but I digress..)

The atmosphere here is wonderful, attentive staff, well spaced courses and sensational food. We began our banquet with a selection of rice paper rolls and spring rolls (fried but very lightly) and a great selection of dipping sauces. The next dish was a favourite amongst the group, chicken and green papaya salad served with hard rice paper to use as a spoons - coat the rice paper with chilli paste and scoop up the salad - delicious!

The next dish was presented to the table in large green coconuts - the staff lifted the tops (like they were silver lids) to reveal a sweet coconut soup with prawns - the coconut inside was so soft you could scoop it out to eat - again delicious! We finished on claypots of marinated eggplant and and intriguing dish where you placed a tile over a sizzling hot fondue like bowl and you heated the rare meat by placing it on the tile. It was a slow process however the beef had been marinated in a fabulous hot sauce.

The only downside was the alcohol, if you don't drink beer, your only options are bad wine or straight spirits (they don't offer mixers).

The total cost for this feast - $30 Australian including a copious amount of alcohol.