While in Da Nang, we re-visited a couple of place we'd enjoyed before. First up was Bánh Xèo Bà Dưỡng.
The place was exactly as I remembered it.
The Bánh Xèo and was still great.
As were the Nem Lụi.
Another night, looking for a quick and easy dinner, we stopped by Bánh Mì Bà Lan.
We got a sandwich each, and also shared a "breadstick" (a skinny little Bánh Mì with just pate). Nice, simple dinner.
No visit to Vietnam can be considered complete without having some Bánh Mì. We had a couple in Saigon.
A number of famous bánh mì spots were right near our hotel. The most famous ones seemed to be mostly renowned for how big and stuffed with meat they are (kind of a Vietnamese equivalant of the New York deli sandwich).
Not needing or wanting a huge sandwich, we stopped in at place called Hồng Hoa just outside the alley where our hotel was located.
We got two sandwiches - one thịt nướng (grilled meat) and one heo quay (roast pork).
Both sandwiches were very good.
They also had xôi, so we got an order. Sticky rice with a hint of cinnamon, topped with fried shallots and cold cuts. Delicous.
Another day we stopped for lunch at a well-rated place called Phố Cổ 159.
We got a roast pork sandwich, and a mixed meat sandwich from the lady working her cart out front of a travel agency (which she used for seating).
Both sandwiches were good, if nothing special. My guess is the place is mostly rated well for its clean, spacious seating area (something not common at bánh mì spots).
Another place I found via google maps, but had confirmed by a local as a "good spot" (this time, a grab driver). Selera Padang Puteh is a breakfast/lunch place - we went for both.
First up, lunch. The restaurant is primarily a buffet - you take what you want, and they charge you based on what you've taken. The options were a bit overwhelming. We ended up with one plate with fish balls, braised egg, and beef rendang.
The other plate heaped with fish, two types of chicken curry, potatoes, and eggplant. They had both a regular sambal, and another with ikan bilis in it.
Everything was really good, and it was a very pleasant place to eat, so we came back another day for breakfast.
Breakfast was a similar affair, with a buffet that overlapped with the lunch offerings, but with some different items. We got a plate with some fried chicken and rice with a gravy from a few of the dishes.
They do roti in the morning, so we ordered a roti pisang - roti canai with banana cooked in it, served with condensed milk.
And a couple of half-cooked eggs.
Great local restaurant - the kind of place that would be in our regular rotation if we lived here.
It had been *days* since we'd had a good roti cenai, so when we saw this tent one afternoon we took note and came back the next morning for breakfast.
I tried to order half-cooked eggs, but it got lost in translation and I got them sunny side up. No big deal - they were great with the fluffy roti, the dal and the sambal.
The sambal was super good here - I ended up going back for a big second dish of it.
I could eat this for breakfast every day.
We'd been passing this roti bakar ("grilled bread") spot for days now, and they always seemed to be doing a good business.
On our last morning before flying out, we finally stopped in for breakfast.
We each got roti bakar with half-boiled eggs and a teh tarik.
One we got with the addition of cheese (which they blowtorched to melt).
Roti bakar definitely falls into the "simple, but great" category.
We also got a roti canai to share, and I'm glad we did because it was very good and the accompanying dal with sambal was terrific.
A lovely way to spend our last morning in George Town!
Kampung Baru is such a great place for breakfast. On this morning we opted for roti canai.
And this place was all about the roti canai - they were busily cooking them up one after another.
While we usually like our eggs soft-cooked alongside roti, this morning we went with the egg cooked in.
The house "gravy" was a big cauldron of curry sauce with chicken back bones and chicken feet cooking in it - very tasty.
Perfect breakfast in a very pleasant and friendly setting.
One evening in Malacca, tandoori chicken sounded good, so we walked over to Pak Putra - a Pakistani restaurant.
They had a number of tandoor ovens in action out front, with both chicken and naan on the go.
We ordered a couple a naan breads and some tandoori chicken - with some butter chicken and a veg dish for good measure.
The naans were good, and the tandoori chicken was flavorful and tender. The dipping sauce that came with it was really good - it had a nice brightness to it.
The butter chicken was also good, but the real star of the dish was the sauce, which was perfect for dipping the naan in.
The veg was potato, cauliflower and peas. Fairly mushy texture and not a lot going on flavorwise.
Apart from the somewhat boring veg, a very good meal in a nice setting.
On our previous visit to KL, Nasi Kandar Pelita was one of our favorite places. Since our hotel was within easy walking distance, we visited again twice this time.
Pelita has multiple stations, but the most important one is the Nasi Kandar station. Here you order a plate of rice and pick what toppings you would like.
It was late on our arrival day in KL and we didn't want to overeat, so we shared a plate with a couple of pieces of lamb rendang. We also got it "banjir" style - with a little bit of gravy added from each of the dishes.
Most other dishes are ordered from your table. We ordered a naan bread - which they make in the tandoor oven in the back.
On our second visit, we also were not super hungry, so we decided to go with a couple of dosas.
We got one plain dosa, and one onion dosa. The plain was perfect - super thin and crispy. The onion dosa didn't have much noticable onioniness going on, and it was folded over and thicker - more like an uttapam. We much prefered the plain one.
Both dosas came with a very nice dahl, and what I think was a slightly cococut-flavored raita. We also couldn't resist getting a chunk of lamb from the nasi kandar counter.
Every time we've visited Nasi Kandar Pelita it has been pleasantly busy, but not super packed. It remains a favorite place of ours.
