cau lau
Overrun with lurky-lou, Western tourists and vocal merchants hocking chopsticks, t-shirts, and everything in between, Hoi An is said to be Vietnam’s foodiest town. I’m still on the fence on that one. It seems that most of the restaurants here serve the same unimaginative menu catering to bargain conscious tourists.
Ignoring maniacal menu waiving restaurant recruiters, I managed to find a safe haven from the crowds of trinket hunters and aggressive street vendors. Reputed to have some of the best cau lao, Hoi An’s infamous noodle dish, Restaurant Cafe 96 is literally a hole in the wall. When it comes to food and especially, restaurants, this is another lesson in “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”.
A combination of flat, doughy noodles, slices of fried pork, bean sprouts, thin croutons, and fresh herbs, the locals claim that the dish can’t be replicated outside of town because the water used in the dish must be drawn from Hoi An’s Ba Le well. Mixed with a hint of soy sauce, nước mắm, broth and ample chili sauce, cau lau is a simple yet distinctively Vietnamese tasting dish and quite a treat. I’m surprised the local entrepreneurs haven’t started bottling Ba Le well water. If it can make noodles taste so good, I would’ve left Hoi An with a souvenir.
I have much traveling to do and it looks like Vietnam and Restaurant Cafe 96 need to be added to the list. Nice write up.
Thx Kyle, Hoi An is a day trip, maybe one night. Very touristy. But, the local specialties make it worth a stop if your in the neighborhood. Hoi An is also known for the White Rose, a shrimp filled dumpling.