Luke Nguyen's Vietnam Food Tour: Day 6, nighttime
We were staying at the Vinpearl Resort on Binh Minh beach on the East Sea coast of Vietnam. The beach is pristine, and the resort is 20 minutes by Grab (Asia's awesome answer to Uber) to Hoi An. There are some nice hotels in Hoi An if you want to stay in town as well. It's a hard choice between the town's charm and the beautiful beach.
The resort has a lot of rooms, as well as some villas on the water. Luke invited us to one of these villas for a cozy dinner for 15 or so, including his charming wife Lynne and their adorable twin boys.
The chef was brilliant. There were a couple of amuse-bouches that I wolfed down so fast I didn't even write down what they were, except they were delicious.
A tamarind-glazed Cham Island lobster with coconut-infused gravy followed this. And that was followed by a smoked beef tenderloin with grilled bamboo shoots and five-spice beef jus.
We finished with a coconut-pandan crème brûlée with roasted peanut coconut ice cream.
When you go on a food tour, you should expect to have great meals, but this was beyond my expectations. Our fellow travelers have been great fun too. You can't go wrong with a bunch of Aussies.