Luke Nguyen's Vietnam Food Tour: Day 1

We gathered in the hotel lobby at 6 pm to meet our fellow food tour travelers. This is when you discover who you will be traveling with for the next 10 days.

This was great. It was a small group — 13 people, 12 of them Australians — plus a Vietnamese guide from Intrepid Travel named Binh Tran, who speaks really good English. He was amazing throughout the entire trip. He’d get us to every destination (which was like herding cats), give us the history and background, and herd us to the next one. He could solve any problem, from finding umbrellas during a sudden downpour to getting one traveler care when she slipped on some wet pavement.

As the only American in the group, I had to do something to quickly get on their good side. I told them what I always tell Australians: I am the only American who actually likes Vegemite (true).

Either they were impressed, or they thought I was lying. In any case, no one called me a “seppo,” which in Australian slang means an American. See, seppo is short for septic tank, which rhymes with Yank, which is an American. Makes perfect sense.

We did the formalities (visas, insurance, etc.) at the hotel and then headed off to a Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant called Hà Thành in a classic 100-year-old French-inspired mansion.

It specializes in Northern Vietnamese cuisine, which is very different from Southern cooking, and many dishes are found only in the North.

Luke (who did call me “seppo”) greeted us, and we went upstairs (a beautiful dark-wood stairway) to a private room. The menu was amazing, featuring Northern Vietnamese classics such as crab paste soup, lotus root salad, snail cake, and grilled pork jowl. It was all delicious and not something I ever see on the menu at my local Vietnamese joint.

So far, everybody seemed to be getting along well. The thing about Aussies is that they are great to travel with. They are fun, friendly, and easy to get along with. No pretensions on display. No “whinging” as they would say.