Dining Out

It's been about 5 weeks since I came to Vietnam. I'm enjoying myself very much. Everything is so inexpensive. Everyday, I try out a new restaurant during lunchtime which costs a little less than $1 (USD) per meal. A meal includes rice with choice of main course, choice of stir-fried item, a beverage, and fruits for dessert. Can't beat that!

Fine dining is also less expensive than what it costs in the US. I had one of those Frenchie dinners at a restaurant named Le Caprice (http://www.thelandmarkvietnam.com/photo23.html), where you are served in the following order:
1. appetizer
2. sorbet to the palette
3. main course
4. chocolates - teaser to the dessert, I guess
5. dessert/ports
6. cheese & crackers

Coffee falls in there somewhere. I had beef carpaccio for starters and seared duck foie gras--one of my favs--for my main course. For dessert, I had strawberry flambe. Yummy, yummy dinner. We finished about 4hrs later at a little pass midnight. I'm not quite used to that. :-} The main courses (fillet mignon, rib eye, lamb, rabbit, etc.) cost about $10-$15 dollars less than they would in the US.

For a "regular" family dinner outting, less than $20 can get you seafood (hotpot-style) that will decently stuff three to four people.

For about $4, you can stuff 3 people with vendor food such as spring rolls, boiled duck eggs, buttered mollusks and snails.

Getting hungry now...