Flavours of Vietnam
Vietnamese Food Festival at Benjarong Bangalore
One fine evening I
was invited to be part of the on-going Vietnamese food festival at Benjarong,
aptly named as ‘Flavours of Vietnam’. I was sceptic at first to try out the
Vietnamese food as I haven’t tried it earlier and had no idea how the
experience will turn out to be. But the foodie inside me definitely wanted to
get familiar with something new. And here I was at Benjarong, excited to
indulge in the ‘never tried before’ Vietnamese cuisine.
Benjarong is one
among many reputed brands of Oriental Cuisines Private Limited (OCPL). It was
originally founded by foodie, professor, restaurateur and entrepreneur M
Mahadevan in May 1994 under the name of Chaitanya Gourmet Splendour Private Limited.
It was later renamed Oriental Cuisines Private Limited in March 1997. The other
brands under OCPL banner are: China Town, Ente Keralam, Le Chocolatier,
Oriental Banquets, Oriental Inn, Planet Yumm, Teppan, the French Loaf, Wang’s
Kitchen and Zara Tapas Bar.
Now, coming back to
the Vietnamese Festival at Benjarong, I have been here twice before and
honestly speaking I am a big fan of this place but as mentioned earlier, I had
no idea what’s in store for us with regards to the Vietnamese festival.
Once we reached
there, we were informed that the World-class Vietnamese Chef Nguyen Thi Nao is
present here at Benjarong Bangalore all the way from Vietnam to make our dining
experience a very special one. I and other fellow bloggers were indeed honoured
to meet Chef of such high calibre who has been associated with cooking shows on
TV and radio Channels in Vietnam. She has displayed
her excellence by participating in Guinness Vietnam Record 2013, for ‘The Most
Soup/Noodle in a festival’.
The interior of the
restaurant is very well decorated with sculptures, mirrors and different glow
lights which make the dining experience very soothing. Mr. Ali Joseph, Corporate Chef, OCPL
and Mr. Ramkumar, Brand Chef, Benjarong explained the whole idea behind
the Vietnamese festival and to expect and the style of cooking as well. Less on
spices, more on boiled, steamed dishes but with a lot of veggies included. We
were delighted when Chef Ali told us that we will be making our own Vietnamese Cold
Coffee (Ca phe da), which are a speciality of Vietnam and the highlight
of this festival. He promised that it will be an experience that we will
remember for a long time.
Chef Nguyen Thi Nao (Left) & Chef Ramkumar (Right)
Soon, the staffs
bought the apparatus to make the cold coffee and started showing us how is it
made. I being a coffee addict, nothing could have been better than this. It was
a perfect start for the evening. I was just amazed how good the coffee tasted;
this was truly a masterpiece straight from Vietnam.
Below is the video
of how the Vietnamese Iced coffee is made:
Would you like to
try this at home? Surely you can. Here is the method of making Vietnamese Iced
Coffee:
- Add hot water to the filter with coffee powder and cover with lid.
- Wait for few minutes to allow the coffee to drip down on to the condenced milk.
- Once the coffee dripping stops remove the filter from the glass
- With a sizzle stick, mix well the coffee and the condenced milk together.
- Pour the coffee – condenced milk content into the crushed ice glass.
- Enjoy the freshly made Vietnamese Iced Coffee.
Vietnamese Iced Coffee
Moving on, another
hit among the bloggers was presented on the table. This was nothing
extraordinary, nothing out of the box. It was the usual Fried rice crackers or wafers
that we fry at home and a bowl of green chutney or dip, which we tend to
ignore at every restaurant we are offered as side dish.
But at Benjarong it
has to be different. I swear on food, I haven’t had such a delicious, lip
smacking chutney ever. Throughout the dinner, we bloggers did not leave this
out of our sight even for a minute. Upon enquiring about the unique taste of
Chutney from Chef Nho, she said – ‘she used to
make this dip at her home in Vietnam and wanted to incorporate the same for the
festival. The main ingredients used for this dip are: Fresh Basil, thai
coriander, Mint, green chilli, salt and what adds to the taste is the inclusion
of Peanuts’.
Fried Rice Crackers
The meal was yet to
start and with back to back lip smacking innovations- firstly Vietnamese Iced
Coffee and secondly Fried rice crackers with the green chutney, expectations
were flying high, very high.
Later from the
menu, we were served Banana Blossom Salad with Chicken. Banana blossom is
a unique and exotic ingredient growing on the end of the stem holding a
cluster of bananas, and its inner, pale-colored leaves are considered a
vegetable in many Asian or tropical regions. It is popularly used as a type of
vegetable in Vietnam. It is mostly consumed in summers. It was served with
green leaves and wafers. A very simple cuisine, which is low on spices yet very
rich in taste holding the very essence of ingredients used.
Next on the menu
was Vietnamese
fresh shrimp spring rolls dipped in fermented bean sauce and mixed
pickles served with Five spiced Vietnamese fish skewers and BBQ honey
chicken skewers. The first thing I picked up was the fresh shrimp
spring rolls. First bite of it and it had a very plain taste with
vegetables clearly dominating the taste of shrimp. I would have preferred the
other way round. Next, I picked up the Five spiced Vietnamese fish. And I have to
admit here, Chef nailed it using the five spices along with the basa fish.
It
was very juicy making your tongue do merry go round inside the mouth, it was
cooked to perfection. Last but not the least; I picked up BBQ honey
chicken skewers. I am an avid chicken lover and here I was slightly
disappointed with the sweetness that accompanied honey.
Vietnamese
fresh shrimp spring rolls, Five spiced Vietnamese fish skewers and BBQ honey
chicken skewers.
And next on the
menu was the much awaited ‘Pho’ soup, it was presented in three variants-
Vegetarian, Chicken and Beef. Being a chicken admirer, I had to pick the Chicken Pho Noodle Soup. I cannot stop myself saying one more time; this is one
of the best soups I have had in a long time. I like soups which are thick and
not very watery. This was exactly what I prefer. The minimal use of spices
allows savouring the taste of chicken and the noodles making it a soup in real
sense. I have come across many places which spoils the real essence of soup by
overdoing it with veggies and spices but here at Benjarong, less is more. I
highly recommend the Chicken Pho noodle soup to the visitors.
Chicken Pho Noodle Soup
And as you say
expect the unexpected, next on the table was Stir-fried Glass Noodles with crab meat. It is very rare to come across glass noodles and crab meat. This a
combination that I would rate very high compared to others. At times, people do
complain about the smell of crab but here there was nothing of that sort. The flavour
minced crab meat added to the beauty of the glass noodles. It was nothing less
than icing on the cake. Will definitely look forward to try more of glass
noodle experiments in coming days.
Stir-fried Glass Noodles with crab meat
My meal cannot go
through longer if I don’t have my Virgin Mojito by my side. This is one of the
most basic drinks one could look for but the catch is not every one makes the
perfect mojito. There are very few places in Bangalore who make a good Virgin
Mojito to drink. And yet again at Benjarong, I found one of the best Virgin
Mojito’s ever. I told my fellow bloggers about the same. It was perfect in
every sense.
Virgin Mojito
Other fellow bloggers tried the Tangy Watermelon.
Tangy Watermelon
Next up was, Caramelised fish in Claypot. This was a perfect example of beauty lies in
simplicity. No exaggeration with the presentation, very simple but the flavours
spoke out loud. It was garnished with spring onions and red chilli. The
speciality of this cuisine is it is cooked and then served in the same pot.
The
Basa fish was again cooked to perfection. The flavours were well soaked in the
flesh of fish giving the very reason to indulge more and more.
Caramelised fish in Claypot
Next on the menu
was Green Mung Bean sticky rice was served along with Vietnam Chicken in Coconut gravy. By this time I was full to the neck
but still made a point to taste. Honestly speaking, I am not fan of sticky rice
and coconut gravy and it would be wrong to say it wasn’t good. It is my
personal choice but if you have a liking for sticky rice and coconut gravy this
is the cuisine for you – as said by my blogger friend Rumana.
Green Mung Bean sticky rice &
Vietnam Chicken in Coconut gravy
Vietnam Chicken in Coconut gravy
No matter how full
you are, there is always a small space that makes way for desserts. We were
presented two varieties of desserts, namely:
Speaking about the
former, we all found the baked mung bean cake to be a little harder than
expected and very less on sweet, which is very different from the Indian style.
We spoke to Chef Ramkumar to fing out what was the reason behind it. Chef
Ramkumar said ‘We are aware of the Indian style of these desserts but in
Vietnam, these desserts are made in a particular way, a bit on the harder side
and the people there prefer less sweetness. This being a Vietnamese festival,
we did not want to take away the authenticity of the dessert making it Indian
way’.
Baked Mung Bean Cake
with ice cream and fresh chopped fruits
Moving on to the
second dessert, Crystal steamed Banana Cake served on Coconut sauce. The
texture and complexity of the dish was eye-pleasing. My choice out of the two
is the latter.
Crystal steamed Banana Cake served on coconut
sauce along with ice cream and fresh fruits
I never thought
that my first experience of Vietnamese cuisine would be such wonderful. One
take away from this experience that all bloggers agreed was, you don’t need
ample of spices to make the food taste good. The Vietnamese food is directly
opposite to our Indian food. Less on spice, high on taste.
After the wonderful
food, we made a point to speak to Chef Ramkumar and Chef Nao. Below, watch Chef Ram speak on a length about
the on-going Vietnamese festival at Benjarong.
Flavours of Vietnam
started in Bangalore from 23rd July 2014 and will end on 10th August 2014. The
price of each dish ranges between Rs. 250-500 each. I highly recommend the
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