The entrance to Son Doong Cave, the largest cave in the world, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, Vietnam. Photo / 123rf
The entrance to Son Doong Cave, the largest cave in the world, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, Vietnam. Photo / 123rf
Venture virtually to Vietnam with this selection of TV shows, books, traditional flavours and online experiences.
What's new in Vietnam
Hang Son Doong (Mountain River Cave)
Confirmed as the world's biggest cave in 2009, and only opened to visitors in 2013, the gargantuan Hang Son Doong (Mountain River Cave) isthe undoubted highlight of central Vietnam's Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. While we're waiting for international travel to restart, experience National Geographic's 360-degree virtual reality tour of the cave at nationalgeographic.com/news-features/son-doong-cave/2.
Local operators explore other caves in the region's honeycombed jungle landscape, including ziplining and kayaking to the exciting Hang Toi (Dark Cave), while the Australian-Vietnamese team of Ben and Bich Mitchell at the Phong Nha Farmstay (phong-nha-cave.com) offer mountain biking, kayaking and paddleboarding, and jeep trips on the historic Ho Chi Minh Trail to near the border with Laos.
Crouching on a tiny blue plastic stool while eating brilliant street food is an essential part of visiting Vietnam, so fire up Netflix to resurrect past memories or inspire the expectation of flavour-packed future travels. Episode seven of Netflix's interesting Street Food:Asia series focuses on a couple of Ho Chi Minh City families serving up popular local dishes including oc (snails) and com tam (rustic "broken rice"), and presents the country's sprawling economic capital in all its gritty, neon-infused glory.
The southern city known as Saigon is also the location for episode two of the first series of Somebody Feed Phil on Netflix. US comedian and television writer Phil Rosenthal is a witty host as he ventures out for pho (noodle soup), and also learns about the Ho Chi Minh City-meets-Houston contemporary culinary mash-up of Vietnamese-Cajun cuisine.
Available on DocPlay (docplay.com), The Vietnam War by American documentary maker Ken Burns is the definitive account of the conflict stretching from 1955 to 1975.
Cafes in The Cafe Apartment, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo / 123rf
What to read about Vietnam
The late Anthony Bourdain was a huge fan of Vietnam, even sharing beer and noodles with President Obama in Hanoi in 2016. That meal's included in Bourdain's Hanoi episode from series eight of Parts Unknown, unfortunately currently not available for viewing in New Zealand, but the travelling chef's earlier writing about Vietnam in A Cook''s Tour (2002) is both poignant and insightful.
For an entertaining dive into the world of Vietnamese street food, Eating Viet Nam: Dispatches from a Blue Plastic Table (2015) by UK writer Graham Holliday will have you wishing you could book flights to Southeast Asia immediately, while the recent Eat Vietnam (2020) book from Lonely Planet showcases the country's regional culinary diversity.
Various books by Australian chef Tracey Lister - founder of the Hanoi Cooking Centre – feature many recipes for popular Vietnamese dishes.
Classic novels set in Vietnam include The Quiet American (1955) by Graham Greene and Bao Dinh's The Sorrow of War (1990).
What to eat to experience Vietnam
Easy to prepare dishes to immediately flex your Vietnamese culinary skills include goi cuon (summer rolls) – packed with vermicelli, fresh herbs and prawn - or dangerously addictive cha gio (deep-fried spring rolls). Banh mi sandwiches, a fusion legacy of Vietnamese ingredients and French baguettes, come into their own over the warmer months of a Kiwi summer, while Vietnamese-influenced barbecue options include lemongrass beef skewers, and pork ribs laced with garlic, chilli, ginger, star anise and cinnamon.
Bánh mì sandwiches, a fusion legacy of Vietnamese ingredients and French baguettes. Photo / 123rf
What to drink
Vietnam is the world's second biggest exporter of coffee, and the drink originally introduced by a French Catholic priest in 1857 is hugely popular throughout the country. Ca phe da - iced coffee served with a sweet hit of condensed milk – fuels social interaction throughout Vietnam, while there are also regional variations easily prepared at home.
Online recipes abound for ca phe sua chua – iced coffee blended with yoghurt – while ca phe trung (egg coffee) is a delicious Hanoi specialty using egg whites. Like a coffee-flavoured tiramisu, egg coffee was invented during the Vietnam War when milk was difficult to source. When lockdown is over, try it at Luna's Express in central Auckland.
Craft beer is also very popular in Vietnam, especially in big cities like Hanoi and Danang, and collaborative brews from Saigon's Heart of Darkness brewery are made in Auckland by Behemoth Brewing. Available around New Zealand, Heart of Darkness' refreshing Futile Purpose Cucumber Pilsner teams well with the lighter and fragrant notes of Vietnamese food.
