Whether or not you are a great cook, the Highway 4 Restaurant offers a behind the scenes look at a popular restaurant's most loved dishes and also, a tour of the market and explanation of the ingredients used. Not only do you tour the market, get an idea of the variety of produce and workings of a local wet market, you also get to cook the dishes and eat them in the beautifully decorated Highway 4 restaurant at 54 Mai Hac De.
Our group met up at the restaurant on 5 Hang Tre and walked the block to the Hang Be market, five minutes away from the famous Hoan Kiem Lake. Our tour guide Dung, introduced himself as "Zung", spelt D-U-N-G, but with the D pronounced as a "Z" and a tone mark over the N. "Without these changes", he explains, "my name is just dung." "Zung" led us through the market and pointed out some of the essential ingredients in popular Vietnamese dishes, from lemongrass to the ginger root-lookalike called galangal, from the clams to the snake head fish. We also saw many slabs of meat and seafood waiting to be prepared and cut up, enough to make you want to be vegetarian. There is something quite comforting about buying meat on little white trays and covered in cellophane that keeps us from thinking about the origin and treatment of the food before it fills our belly.
After the tour of the market with the vibrant colours of the foods, vendors beckoning us to buy their produce and the near collision with the motorcycles racing down the muddy, puddly filled spaces between the stalls, we headed to the other restaurant at 54 Mai Hac De where we were to cook our lunch. The four storey restaurant is easy to miss, but shouldn't be missed. The decor is very comfortable and simply elegant. Our cooking area was set up on the second floor, next to an open area with two large tables made from lacquered tree base (or at least shaped that way), and other smalled stumps served as our stool. A tall elegant picture reached two storeys up to the skylight and provided a great area to get situated and put on our chef shirt and hat. We split into several groups, each with a table equipped with a gas cooker, a frying pan, chopping board, knife and long chopsticks. And away we went with the translation of our guide, Dung and the head chef Mr. Trang.
We cooked fried rice with seafood and chicked and vegetables, catfish spring rolls and delightful clam broth. It was so easy, but that's because everything was already set out, pre measured, we did not have to do our own dishes. We just had to slice up the fish and vegetables, stir fry, or "push and pull" the pan to fry the rice just right. The only other thing we had to do was to sit and eat. Yummy. Great food. Also we got some secret recipes. I'll share them with you, but make sure you leave me a message to tell me what you think about them! Stock for Bun Cha (yummy traditional dish here).
Mix in following ratios: 1 sugar 1 vinegar 1 fish sauce 4 water Add crushed garlic, chopped red chili for taste and decoration. ** "Dressing salad" (that's what Dung would call it) 3 "ladles" (tablespoons) vinegar 3 tablespoon water 1 tablespoon sugar 3 drops of soybean oil (or use olive oil) 3 drops fish sauce pinch of salt mix and add crushed garlic and red pepper to taste.
This is also a great dipping sauce for the famous Green Papaya salad Green papaya salad recipe green papaya carrots dry beef Mix and soak in dressing salad for 5 minutes Strain Add crushed peanuts and sesame seeds
And finally, vegetarian spring rolls rice paper breadcrumbs chicken egg (at first we thought Dung said chicken leg) green cabbage half tsp cashew nut oil pinch salt smashed tofu Not the soft Japanese variety seasoning like Maggie sauce, or fish sauce Slice and chop cabbage, shred carrot and add some shitake mushroom ("chopped into tiny") put filling in a sheet of rice paper and roll break the egg, roll the rice paper in the egg and then dip in breadcrumbs and fry. Use the dressing salad for the dipping sauce. Enjoy!
Oh, the course was about $20 a person for a group of 6 and included a gift booklet of recipes and also a set of wooden spatulas, and of course, the experience and lunch! Be sure to check out the restaurant area and get a great souvenir tee for just 100,000 vnd ($6).