Cha Ca La Vong

[Ericandblueboy]

I remember watching an episode of Bizarre Food where Zimmern goes to a place in Vietnam that does only one dish - Cha Ca La Vong. I've never had it and was recently inspired to try it. I found it on the menu at Present, for $13. A relative large piece of fish filet, grilled with scallions and dill was served on a sizzling metal plate. In another tray I was given peanuts, warm vermicelli, cilantro, mint and some other herb, lettuce leaf, big shrimp cracker with sesame seeds, and two sauces - hot sauce and the purplish shrimp paste. I was told to mix everything in a bowl but that made very little sense to me, so I wrapped some fish, vermicelli, herbs and hot sauce in lettuce and added some hot sauce too. The result wasn't spectacular. I read that at the restaurant in Vietnam, the fish is cooked tableside with a vat of hot oil. Adding other items into that pot would cook the other items as well - which makes much more sense to me. I tried the shrimp paste but just don't like it so I didn't put any on the fish. I suppose I should have sucked it up and added it. Anyway, does anyone else know where to find good cha ca?

Video of Cha Ca La Vong

[mdt]

I remember watching an episode of Bizarre Food where Zimmern goes to a place in Vietnam that does only one dish - Cha Ca La Vong. I've never had it and was recently inspired to try it. I found it on the menu at Present, for $13. A relative large piece of fish filet, grilled with scallions and dill was served on a sizzling metal plate. In another tray I was given peanuts, warm vermicelli, cilantro, mint and some other herb, lettuce leaf, big shrimp cracker with sesame seeds, and two sauces - hot sauce and the purplish shrimp paste. I was told to mix everything in a bowl but that made very little sense to me, so I wrapped some fish, vermicelli, herbs and hot sauce in lettuce and added some hot sauce too. The result wasn't spectacular. I read that at the restaurant in Vietnam, the fish is cooked tableside with a vat of hot oil. Adding other items into that pot would cook the other items as well - which makes much more sense to me. I tried the shrimp paste but just don't like it so I didn't put any on the fish. I suppose I should have sucked it up and added it. Anyway, does anyone else know where to find good cha ca?

They have the exact same dish, IIRC called sizzling catfish, at Minh's in Court House. It is prepared in the same way so I don't think you will like it any better.

[Ericandblueboy]

They have the exact same dish, IIRC called sizzling catfish, at Minh's in Court House. It is prepared in the same way so I don't think you will like it any better.

Dai Huong in Eden Center also seems to have it the same way. Serving it dry doesn't seem to do this dish justice.

[Michael Landrum]

Great. Now I've got THIS stuck in my head.

(ETA: Actually, if you could peak inside my brain, Simpsons-style, this is a pretty close representation of what you would find most of the time, right down to the dancing bellhop-girls...)

[cjsadler]

I remember watching an episode of Bizarre Food where Zimmern goes to a place in Vietnam that does only one dish - Cha Ca La Vong. I've never had it and was recently inspired to try it. I found it on the menu at Present, for $13. A relative large piece of fish filet, grilled with scallions and dill was served on a sizzling metal plate. In another tray I was given peanuts, warm vermicelli, cilantro, mint and some other herb, lettuce leaf, big shrimp cracker with sesame seeds, and two sauces - hot sauce and the purplish shrimp paste. I was told to mix everything in a bowl but that made very little sense to me, so I wrapped some fish, vermicelli, herbs and hot sauce in lettuce and added some hot sauce too. The result wasn't spectacular. I read that at the restaurant in Vietnam, the fish is cooked tableside with a vat of hot oil. Adding other items into that pot would cook the other items as well - which makes much more sense to me. I tried the shrimp paste but just don't like it so I didn't put any on the fish. I suppose I should have sucked it up and added it. Anyway, does anyone else know where to find good cha ca?

Video of Cha Ca La Vong

I ate at Cha Ca La Vong a few years ago. Interesting place that you had to climb up a very rickety staircase to get to. Haven't seen anything here that's like the way they did it there. It was prepared tableside as in the video, and was basically a saute of greens and fish. I don't remember that much oil being used-- at least it didn't seem oily when you ate it. The greens mix seemed unusual and I've read the fish used is snakehead, but they only called it 'river fish' when I asked. It was kind of underwhelming to me (I did have some high expectations for it, though), so I don't know if I'd expect 'spectacular' if you find it.

[Ericandblueboy]

I ate at Cha Ca La Vong a few years ago. Interesting place that you had to climb up a very rickety staircase to get to. Haven't seen anything here that's like the way they did it there. It was prepared tableside as in the video, and was basically a saute of greens and fish. I don't remember that much oil being used-- at least it didn't seem oily when you ate it. The greens mix seemed unusual and I've read the fish used is snakehead, but they only called it 'river fish' when I asked. It was kind of underwhelming to me (I did have some high expectations for it, though), so I don't know if I'd expect 'spectacular' if you find it.

I guess that takes it off of my to do list until I get to Vietnam, which isn't any time soon.