There is nothing I haven’t eaten before on the menu at this Vietnamese restaurant. At least, nothing that won’t scratch the Sunny Princess’ desire for healthy vegetables (note: come back for ‘Vietnamese pancakes’ at later date).
I’m going to have to do it. I really don’t want to. But I’m going to have to.
I’m going to have to order a weird drink.
Drinks are always so filling, and such a waste of calories. If I didn’t get a drink I could eat more!
But I have not had my new food for the day and the sun has set. Fine, fine. Flick to the drinks page. Skip all the soft drinks.
‘Healthy Drink’. Wow, that’s getting your selling point out there. Maybe I should market a car called Fast.
So ‘Healthy Drink’, what do you have in you? Lotus seeds, dried longan, jelly, seaweed and ice. I don’t even know what longan is! This is going to be weird indeed.
***
The Sunny Princess and I stare in wonder as the waitress places down a huge milkshake glass piled over the brim with ice. Through the glass there’s many a mysterious brown ball, the occasional red lump, and other identifiable objects.
But they are all trapped under the layer of ice. How do I get to them? Drink the liquid away some I suppose.
There’s a straw and a long spoon. Big breath and a suck on the straw.
How can they call this healthy? It’s so sweet! There’s clearly a huge amount of sugar in it! That’s pretty much what the liquid tastes like: sugar water.
Cough. A lump of something went up the straw and into my lungs. Choking, waving the Sunny Princess’ concerned look away.
So it’s unhealthy and it clearly wants to kill me.
“Do you want to try?”
“Maybe later,” says the uncertain Sunny Princess.
***
Enough liquid has been drunk and ice melted that I can finally start on the solids.
Inventory!
Firstly, there is no seaweed in this. Maybe they thought that would be too weird for the white girl and they did me a kindness. I am okay with that.
There is barley, the kind I put in vegetable soup. It’s softening on the outside but the centre is a lot firmer than I would cook to, so firm it needs to be swallowed rather than chewed. Not much flavour here.
Another surprise: ginkgo nuts. They look like giant peanut halves, but sweet with a bean texture when chewed. Not bad, just unfamiliar. Not a fan of the roughness they leave on my teeth.
The final unannounced ingredient: red dates. These I like, as they aren’t as strongly rich as regular dates but still with that distinctive taste. Mmm dates.
Back to the scheduled programming.
The jelly is in long strings, like thin fettuccine. It is chewy. It has no flavour. I am not going to make an effort to eat any more of it.
I can’t bite through the lotus seed: it chews down into a compacted version of itself but won’t break up. Never liked things that do that oyster-like trick. Swallow. Bland. Next.
The dried longan is forgettable.
Really, the sugary syrup is making everything else seem tasteless. The only thing strong enough to compliment is the date (though the ginkgo nuts are nearly there).
The Sunny Princess gives into curiosity and tries each bit. Her time in China and the Philippines has served her well, she enjoys it more than I. But there is still more than a third left in the glass when we leave.
Well, I complained about not wanting to drink when I could eat and the ‘healthy drink’ sure took me down a peg!
Rating:
Specifics: Che sam bo luong from The Viet, Newtown
Che Sam Bo Luong
There is nothing I haven’t eaten before on the menu at this Vietnamese restaurant. At least, nothing that won’t scratch the Sunny Princess’ desire for healthy vegetables (note: come back for ‘Vietnamese pancakes’ at later date).
I’m going to have to do it. I really don’t want to. But I’m going to have to.
I’m going to have to order a weird drink.
Drinks are always so filling, and such a waste of calories. If I didn’t get a drink I could eat more!
But I have not had my new food for the day and the sun has set. Fine, fine. Flick to the drinks page. Skip all the soft drinks.
‘Healthy Drink’. Wow, that’s getting your selling point out there. Maybe I should market a car called Fast.
So ‘Healthy Drink’, what do you have in you? Lotus seeds, dried longan, jelly, seaweed and ice. I don’t even know what longan is! This is going to be weird indeed.
***
The Sunny Princess and I stare in wonder as the waitress places down a huge milkshake glass piled over the brim with ice. Through the glass there’s many a mysterious brown ball, the occasional red lump, and other identifiable objects.
But they are all trapped under the layer of ice. How do I get to them? Drink the liquid away some I suppose.
There’s a straw and a long spoon. Big breath and a suck on the straw.
How can they call this healthy? It’s so sweet! There’s clearly a huge amount of sugar in it! That’s pretty much what the liquid tastes like: sugar water.
Cough. A lump of something went up the straw and into my lungs. Choking, waving the Sunny Princess’ concerned look away.
So it’s unhealthy and it clearly wants to kill me.
“Do you want to try?”
“Maybe later,” says the uncertain Sunny Princess.
***
Enough liquid has been drunk and ice melted that I can finally start on the solids.
Inventory!
Firstly, there is no seaweed in this. Maybe they thought that would be too weird for the white girl and they did me a kindness. I am okay with that.
There is barley, the kind I put in vegetable soup. It’s softening on the outside but the centre is a lot firmer than I would cook to, so firm it needs to be swallowed rather than chewed. Not much flavour here.
Another surprise: ginkgo nuts. They look like giant peanut halves, but sweet with a bean texture when chewed. Not bad, just unfamiliar. Not a fan of the roughness they leave on my teeth.
The final unannounced ingredient: red dates. These I like, as they aren’t as strongly rich as regular dates but still with that distinctive taste. Mmm dates.
Back to the scheduled programming.
The jelly is in long strings, like thin fettuccine. It is chewy. It has no flavour. I am not going to make an effort to eat any more of it.
I can’t bite through the lotus seed: it chews down into a compacted version of itself but won’t break up. Never liked things that do that oyster-like trick. Swallow. Bland. Next.
The dried longan is forgettable.
Really, the sugary syrup is making everything else seem tasteless. The only thing strong enough to compliment is the date (though the ginkgo nuts are nearly there).
The Sunny Princess gives into curiosity and tries each bit. Her time in China and the Philippines has served her well, she enjoys it more than I. But there is still more than a third left in the glass when we leave.
Well, I complained about not wanting to drink when I could eat and the ‘healthy drink’ sure took me down a peg!
Rating:
Specifics: Che sam bo luong from The Viet, Newtown