Vietnamese Cooking

I have had some reasonable Vietnamese food in Sydney, but nothing that really knocked my socks off. I didn’t think of Vietnam as a place I’d particularly like to visit or that its food would inspire my cooking. All of that was to change after a visit to France in 1993. Chris and Margie, our great friends from the Paramount restaurant in Sydney, had told us of an arrondissement in Paris that had many Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants and shops. After three weeks of three-star eating in and around Paris, Adele and I were busting for a chilli fix. As we went down the street we walked past a shop packed with people, mostly Vietnamese. The laminex table tops were covered with sauces, chopped and dried chillies, spoons, chopsticks and serviettes, and all the patrons appeared to be slurping on soups and noodles. We decided this was for us.