observing menu changes + getting to a point
consider this a slow introduction to some favorite eats in da nang, vietnam
It happened again. A second restaurant that I was becoming familiar with, within one mere week, had a new menu. Snap.
This was a shiny, real deal, updated menu. Not just masking tape or marker crossing out a no-longer-offered dish or the more common, matter-of-fact updating of prices. Oh, sure, the costs were up. A smidge.
Yet, the bigger news for both was more so the visuals, as you’ll see in a moment…
Ch-ch-ch-changes.
It’s A-OK and understandable, these are two local places with a handful of 5k dong increases. Which according to the XE conversion app the day I wrote this, is a simple $0.20 USD.
New menus, new photos, minor changes. Okay, no problem. The food at both of these eateries remains hot and good. That’s why I go.
In the case above at Quán Chay Gieo Duyên, I certainly appreciate the gigantic new menu [pictured above] that’s a wall of visual dishes, names and prices. Helpful and appealing.
Because….my first few visits, I did not know what I was ordering. What noodle or rice dish would arrive with those pointed, staple words.
Ah….there is a potential delight in that.
One day, I said “soup”, thinking something brothy and noodle-y (like the quintessiantial pho!!) would arrive. I mean, I’m in Vietnam. Not quite. Instead, there was a surprise, made-on-the-spot, corn chowder-esque number. Not complaining. It was fascinating and tasty.
And now….I pointed and got the particular noodles I really wanted.
That was Cool. Yeah, capital C. I was learning dish names and eating lunch. Cool x 2.
The updating of the menus I started this missive discussing, is really, a sign of the times of getting comfortable. Of change, and taking note. Of life moving on, around me. What phrases, in not-so-light of my physical and mental recuperation from “the thing”.
More phrases, more mantras…learning to stay in place. Leaning in. Returning to the spots where I enjoyed the food, the coffee, the ambiance, the price, the people behind it all.
I’ll repeat from past missives: the environments and corners where I let myself become a regular. Whether I realized it, or not. Whether it was convenience leading to comfort, or vice versa.
The second of those two “menu change” spots is the cute front yard w/ food stand eatery, Lovigo Vegan, which has become another dinner-time habit in my life. I even ordered delivery once! That’s saying a lot. And admittedly, it was during my first few days out of the hospital, duh. What a period in my life.
Getting back on track.
There’s one particular dish at Lovigo that immediately joined my “top five favorite” eats in this city: the Barbecue Vermicelli Noodles, as witnessed in take-out form above. Because, as I was getting my mind back, I was thinking about what the heck those “five-ish” were.
As a food writer, surely, that was a good mental exercise that could also nudge my appetite back into being.
Ah, it’s all so dang subjective and personal.
I *just* came from months in Thailand with the immersion & explosion of sweet! sour! spicy! salty!
Flavors and dishes that were in my memories, and brought back to life. Daily.
Tastes (and experiences) that were pushing me out of the shock of my life changing. Of not cooking in my home. Not baking sourdough and cookies. No boiling bagels. The missing sear of a cast iron. Uh, consider that another memory lane of culinary memoir prose, for another time. Copy/paste/moving on. Again.
All that impacted who I was, and who I became in Thailand, embracing my temporary new normal. Uh, caressed and re-awakened through the complexity of Khao Soi curry, and who I arrived as, in Vietnam.
I hadn’t cooked those two intense weeks in Sangkhla, and suddenly, in Da Nang, could be a biking-to-the-local market person again (heyyyyy, Portland lifestyle).
Multiple colors, multiple flavors. Thrills. And then, the crash, and now here I am, a month later. Time, time time, see what’s become of me.
Thinking back on these first two months in Da Nang, and through it all, it comes back to the very first day. That very first banh mi (aka bánh mì chay). That’s where it all began, and what I keep returning to. Bite by bite. Chomp by chomp. Every time I’m remotely in that neighborhood.
I recently tried to jot down my favorite foods and kept getting stuck…
So, I sat down again - as I do a lot more than I used to – and reflected some more. Scrolled through photos. Contemplated my appetite. I’m getting there.
Okay, okay, to be continued in PART II with the sharing of a real deal “Favorite Eats“ list <3
References + Relevant Links:
the khao soi that changed my life, these scone archives February 25, 2025
the smashed elephant in the room is me, ditto March 29, 2025
Quán Chay Gieo Duyên on google maps