murphyscreek
Veteran
Hi, am new here and thought this would be a good place to get ideas and thoughts on a topic provoked by a recent visit to Hanoi, Vietnam.
I had previously visited Hanoi about 16 years ago and experienced a fantastic dining experience back then sampling Cha Ca, a famous Hanoi fish dish that is cooked at your table with tumeric, dill, spring onions, served with noodles and a multitude of accompaniments. The restaurant is called Cha Ca La Vong and is very famous for only serving this one dish, and it's long history as well as famous dignitaries, celebrities, etc visiting over the years.
I was going to revisit there this trip, but had read it is now overrun by tourists and another restaurant called Cha Ca Thang Long was more relaxed without the hordes (or history though) , and actually made a better version of the dish. It was indeed delicious, and the environment was pleasant, but definitely lacked the atmosphere of the older version restaurant.
My question I've been asking myself, is how important is that sense of tradition and history as food lovers? Should we just be enjoying the food as its own entity, or the overall dining experience?
I had previously visited Hanoi about 16 years ago and experienced a fantastic dining experience back then sampling Cha Ca, a famous Hanoi fish dish that is cooked at your table with tumeric, dill, spring onions, served with noodles and a multitude of accompaniments. The restaurant is called Cha Ca La Vong and is very famous for only serving this one dish, and it's long history as well as famous dignitaries, celebrities, etc visiting over the years.
I was going to revisit there this trip, but had read it is now overrun by tourists and another restaurant called Cha Ca Thang Long was more relaxed without the hordes (or history though) , and actually made a better version of the dish. It was indeed delicious, and the environment was pleasant, but definitely lacked the atmosphere of the older version restaurant.
My question I've been asking myself, is how important is that sense of tradition and history as food lovers? Should we just be enjoying the food as its own entity, or the overall dining experience?
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