Khun Dang

Well last night was another crazy mission to find a restaurant we had decided on for dinner. The funny part was that this place was supposed to be an easy close by option. Initially our plan was to go to Chinatown to a famous seafood street food place but as of yesterday all ferries have been canceled. As it was around 5 we decided the traffic would to too bad to catch a taxi and we should eat locally instead. One of my guides recommended a soup restaurant which happened to be very close to our hotel. The guide claimed to have tried 1,000's of soups and this was one of the best. Off we went down the street to what we were certain was about 100 metered away. After consulting he guide map many times we must have walked back and forth along the same stretch if road maybe 4 or 5 times with no luck. We then tried a few laneways but still nothing until we found a friendly security guard who offered to help us. I showed him my phone which has scanned copies of all my food guides and he motioned for us to follow him. He then took us back to the same stretch of road we has scoured 5 minutes earlier and went into a local barber to ask for help. When he came out we followed him back towards our hotel to about 50 meters past in the other direction until we found a very busy little establishment where he spoke to a staff member who confirmed that this was Khun Dang. The head waiter spoke good English and gave us a great table on the street. He explained the soup to us as a Vietnamese style noodle soup. I have tried many Vietnamese noodle soups but nothing like this. The rice noodles were lovely and squishy and gave the broth a congee like consistency. It was enhanced with egg, quail egg, pork and pork balls, shitake mushrooms and fried onions. Being right on the street made the experience feel very authentic and we both devoured our bowls. Tina proclaimed it the meal of the holiday so far! Charlie also had some of her own bowl of noodles and some pork and pepper sausage which was also delicious. The menu offered mango and custard apple ice cream (not mixed together) but sadly these were not available due to the 'high water'. Instead we were offered black jelly. This was an unusual mix of ice, black cubes of jelly and a dark liquid sauce. Tina wasn't keen on it but I found it lovely and finished the lot. As Charlie did not sleep in the afternoon she was getting ratty so we decided on an early night. She is now sleeping in until 6 each morning which is a big relief, those 3am mornings are tough! With Charlie in bed we ordered some Piña Coladas and planned tomorrow's activities.