Mr Anh Local Vietnamese Cuisine Restaurant @ Da Nang in Vietnam

Finding food is always a necessity when I am overseas but it can be a headache, especially when we have nothing planned! Usually, I would just launch Google Maps to source for top-rated eateries nearby.

And that's how we got to know of Mr Anh Local Vietnamese Cuisine Restaurant, which was directly across the local-favourite market; Cho Con Market.

Coming to this restaurant reminded me of our visit to the historical town of Hoi An a few days ago; where the placement of many lanterns was a visual highlight that mesmerized the eyes!

The eatery didn't stinge on just one photo backdrop for their customers; there's another one that was decked out with bundles of colored incense sticks! Again, thoroughly captivating.

Even the interior reminded me of Hoi An; with its golden yellow shade walls that were iconic for the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Boy do I miss Hoi An.

More photographs of the interior where 3D decor and artifacts further reminded us of Hoi An. Overall quite tastefully presented although when it comes to restaurants, a high priority for the review has to come from the taste of food! 

Larue Beer - starting with a bottle of Vietnamese beer! And for a restaurant, I was surprised to see the bill as it only cost me slightly less than a Singapore dollar, before tax! 

Village Style Fried Rice - looking more like claypot rice yet tasted like normal egg fried rice that was a tad too chewy for our liking! What I enjoyed, however, were the thinly sliced pork belly! Not overly fatty with a nicely spiced crispy skin! 

Morning Glory Stir Fried with Garlic - cooked just right with crunchy stems, my only grouch was how large this plate was! It's a disbenefit to me as I don't like to waste food, and sadly, we didn't manage to clean it up! 

Deep Fried Crispy Prawns Batter - when I saw this on the menu, I knew I had to order it as the prawns reminded me of those old school fried prawns with puffy crisp shells that I love love so much when I was a kid. 

A nostalgic walk down memory lane; good enough for me to feel that the dip (custard, cheese chilli) wasn't even required. And for ten decent-sized prawn, this cost less than S$10! To be accurate, it was about S$7 before taxes! 

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With just two persons, one of whom is known to be picky, I had to be very selective in what I could order. The menu was quite extensive and I am sure I would be back in May 2025 for my second visit to Da Nang!

Especially after seeing how the non-Asian family next to us was enjoying their food!

Address

340 Ông Ích Khiêm Phường Vĩnh Trung, 

Thanh Khê, Đà Nẵng 590000, Vietnam

Map

 As above.

Pricing

Larue Beer - 18,181.82 Dong

Deep Fried Crispy Prawns Batter - 137,964 Dong

Village Style Fried Rice - 110,185.19 Dong

Morning Glory Stir Fried with Garlic - 79,623 Dong

(Subject to Taxes)

Click here for my 8 Days' Itinerary to Danang (The City of Bridges) & Hoi An (The City of Lanterns) in Vietnam

Bánh Mì Phố - Best Seller Grilled Minced Beef with Cheese @ Hanoi [Vietnam]

On day five of my hanoi-sapa trip in December 2024, we chanced upon a concert at Hoan Kiem Lake, resulting in a massive crowd surrounding the stage next to the iconic Shark Jaws building. However, we braved the crowd just so we can patronize a banh mi stall with a rating score of 4.3 on Google Maps!  

Although I got to order pretty quickly with just one person in front us, I didn't realize he purchased more than ten banh mi! So, for just one banh mi, we had to wait quite a while. 

Honestly, I can see that the staff members were swarmed and super stressed! It also didn't help that the nearby concert was booming, resulting in both customers and staff straining their ears to hear each other. 

Our banh mi would be ready soon! There were six types of banh mi to choose from and I opted for the grilled minced beef with cheese simply because it was tagged as a best seller! 

Finally, the long awaited toasted bread that we were so eager to sink our teeth in! It felt warm and being a banh mi lover, I was looking forward to take my first bite! 

Expectation was far detached from reality...  beef was cold, bread toasted more like those from subway, not crispy, relatively chewy, and even the pickled carrots failed to hype up the overall flavor. I am better off with the egg mayo from subway! p.s. it cost me about S$2 only though.

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Address

57C P. Đinh Tiên Hoàng, Hàng Bạc, 

Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội, Vietnam

Map

As above.

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Grilled Minced Beef with Cheese - 40,000 dong

Click here for my 

summarized itinerary 

of my 3 Days trip to Sapa!

Deens Maju Nasi Kandar @ Penang in Malaysia

When I first heard of nasi kandar, my thought was its similarity to economical rice in Singapore, but with an Indian twist! Given my sensitive stomach, I didn't dare to try when I was in Penang back in 2016.

This time round, I strategized and decided to have Deens Maju Nasi Kandar as my last meal before returning to Singapore! If the stomach trouble starts, I would at least be back in Singapore instead of jeopardising my well deserved vacation!

Immediately after stepping in would be the counter where you point your orders to the order taker. This one, that one, ya, ya, ya, not this one, no, the other one, words that spewed out quickly given the efficiency of the staff.

Dishes available were a lot more than what what you can see from the photographs above! Unlike Chinese economical rice, the color was predominantly in shades of red, meaning many curry dishes that carried some level of spiciness. 

Making payment!

p.s. regretted not getting that bag of papadum.

Inside was huge with plenty of tables and chairs! It was literally the space from four shophouses and customers continued streaming in even though it was past 2pm. Mind you, Deens Maju Nasi Kandar commanded a high review score of 4.4 from over 11,000 reviewers on Google Map!

My plate of nasi kandar, comprising of fried chicken, curry sotong, pickled cucumber and of course, rice. This was such a full meal, and I already had two breakfasts earlier. Oh heck, last meal in Penang! 

Cucumber was a letdown; I should have gone with stir fried cabbage for my non-meat option. Fried chicken was good although not as breathtaking as the comments made by some reviewers. 

The sotong was swimming in curry and while the texture was on point without being rubbery, I am not entirely sold on its taste as there was none of the sotong sweetness I liked, and the taste came mainly from the curry. 

Curry was, nonetheless, rich and flavourful and I would consider it as an equivalent to the luscious curry from Hainanese curry rice, albeit enhanced with Indian spices. I didn't finish the rice as I had eaten too much carbohydrates that day! 

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Address

170, Jalan Gurdwara, 

10300 George Town, 

Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Map

As above.

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Nasi Kandar - RM 19.00

Click here for my Five Days 

Itinerary to Penang in 2024

Our Meals @ Fisherman's Wharf Food Corner Penang (槟城渔人码头美食中心)

Quite a few persons recommended Fisherman's Wharf Food Corner at Penang when I asked around before my trip and despite its distance from our hotel; we decided to GRAB over for dinner on day three.

From what I see, it's like a large coffee shop with non-air-conditioning. There were tons of seating but maybe because we arrived at about 5.30pm, before the peak dinner time; I could easily find a table.

Problem was deciding what to eat as none of the stalls had a queue! And while I could check the online reviews, I was in the mood to just walk and decide what to have, based on craving then. 

Our table which overlooked the Penang Straits and a glimpse of Penang Bridge. Now, let's source for food! I had to bear in mind that there were just two of us, one of whom is known to be picky when it comes to food. Not me.

Black Chicken Herbal Soup - so, the picky one opted for something I would never order unless it was cold or I was sick. Nevertheless, I don't judge, and I was happy to just sample a bit here and there.

I had to admit that the soup was herby and definitely great to have on a rainy day. Two issues; chicken meat was tough and the rice used was of such low quality; we didn't see the point of wasting my calories on it. 

Pork Satay and Lamb Satay - how could I ever resist satay, especially when there was an option for pork! Minimum order was five sticks, ranging in price from RM 9.00 to RM 11.00 for five sticks of either chicken, pork, lamb and beef.

The lack of fatty bits for the pork satay decreased the satisfaction although I did enjoy the strong lemongrass marination, which differed from the typical sweetness we had in Singapore. Lamb was a bit gamey but it was acceptable for me.

Gravy was disappointingly wet and similar to the marination of the satay; it was enriched with lemongrass whereas I prefer a heavier dosage of peanuts. 

Chicken Upper Leg - deep fried food was my weakness and how could I resist to have those mouthwateringly trays of deep fried goodness in front of me?! I would have hesitated if I had to get like a set but the operator sells by the piece!

Sadly I dropped half a piece on the table, which didn't feel too clean, and I had to sacrifice. :( Such a waste of money although careless and clumsy me tend to have such accidents happening to me.

Even though the chicken thigh was refried upon order, I did find this much better than some of the fried chicken from fast food restaurants. It was lightly seasoned, the meat was bursting with juice, and the skin was thin and crispy! Maybe not as good as Arnolds Chicken but minimally a 7/10. 

XL Sized Crab - the main reason for my visitation was to check out the crabs at Fisherman's Wharf Food Corner! And you can easily find it right from the stall closest to the main entrance! 

From the plastic containers were different pricing and sizes for the crabs. Since I am a tourist, let's go with the most expensive RM120 a kilogram, which was reasonable given the stronger Singapore dollar. 

We asked for the biggest crab and it was still only about 700 grams (costing RM 78), paling in comparison to my recent indulgence at Ban Leong Wah Hoe Seafood Restaurant, which was three times bigger! 

Our ready to eat, wok-baked crab!

Absolutely no regret ordering this! The meat was fleshy, deliciously sweet, adorned with roes and I was absolutely enjoying every morsel of crab meat that went into my mouth. Now that I think about this, I should have ordered another one. 

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Address

92A, 1, Lebuh Sungai Pinang, 

11600 Jelutong, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Map

As above.

Pricing

Black Chicken Herbal Soup - RM 16.00

Pork Satay (5 Sticks) - RM 9.00

Lamb Satay (5 Sticks) - RM 11.00 

Chicken Upper Leg - RM5.50

XL Sized Crab - RM 120.00 a Kilogram

Click here for my Five Days 

Itinerary to Penang in 2024