Hoi An on a Plate
Published in The Straits Times, 9 October 2016:
https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/travel/hoi-an-on-a-plate
"Now that is secret," the chef says cryptically as we chug down the silty Thu Bon River.
He is seated at the stern of the crimson fishing boat, his gaze locked on lithe fishermen casting their nets in the murky waterway in central Vietnam.
I am inquiring into the recipe of a famous Hoi An speciality, cao lau, or rice noodles drizzled with a salty-sweet braise sauce, topped with tender soya-stewed pork, an aggregation of herbs, bean sprouts and crispy crouton squares.
Greylag geese paddle by serenely as we boat away from my charming villa accommodation within Red Bridge, a reputable restaurant- cum-cooking school in Hoi An.
Its rustic, open-view kitchens nestled amid river thickets are fading into the distance, but there are still faint aromas of local cuisine.
As it turns out, the chef is not deliberately furtive about the cao lau recipe.
"The exact noodle recipe is held secret by fourth-generation descendants of the first cao lau creator," he says. "No one else really knows how to achieve that perfect chewy consistency."
Water from ancient wells, he adds, is blended with lye ash from trees sprouting on the neighbouring Cham Islands, ensuring the creamy-yellow tinge and distinctively al-dente texture of cao lau.
Even the origins of cao lau remain mysterious. The noodles, which some say resemble udon, could have been influenced by the Japanese; the braised meat by the Chinese; the crackers, like croutons, by the French, a restaurateur tells us later.
"And of course, the mound of fresh herbs? Distinctly Vietnamese," he adds.
Twenty minutes fly by and our boat arrives at Hoi An Ancient Town, a beguiling Unesco World Heritage site.
The chef alights for Cho Hoi An, the central market, to buy fresh produce and to receive a group of cooking class students.
As my family and I navigate the roads in the searing heat, I cannot help but ponder how cao lau embodies the cultural layers of this old- world Vietnamese town.
Lining the streets are Chinese shophouses with ochre-coloured walls and mahogany roofs, interlaced with emblematic Japanese bridges, merchant houses and buildings with French colonial influence and louvred windows - all multifarious indications of Hoi An's melting-pot heritage.
OLD-WORLD VIETNAM
"Four hundred thousand dong (S$24), one-hour ride," calls out a driver clad in a sky-blue shirt at the Ancient Town.
Perched on the seat attached to the rear of his three-wheeled cyclo, he pats his fiery-red passenger seat and adjusts the shamrock-hued shade, telling my family his price is a good rate.
But we decide that today, we will navigate the town centre, a lattice of just seven streets, by foot. The lanes are closed to motorised traffic, a refreshing change from the chaotic traffic that characterises major Vietnamese cities.
A lean, sun-bronzed man points to his rickety sampan, touting a ride down the Thu Bon River.
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