La Vong grilled fish
Domestic and foreign visitors to Hanoi are all fond
of
enjoying the gastronomic Cha ca La Vong (La Vong sliced grilled fish) at No 14
Cha Ca Street, a restaurant that only serves this one special dish. Mrs Ngo Thi
Tinh, 80, the third generation daughter-in-law of The Doan family, who invented
this dish 200 years ago, still treats her guests to this excel lent dish.
The restaurant has no shop sign and there is only a
statue of an old man sitting grasping his knees on the bank of the stream ready
to fish. However, the name? "Cha ca La Vong" has been well recognized
all over the world as an especially delicious dish. The fishes, Hemibagrus
(Lang fish) or Anh Vu fish, which were originally only offered to the feudal
King have a good sweet tasting meat. The fish is firstly sliced into small
pieces, then mixed with spices, following a secret traditional recipe, and then
roasted over hot coals and enjoyed with an exquisite shrimp sauce and
vegetables.
The beautiful old architecture of Cha Ca La Vong
restaurant, with its narrow stairway and pair of vermilion lacquered and gilded
wood panels inscribed with characters gives the house a peaceful happy
atmosphere. It is a marvelous attraction and its beauty has been immortalized
through modern Vietnamese poetry and literature.
While the guests sit down at the table, there will
soon be a lay-out of some seasonings: a bowl of well-stirred shrimp paste sauce
mixed up with lemon and a few drops of liquor to give it fragrance, and
decorated by slices of red fresh pimento (chili), a plate of roasted peanuts of
gold yellow color, mint vegetables from Lang village; onions in small white
slices with tuberose. Added to this is a plate of soft noodle in thin small and
white threads. A few minutes later, fried fish, yellow in color and flagrant in
smell, put on a plate of anethum vegetable is brought in. But that is not all.
A few seconds more a cauldron of boiling fat is brought in and the waiter start
pouring some boiling fat on each bowl of grilled fish, thus producing a
flagrant smoke and sputtering noise. Further, some drops of coleopterous are
dropped on the bowl giving it a special smell which is unforgettable to
connoisseurs. Grilled fish are usually chosen from certain species of fish:
mudfish or snake-head fish, etc. The fish must be carefully prepared before
grilling. Galingale and saffron must be ground mixed with water and filtered
through a piece of clean cloth in order to obtain a solution to which is added
some drops of rice ferment and fish sauce of good quality. Then, the fish meat
is immersed in this solution for two hours before grilling. Grilling must be
done by means of pairs of bamboo tongs placed on a stove of burning charcoals.
The fish meat must be grilled on oath sides and brought in to the guests when
it is duly grilled.
The guests take their time slowly eating the fish
and sipping some strong vodka to enjoy the special flavor and taste of the
food. The sound of onion frying on the stove, the yellowness of the fish and
the hot burning charcoal stove make you feel as if you were enjoying the
essence and beauty of the nature. As a dish, La Vong grilled fish is indeed a
remarkable culinary invention.
Cha Ca La Vong is indeed a very special dish and is
perfect for those who want to sample the delights of Hanoi.
