Just a quick, unillustrated post - because internet speed here in KL is so sluggish it would take 5 hours to upload a photo (note to Malaysia's powers that be: when it comes to internet services, government monopoly is so not working) - to link to our article on the Hoi An specialty cao lau in yesterday's Wall Street Journal Asia.
We'd love to tell you more about one of the spots included in the 'Sources' list at the bottom of the article, but there's that little issue of connectivity ... next week, perhaps.
Robyn - one of my favourite dishes in the whole country. Nice article! I never was really sure about the well water...got a sense that it may have been urban myth or at least that not all cao lau was made with it today??
Posted by: Sticky | 2009.04.25 at 20:07
That seems to remind me of Koay Chap in Thailand! Unfortunately the only comparable dish of porky goodness I can think of in KL is the prawn mee in Seksyen 16.
Posted by: Sean | 2009.04.26 at 05:00
Thanks Sticky. For me it is a toss-up betw. cao lau and my quang. But the texture of those cao lau noodles is so yum.
I dunno about the well water ... the locals I talked to seem to buy it, while also saying 'at least it must be local water ... of course it doesn't all come from Ba Le well anymore'. It is true you don't see cao lau elsewhere (do you? in Hanoi?). Even at the central Viet market in Saigon ... there's plenty of my quang but not a spot of cao lau.
Hi Sean - it's really nothing like koay chap ... prawn mee a bit but the key is this isn't a soupy thing (just a bit of broth) and there's no heat built in. That comes from the chili jam. But IMO cao lau is worth traveling to Hoi An for!
Posted by: Robyn | 2009.04.26 at 09:10
The internet speed is making me very :S too.. gahhh
Posted by: KY | 2009.04.27 at 11:06
Only in Hoi An as far as I know. It's actually quite rare in VN for regional specialties to travel really successfully. I mean there might be the odd bun cha in Saigon or hu tieu in Hanoi but people tend to stick to the dishes of their own town or region mostly. I would have to go searching for my quang in Hanoi, for example.
Posted by: Sticky | 2009.04.27 at 15:21