Cu Lao (Vietnamese Hotpot)
My goodness, didn’t realize that I haven’t post anything in the Eatery section since November. That means I haven’t been eating well. If mom finds out she would get a rage. Here is a typical conversation with mom over the phone:
Mom: Danh ha? (Even my mom skips the “O” in my name. She didn’t come up with Doanh. Daddy did.)
Me: Da. (who else, ma?)
Mom: Did you eat yet? (She speaks in Vietnamese of course.)
Me: Yes (While making instant noodles.)
Mom: What did you have?
Me: Steak and rice.
Mom: Did you make a salad with that?
Me: Of course! How was work?
Mom: (Goes on spill out the unpleasant experience she had with her boss and colleagues.)
Me: Told you to retired!
Mom: Soon!
What does the conversation has to do with Vietnamese hotpot? Nothing at all, but here is the delicious Cu Lao, which is great to have in the winter. Eating Cu Lao gives me a warm, family-oriented atmosphere. Cu Lao was the only reason I loved to go to the wedding in Viet Nam. Most of the time, Cu Lao would be included in the menu. In American, every Vietnamese wedding is served with Chinese food. What is up with that? I am dropping a hundred bucks, at least give me some Cu Lao. Although Cu Lao is made up of mixed variety of things (meat, veggies, seafood), they all become one savory flavor with different textures, unlike a “cu lao” album, which changes my mood like a girl at that time of the month again.
With the photo and all, still, what IS Cu Lao, Cambodian food ?!? Write like a Vietnamese for a change, D. :P
Are you sure you’re Vietnamese and not Japanese? Never heard of cu` lao tha^.p ca^~m? Here is the description from Viet Nam Restaurant:
Cu Lao Thap Cam House Special Hot Pot
Shrimp, Scallops, Squid, Chicken, Napa Cabbage, Carrot, Mushroom, Broccoli and Snow Peas. Stewed in House Special Clear Broth.
That looks like an upscale VNmese restaurant. Love the decor. Wonder if the food’s good.
It’s not bad, actually! I’ve been there before. It’s in Philly and there are two Vietnamese restuarants opposite from each other. The other one is Viet Nam Palace.
I don’t know that we have broccoli in Vietnam. Are you sure this is not some kind of Thai cuisine?
You should do their page. It’s badly designed. :)
htc, their version is mixed up. The orginal version has quail eggs, which are buried in my photo, and the sponge-looking thing (pork skin I guess).
Hahaha! I have enough work at Vassar to keep me busy :)
I have this hot pot all the times, but at a Chinese/Cambodian family.
Cu` Lao Ba~i Bie^?n is called because the hot pot looks like an island in the middle of an ocean. Depends on each restaurant, they would give you fresh seafood + veggies and a hot pot soup for you to cook at your table. Vietnamese style usually is not spicy, but most often Thai style is served since it’s spicy & most people like it that way. What makes one restaurant better than another is the flavor & the taste of the soup, just like how you would compare one Pho*? place w/ another Pho*? place.
The reason why all restaurants in US do not serve Cu` Lao Ba~i Bie^?n in wedding is very simple: Most Vietnamese weddings have 300-400 guests which need 30-40 hot pots to serve at the same time. The restaurants do not have that many hot pots to contain the soup at the same time. Also, hot pot soup has to be served boiling in order to be make Cu` Lao taste good, but to serve 40 tables like that, it takes time to carry all of them out at once. Then, there’re children running around in the wedding and the risk of some boiling soup got spilled on someone is too risky for the restaurant to even consider it on the menu. Another factor is the restaurant wants to serve something quick to make but fullfill the stomach of the guests. Cu` Lao usually is something you eat when you have plenty of time and it fills you up slowly and the waiters will have to wait forever to clear the table for the next course. Unless you want only one course in your wedding. Anyway, how I found out these reasons was when I tried to order my wedding’s menu with the restaurant. Since I wanted my guests to have a good time & happy with their dinner, I had a very hard time to deal with restaurants and finally they all told me the true reasons why only certain seafood courses are on all wedding menus. They would not even make my requested course even when I offered more money. But then again, if I’m multi-millionaire then who knows, they might have changed their mind & served Cu` Lao afterall at my wedding ? :-)
In Vietnam, it’s a different environment, a wedding can drag on for 3 days and liability is not an issue. If you spill some soup on someone, you just have to appologize and no one gets sued.
If any of you love Cu` Lao so much, you can actually cook them at home, either eat w/ your family or get some friends together & “lai rai” vo*’i nhau. It’s actually very easy to make at home. All you have to do is go buy some fresh seafood (whatever you like: shrimp, squid, little crabs, jelly fish, chicken, beef – if you want meat) and some veggies and the “Gia Vi. Na^’u La^?u”, some lemon grass, a few lemon leaves (la’ chanh), garlic, onion… Cook up the soup & pour it on the hot pot (if you don’t have hot pot, you can use a regular small pot put on top of a be^’p ddie^.n) … cook up some noodles… then you’re all set to have fun w/ it. :-)
Hi Donny,
the sponge looking thing is “Bong Bong Ca” – Not sure if it’s real Bong bong.
Judging from their size, those fish bladders must’ve come from fairly big fishes! Anyway, I had a similar soop in a Thai restautant. It was called something like Tom Young Soup and served in a Cu Lao. It was quite spicy and there was no fish bladder. The ingredient was very close to what Phong Lan’s described.
htc,
The Thai soup you are referring to is called Tom Yum Gum soup. It’s basically “Canh Chua Tom” Thai Style (you can have it served with Shrimp or Fish, your choice). The two main ingredients that makes it different from Vietnamese style Canh Chua is the use of lemon grass and the lemon leaves (it’s not your ordinary leaves from the common lemon tree).
Cu Lao is a totally different thing. A lot of time when people see the hot pot, they think it’s Cu Lao but it’s not.
You have a good point. It is disappointing to see the VNamese wedding. I think Vietnamese foods are much better than Chinse foods and prefer VNmese foods over Chinese foods any time. I guess those Vietnamese have forgotten the brutality and atrocity committed by the Chinese against the Vietnamese for several centuries. It would be an insult to the Vietnamese ancestors to have Chinese foods served in a traditional Vietnamese wedding.
Thanks Daniel! I guess I’ve never had the real Cu Lao before! It is pretty depressing since I consider myself a vietnamese! I’ll try one the next time I have a chance to go to San Jose, in California of course. Peace!
htc,
Not sure if you can find the “real” Cu Lao in San Jose. In “Little Saigon” southern Cal., I think several places have them. You usually find the best Cu Lao Bai Bien (that’s how they call it) at “quan nhau”. And if you in Little Saigon, you must visit the Thai Nakorn restaurant, you can find authentic Tom Yum Gum there.
Cu` Lao sounds more like “lau” to me. The is the first time I’ve heard of the term “cu lao”.
Phong Lan, thankyou for explaining, it surely helped.
right ! cu lao is a kind of Lau~. Chinese, VNese, Thai hotpot are different in flavor.You will find fishsauce in Thai and VNese not Chinese :) But Thai is more spice because they use more lemongrass,pepper and lemon leaves than VN. In most Thai foods are will experience 3 things spice,sour and sweet which is no good, you can have them once in awhile not all the time but VNese foods are very balance in general..understanding nature,climate,people,taste,recipes you will have a delicousfoods that fits your desire.