Many of my friends accuse me of being a fool for even attempting to find western delicacies in this medium-sized city in Vietnam. I kind of agree with them especially since all of the places, around a dozen or so, that I have attempted to get a decent eggs benny have been for the most part massive failures. I don't know what it is about this particular dish that the establishments here find so daunting but all of them are getting it wrong. I say this as someone who can barely cook spaghetti so I'm probably not a good one to judge. I did work in an even owned a restaurant at one point though and if there is one thing that I remember from both of these experiences, particularly the ownership one, it's that if you can't do something correctly, you are better off not even having it on the menu.
I will give the establishment this much though and that is that they did a great job with the presentation and didn't overcook the poached eggs so that much I can applaud. Some places are so incapable of making this dish that they boil the hell out of the eggs and ruin all the runniness and at that point, even if you nailed everything else you have ruined the entire meal.
I do not understand why they would put the bacon on the side either because its mean to be on the bread. I suppose it doesn't really matter though because I am capable of handling two kinds of food at once. The next problemo that I had with it is the inclusion of the tomatoes and the greens. They are not part of it and while I am thankful for the gift, they aren't supposed to be there. The greens were disgusting as well. The tomatoes tasted like tomatoes so no big deal there.
The biggest problem I had with this dish was that the hollandaise sauce was extremely watery and this suggests to me that they had a bottle of it that was made somewhere else or even worse, that it was some sort of powdered concoction and that they attempted to make more profit off of it by adding entirely too much water. In my mind hollandaise sauce should have a nearly gravy-like consistency, and this was not that at all.
When i finished it, and I did finish it because I was hungry, I was determined not just to not come back to this restaurant for this dish, but I decided to never come here for anything else either. Perhaps this is unfair on my part, but I am fickle like that. Of the dozen or so attempts and Eggs Benny that I have had in this city, this one was likely the worst one yet.
Perhaps I should listen to my friends' advice and just start to have Vietnamese breakfasts. There is this dish called Bo Ne that is basically steak and eggs served with a baguette and well, that sounds pretty nice now doesn't it?
The takeaway from all of this is that for both here and most other places I have been in Asia that your attempts and getting what you remember as being great from Europe or America is going to be, for the most part, disappointing over here and maybe you should just embrace the local food. They are going to be able to do that so much better and this is for obvious reasons.
I've never had eggs benny, but it definitely intrigues me. There is a place in the next city over that has about a dozen different variations on it. I've always wanted to try one of them, but I have a pretty sensitive stomach when it comes to some things, so I'd basically have to eat it then head straight home just in case! On the good side, the bacon looks like it was done pretty well and not over cooked. None of that crispy crap for me.
I think your best bet is to check out the breakfasts at one of the international resort/ hotels. I would think it would be something that would be a standard item on their menu. Forget the local restaurants.
yeah good point. It'll cost me a lot but that is probably the only place that is going to have something that is even close.
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