As most of us know, Vietnam is renowned for its food. Fresh, tasty, and authentic.
The Vietnamese people celebrate food and treat it as a time to get together with friends and family to share plates of delicious offerings, cooked with love and care. We experienced these feelings of love and care in the food and drinks we were served at “Em, Comfort Food.”
Em, the restaurant, is located in an elegant golden plaster double-story building on the corner of a timeless alleyway. 54/2 Phan Châu Trinh, Minh An, Hội An to be exact.
Chef and owner Nghia (pronounced Nga) has ensured the uniquely designed, sparse but welcoming interior. It is furnished with beautifully built wooden tables and chairs, clean lines, and, with typical flair, sky blue French-style shutter windows. There is plenty of room for singles, couples, or groups. An outdoor patio facing the alleyway, adorned with charming ornaments and a small lily pond, offers al fresco dining.
We enjoyed dining on this spacious concrete patio several times during our stay, watching people pass by and stopping to inspect the menu.
Nghia has curated one of the most delicious menus we have ever experienced. The food is beautifully and imaginatively blended with the care of a fine craftsman. He delights in introducing his diners to sumptuous tastes with a twist of the unusual. He buys all the ingredients fresh on the day, from the local market.
Have you ever tried jellyfish? Nghia served a sublime salad with market jellyfish, onion, local herbs, and soy sauce. Simple and tasty, it certainly piqued the taste buds. We didn’t stop with the jellyfish dish – we went on to try half a dozen more of his beautiful meals.
Nghia very kindly taste tested a couple of his new dishes on us and also introduced us to his (secret ingredient) take on an Irish coffee and to the daytime bespoke coffees he also serves.
We felt like royalty. The restaurant was quiet – we were always early – but he looked after us as if we were the most important people in the world. His Vietnamese hospitality was front and centre whenever we frequently visited during our five-day stay, making it our firm favourite eating spot in Hoi An.
For more about Em and the unforgettable culinary experience Nghia provides, please have a look at the pictorial story,(below), of his early life, up to and including the birth of Em.
It is a charmingly written story, combining his words with the dishes – becoming Em’s picturesque menu.
Further information on Em. Doi Moi
Please contact janeco@mytravelroom.co.nz if you would like further information on this story
Disclaimer – Neither MTR nor Jane Daniell received any monetary or other forms of payment for this story.
