When in Rome do as the Romans do – the mantra for many a traveller. Today we got to do two very local Hanoi activities – one with a surprising Melbourne connection. Along the way I may just have had the meal of my life – and it was made by street kids!
Traditional Vietnam and Community
Today started off as our museum day at the Museum of Ethnology – a museum dedicated to the history of the ethnic tribes of Vietnam. In telling the story of the Vietnamese people, the museum also brought together the historic links between Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and China. By far the highlight of the museum for me was each tribe’s full scale replica huts that were constructed outside the museum. Visitors were able to walk through each one and experience what it would be like to live in each tribe.
The word that has been following us this whole trip came up yet again – Community. Much of tribal living is communal. Several of the huts were the communal or tribal meeting huts. One tribe’s replica consisted of five huts in a square facing a communal courtyard – they were designed for community.
The story that stood out the most was found in one of the last huts we walked through. In this tribe, if a couple got married, the newlyweds would stay in the wife’s in-laws who would have to construct a bedroom for them. However bedroom is too generous a term because it was essentially a makeshift bamboo screen that was placed right next to the space where the mother and father in law sleep! I know the desire for community is great – but this custom may be taking it a bit too far…
Local Experience #1: Da Cau
The afternoon gave us one of two very special moments not just for today but for the entire three weeks we’ve been away. While walking through a park on the way to dinner, we saw some locals playing Hacky Sack. Not so strange. Until something caught Josh’s eye – it wasn’t a ball they were playing with but something that looked like a shuttlecock! Wierd as!
So we strolled over to have a closer inspection. These two locals were going at it like pros using body, knees and legs – the rules seemed exactly like hacky sack but the flight of this shuttlecock thing was so strange. We cheered them on from the sidelines and were over the moon when they invited us to join in a game of doubles. The shuttlecock was homemade from what looked like a Jeans button which was the centreweight and plastic streamers acting as the tail feathers. Josh and I were hopeless and the locals were rolling their eyes at our lack of skills – but that didn’t stop Josh from trying some world cup soccer back-kicks and I threw in a few headers for good measure. It was so much fun and such a workout. We were later to learn that the game is a very old one called Da Cau, with the shuttlecock itself called the Cau.
Local Experience #2: KOTO restaurant
Dinner time – and I think I may have just had the most memorable meal of my life!
For those wishing to dine for a good cause, the Vietnam Lonely Planet recommended dining at KOTO restaurant. KOTO and its philosophy of giving underprivileged streetkids a go seemed quite similar to Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen. But that’s all we knew going in – and I’m glad that we left with much more.
First impression was that all the waiters could speak English to us – that in itself stood out. The next impression was that we were actually being served! Not sure if I’m generalising but we’ve found that genuine service in Vietnamese restaurants has been quite lacking. Sometimes its due to language difficulties which is understandable. Sometimes we get no service at all. Sometimes we get served so aggresively it borders on stalking – where every spoonful consumed is watched like a hawk and a plate or glass is taken away the moment one puts it down. In KOTO our waiter – for the first time in Vietnam – actually *asked* us if we were finished and if he could take a plate away. Wow! Something was different here.
During the course of the meal – and I *will* get to that later – we asked our waiters, Cong and Thanh, to tell us a little about KOTO and were blown away by what we heard. There was so much to take in but here it is in summary form:
* KOTO stands for “Know One, Teach One”
* KOTO takes in street kids and orphans who are disadvantaged and offers them a chance to change their lives through the medium of cooking & hospitality.
* KOTO only accepts 25 students per year – the year that our waiters enrolled, there were over 250 applicants. Each applicant is interviewed and examined. Those who pass the exam and are most in need are accepted.
* KOTO students are enrolled in a 2 year Cooking or Front-Of-House service course that is run by Box Hill TAFE! Students study life skills (such as English, budgeting & sex education) on top of their vocational training in the KOTO training centre for four days per week and then spend two days per week in on-the-job training at the restaurant.
* KOTO students progress through ‘ranks’ and these are visible on the sleeve on their uniforms. New students are red, intermediate students are orange and experienced students are green. Our waiters were so proud to be green!
*After the two years, students leave the program and KOTO helps them find a place to work. KOTO has such a great reputation that students are snapped up immediately (and its not hard to see why).
Our waiter Cong shared with us some of his story which was amazing. His father died while he was very young and his mother is disabled. He is the oldest of four children and the only one who could work. A friend introduced him to KOTO and he was interviewed and accepted. Since then his life has been completely changed – he counts himself as so lucky. KOTO isn’t just a place to work – its a family. All the people he works with are like brothers and sisters. He is so grateful to KOTO and its founder – Jimmy Pham (a Vietnamese Australian) – who he knows well and says is a very loving, generous man.
Cong is three months away from finishing and would like to work in a five star hotel somewhere – and earn enough money to not just support his family but to give back to KOTO. He was also so proud to show us the “Graduate Gallery” on level two where photos of past students are framed and hung on the walls. All of the students are now working in the hospitality field – some are even working overseas. One of Cong’s friends is in Dubai. He also showed me a picture of a graduate who was working overseas and is now the head chef of this restaurant here in Hanoi – and was the one who cooked my meal tonight.
And what a meal it was!
We started with the KOTO Starter Plate that consisted of fried Pork wontons and a combination of Vegetarian & Beef Spring Rolls. Presentation was A1 and needless to say was delicious!
Josh ordered the Crabmeat Ravioli which he downed like there was no tomorrow but that unfortunately for him any conversation between the two of us ended as KOTO had transported me to another world when they brought out my Five Spice Duck on Potato & Mushroom cake.
THANK YOU LORD!
I can’t remember the last time I’ve ever enjoyed a meal that much. Every flavour worked, the duck was perfection – just crisp on the outside, tender on the inside and complimented the jus on the side perfectly. The potato and mushroom was to die for! I could have that meal over and over. Wow.
I may have just had the meal of my life.
And the food was just the beginning.
If you’re ever in Hanoi, you *MUST* dine at this place!
Till tomorrow,
Adam
Related Links:
* KOTO restaurant
* More info on Da Cau on Youtube
* Photos from Vietnam: Day Five – Hanoi
Related posts:
- Vietnam: Day Four – Return to Hanoi
- Vietnam: Day 1 – Hanoi
- Vietnam: Day Three – Cat Ba Island
- Vietnam: Day 2 – Halong Bay
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