It must have rained much of the night, from the size of the puddles on the streets this morning. It started during the evening. I had connected with a good friend of my neighbour Chris back home – a fellow named Zak – and we walked out to Bbq Chicken Street for a bite to eat and a couple beers. Our walk back to the Old Quarter was accompaied by a gentle mist. Later, I could hear the mist change to a hard downpour.

By this morning, the rain had given way to some serious humidity, which I’m hoping will end in the next few hours. I ventured out in search of bún riêu cua for breakfast. I found it in a little plastic stool place located in a small alley not far from the cathedral.

Description

Bún riêu cua features a tomato based broth, vermicelli noodles meats, tofu and a paste made from freshwater paddy field mud crabs.

The picture shows some of these mud crabs at a market. As I understand it, these crabs are made into a paste, shell and all. In broth, the shell drops to the bottom and the meat floats to the top.

Today’s soup came with kumquats to squeeze in, and the lady showed me how to reserve the seeds with a spoon as I did this. There was also chilie oil, fresh chilies and garlic in vinegar available, as well as a plate of fresh herbs to mix into the soup. What a great breakfast!