This culinary expedition took determination, dedication, and faith.
It all began when my classmate from grad school, Helen, reached out to me via Facebook and told me to go to an amazing hole-in-the-wall pork chop place in Saigon.
This place is somewhat a legend in a Facebook thread that Helen shared with me. She has had at least 10 friends go to this place. And most have come back with stellar reviews of the pork chops. It was amusing to become apart of this pork chop quest those before me had taken. If it wasn’t for social media, I and many others would never have found this place Helen recommended.
Our quest began two days after Tet. We had no address, but we did have the a picture of the store front. I googled the name of the store front and got to looking on the internetz for hits that said “name of store” + “address” + “pork chops.”
We took an Uber to the pork chop place. There was the sign! But it was closed for Tet. We didn’t even think about that, but of course many things are closed during Tet (Vietnamese New Year) in Vietnam. Doh!
We were disappointed but got bahn mis instead so our disappointment soon faded.
We tried a second day and this was during last day of Tet. The doors were open and the owners and staff were cleaning the restaurant. But it was not open.
Third times a charm!!!!
The third time, we went back the second day after Tet had ended. And we finally had the most epic pork chops we’d ever eaten in our lives. The pork chops are made over a barbecue located on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. Order the pork chops with broken rice and a fried egg. The combination is delectable.
Wash it down with an ice green tea or beer and you will be in heaven.
Thank you, Helen!
Savvy Roving 