Ambulando

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Sometimes it took a good lunch to restore your spirit. So I went to Mango Rooms, a small restaurant in Hoi An, in front of the river, advised on the LP guide as one of the best and that in the past served people of the like of Mick Jagger.
Not scared by this information, I decided to give it a try anyway. If Keith Richards would have been there, I would thrust the place with no second thinking, but His Majesty Mick has been always too much of a poser to be a reliable gourmet.
So there I was, with some time to spend before my bus to Nha Trang was due, decided to treat me a little bit after days of noodles, pho and spring rolls.
The place was typical caribbean-asian style: walls painted blu or green, coloured bamboo tables and chairs, an angle with a Japanese style tatami.
On the sound system, there was the Rolling Stones (of course) when I went in and then Buena Vista Social Club, as usual.
As Happy Hour starts early in these parts, I decided to go for a cocktail first; been Happy Hour I had two actually.
Pink Passion, or Pinky, looked perfectly fresh and suitable as a aperitive: vodka, lime, passion fruit, watermelon juice, ice (not crushed, thanks God). And the waiter suggested it too. So I ordered and get a cocktail and a wink from the waitress.
The result was as expected: watermelon and passion fruit were a good mix and the lime gave the right point of bitterness. Maybe it was too much lime for my tastes, so for the second one I asked to reduce it. And actually I was right.
Time for the real stuff now.
The name of the place did betray its theme: most of the food was mango based, either in salsa, sauces or curry.
I went for a starter of colonial toasts: toasted bread (real bread) with shrimps mousse served with a curry of mango and coconut, lightly spiced. I would have asked for a second serving. I was tempted to clean the curry bowl clean asking extra bread.
Then I went for the day chef’s speciality. It was either seared tuna steak in mango salsa or breaded shrimps with mango in some other sauce.
I went for the tuna, medium rare.
I have to say I have never been good at cooking steak, and I still miss the secrets for searing it.
This one was perfect, resting on a bed of mango and tomatoes spicy salad, a sort of pico de gallo, and served with soya sauce and wasabi, sushi style. There was also the ginger, cut julienne style. Side dishes, the ever present noodles and a small fish salad.
When I put back my chopstick on the plate, there was nothing of it left.
As beer would have been a sacrilege, I opted for a glass of Sauvignon Blanc from Chile. Reading it looks very posh, but it was a decent wine and it went down good.
What could I have asked more? A coffee, of course, but the expresso did a poor show after that lunch.
My spirit was restored, even if I paid for this lunch the equivalent of 3 nights in an hotel or 5 in a dorm, actually 25€. In Europe I would have paid three times that, but here I am a budget gourmet and a decent meals comes for around 5€.
I could get back on the road again, to get my bus, and was followed by a woman in a boat offering to row me around for one hour, by the usual scooter driver asking where I want to go, by the small girl trying to sell me beads necklace and wooden rings.
I let them talk. I wanted to savour my moment. I wanted to go back to the restaurant and ask if they need a helper in the kitchen. I wanted to get a bike and drive all the next 12 hours to Nha Trang.
There was a bus waiting for me and I know it would have been a hard night coping with the driver. Better taking it with philosophy.

Really a glass of wine, three piece of bread and a piece of fish made this to me?
It looks I need some help too…