BREAKFAST WITH A VIEW: If you stay at the resort, then breakfast shall be healthily and peacefully served amid the waterlilly ponds scattered around the restaurant. VNS Photo Mỹ Hà

by Nguyễn Mỹ Hà 

Madam Châu restaurant is found at the Alba Wellness Resort, where you can stay in the hotel or use the facilities during the day.

The spacious round bamboo structure opens in all directions so that you can pick a table overlooking a pond or garden. 

The Vietnamese menu offers the delicacies of the three main regions of Việt Nam, yet it was the accentuated specialties of Huế that delighted us most.

The fame of Huế's fermented shrimps (Mắm tôm chua) has spread far and wide, not only within the country but anywhere in the world where people from Huế set foot.

Mắm tôm chua was, it is said, first made by Emperor Tự Đức's mother, Từ Dũ, who brought her home delicacy from the southern land of Gò Công, Tiền Giang Province, to Huế. 

The southern delicacy where the shrimp flesh is fermented into a fine reddish, sour sauce to be dipped with boiled pork belly and consumed with lots of aromatic herbs and green fruit, while the sour variation of Huế has become even more popular. 

Concocted by a King's Mother and rustled up by Huế home-makers with local shrimps, it's loved by not only Huế residents but others across the country. Mắm tôm chua Huế is a dipping sauce anyone visiting Huế loves to take home. 

Our meal at Madam Châu had boiled pork belly with Mắm tôm chua (VNĐ250,000) as the centrepiece. The sauce's strong salty and sour flavour, with some fresh rice vermicelli, sliced cucumber, young fig fruit, and fresh herbs, balanced all five tastes in one roll. 

FARM TO TABLE: Fresh vegetables at Madame Châu are home-grown in the Alba farm.Photo courtesy of the resort

Madame Châu also offers a daily set menu at VNĐ350,000 per person. It has a fixed set menu and a special Huế family menu that includes all delicacies of Huế such as grilled minced pork on a sugarcane stick, green fig salad, caramelised snakehead fish stew with ginger, sauteed free-range chicken with ginger, sweet and sour fish soup, finished with sweet black glutinous rice-balls with mung bean.

The vegetarian set menu has bean curd and onion soup, fried tofu in tomato sauce, wok-fried vegetables in soy sauce, slow-cooked shiitake mushrooms on white jasmine rice and seasonal fruit for dessert. 

Two other set menus have pork ribs and chicken, or beef and a fish stew as mains. It is better suited for groups of adults, such are the rich flavours. We were a big group with a large age gap, so we decided to go à la carte.

Next came Bò lúc lắc, or beef cubes stir-fried with bell peppers (VNĐ460,000). The beef was tender and juicy and came with potato chips, a true treat for the children. 

Then the main course arrived, a dry stew snakehead fish (VNĐ340,000) to be consumed with white rice. The fish was well marinated and tasted delicious but, again, was strong and salty. 

Next to arrive were vegetables sauteed with mushrooms (VNĐ120,000) and an excellent tofu (VNĐ250,000) simmered with soy sauce.  

QUIETER DINING: The food, service and view are all pleasant at the eco-friendly Madam Châu restaurant. VNS Photo Mỹ Hà

The setting of this restaurant is calm and peaceful, ideal for private parties, receptions or small-sized weddings. 

When we had our food, other diners had already left so we were at the restaurant by ourselves. Someone asked if we could play music and sing, but the manager turned us down as making undue noise might spoil the tranquil vibes of this calm wellness resort. 

SERENITY: A beautiful pavillion overlooking a pond with the blue mountains in the far background. VNS Photo Mỹ Hà

Some say there is a big difference between Vietnamese and international groups, with the domestic group wanting to sing and make noise with family and friends, while the latter want to relax, keep quiet and enjoy the scenery and natural sounds of the crickets and birds.

We respected the resort's rules, so our friends kept their acoustic guitars in boxes.

The final dish was a boiling hot sweet and sour fish soup to balance it all out and add a final calming effect to put our stomachs at ease. The hot soup was poured over white rice to complete a long, happy meal scattered with laughter. VNS

Madame Châu

Alba Wellness Resort

TLB1, Phong Điền, Thừa Thiên Huế 49000

Tel: 0234-3556 666 

Comment: Fine local foods in a spacious bamboo structure overlooking waterlily ponds