The Sáu Hiệp BBQ restaurant is a must-visit destination in Châu Đốc Town, An Giang Province. — VNS Photo Minh Phi.

by MỸ DUYÊN

A twin-pilgrimage to pray for good luck and sample local culinary specialties leads to a discovery - Sáu Hiệp BBQ Restaurant in An Giang Province and its specialty - nem nướng or charcoal-grilled pork balls.

It had been two decades since I’d last visited the Châu Đốc Town in An Giang.

It was high time to seek the blessings of good luck again from the Temple of Bà Chúa Xứ (the Lady of the Realm)

But there was another motivating factor as we took the six-hour drive from HCM City to the border province: the sampling of culinary specialties. Good food enriches every undertaking, including the seeking of spiritual succour.

Let me say it at the outset: my twins and I were especially impressed with some BBQ fare and snakehead fish noodle soup, cooked in typical Châu Đốc style, that we had at a local restaurant.

It was only fitting that our culinary discovery was prompted by a local - the driver of a xe đạp lôi (a rickshaw pulled by a bicycle), a typical popular means of transport in the Mekong Delta.

He not only took us to the temple, about 5.5km from the Châu Đốc central market, but also convinced my family to eat at Sáu Hiệp BBQ. After guiding us to the restaurant, the kind man said he would wait for us until we finished our meal. He wanted our feedback on his strong recommendation.

“It’s not very far from the market, it is on the way to the temple and you should not miss it,” he emphasised, adding for good measure: “Many visitors crazy about its food return to Sáu Hiệp every time they visit Châu Đốc.”

We found some collaboration of his recommendation as we approached the restaurant. It was crowded with diners and enticing, savoury smell rose from the kitchen.

The Sáu Hiệp Restaurant is simply built. A metal roof with stainless steel tables and plastic chairs indicate the focus on utility and easy maintenance rather than ambience aesthetics. It clearly lets its food do the talking.

My family being partial to BBQ dishes, the smell from meat being grilled on charcoal only whetted our appetite. It looked as though charcoal-grilled pork balls was the restaurant’s signature dish.

Mouth-watering dish: Charcoal-grilled pork balls at the Sáu Hiệp Restaurant have pleasing savoury, salty and spicy tastes. — VNS Photo Minh Phi.

​So I lost no time ordering grilled pork for me and my twins, at VNĐ50,000 (US$2) per serving. Diners have a choice of having the dish with fresh rice angel hair or wet rice crepes.

My kids went for the angel hair, the combination being similar to what we have at restaurants in HCM City. Always on the lookout for new, local flavours, I chose to have the grilled meat with wet rice crepes, fresh aromatic herbs, pickles and a special house-made fish sauce.

It was the first time I was trying this combination.

It was a winner.

The perfectly marinated and grilled pork blended well with the wet rice crepes. Topped with coarsely ground peanuts and spring onion oil sauce, the balls were served with pineapple, green banana, heart and mint leaves, and pickles. The balance achieved by this combination of ingredients sat easy on the tongue while the special fish sauce further upped the flavour.

My kids put my thoughts into words.

“The balls are so yummy, mom. They are the best we’ve ever had.” The proof of the pudding is in the eating, they say, and the kids did not hold back in demonstrating this.

They wolfed down their two portions of grilled pork with rice angel-hair at impressive pace and turned their attention to my portion, demanding that I share it with them.

Next we treated ourselves to another must-try barbecue in Châu Đốc style - skewed beef with onion at VNĐ50,000 per serving. This dish is also accompanied by local fresh herbs and a sour-sweet fish sauce dip. Though the sauce was a bit too sweet for me, the beef was irresistibly tasty when wrapped with fresh herbs and pickles.

​

BBQ feast: Grilled pork balls, served with fresh rice angel-hair or wet rice crepes, aromatic herbs, pickles and a house-made sweet-sour fish sauce in Châu Đốc style. — VNS Photo Minh Phi.

​We were not done. We just had to try the deep-fried spring rolls at VNĐ10,000 each. Just the sight of the golden brown rolls whetted our appetite afresh. They were delicious, too - crispy outside and soft and tender inside.

A diehard wrap-and-roll fan, I wrapped the fried spring rolls with herbs and green salads. Dipped in the restaurant’s special fish sauce, it hit all the right palette spots.

Sáu Hiệp has no sweets on its menu, so we ended our meal without a dessert despite Châu Đốc being famous for bánh bò thốt nốt (steamed cake with palm sugar and coconut milk) and jelly soup with coconut milk and palm sugar – both heavily favoured by the kids.

However, our thoughts were not on dessert as we finished our BBQ feast. We were already thinking about returning to this awesome eatery and trying more local dishes.

Having such a hugely satisfying meal after a visit to the famous pagoda was like an answer to our prayers. VNS

Sáu Hiệp Charcoal-Grilled Pork Restaurant

Address: 398 Nguyễn Văn Thoại Street, Châu Đốc Town, An Giang Province

Phone: (0296) 0763561461

Hours: 11am – 10:30pm

Comment: Authentic southern Vietnamese cuisine.

Price: from VNĐ40,000/dish