"Remembrance of Things Past" Vietnamese-French version

May 24, 2014 8:56 PM

My father had this amazing dish at a Vietnamese restaurant in Angers, France in the eighties. What could it have been?

So my father spent some time in Angers, France in the eighties and he still talks about this amazing dish he had a Vietnamese restaurant there. It was a mixture of shrimp and pork, covered with (possibly shredded?) coconut and lightly battered and fried (but it wasn't greasy). It came on a stick and it was about three inches long. That's all he can remember at this point other than the fact that it was amazing. At first, I thought it might be a variation of bánh xèo but he said there was no bean sprouts inside. What could it be? I would love to be able to recreate this dish for him.

posted by perkinite to Food & Drink (5 answers total)

The stick wasn't a length of sugar cane, was it?
posted by Mister Bijou at 9:20 PM on May 24, 2014

Best answer: Could it be something like this?

My local Vietnamese restaurant does it with shrimp paste without any pork in it, but I've seen it done both ways.
posted by murphy slaw at 9:20 PM on May 24, 2014

I've had something similar that was ground pork and escargot molded around a stalk of lemongrass.
posted by Foam Pants at 11:56 PM on May 24, 2014

Best answer: Chao Tom?
posted by Dansaman at 12:15 AM on May 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: That's it! I guess there was no coconut but it was the sugarcane stick that gives the sweet taste. Thank you so much!
posted by perkinite at 8:03 AM on May 25, 2014 [1 favorite]