Ho Chi Minh City has turned more festive when Christmas and New Year are drawing closer, and festivals have begun or are on the way here and there in the city for locals and foreigners to taste Asian and European cuisines and have entertainment.

The city started Ngay Hoi Tuoi Tho (festival of childhood) in April 30 Park in downtown Ho Chi Minh City. The festival in front of the Reunification Palace features cultural activities, entertainment and Asian dishes for not only children but also adults.

Chefs of Saigontourist-affiliated restaurants and hotels will dish up some 100 specialties of Vietnam and other Asian countries at the festival until New Year’s Day on January 1, 2006. The food highlights include Xichang-tasting shrimp, grilled shrimp, fried fish paste rolled with buoi leave, strawberry tofu, fried flour-covered crabs, jungle-styled fried rice, tasty snail and many more. People can enjoy the food specialties from 10 a.m. till 10 p.m. during the festival except from 10 a.m. till midnight on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Coupons for food and drinks cost from VND 5,000.

On Christmas Eve and Day, Binh Quoi 1 Tourist Village in Binh Thanh District will organize Lien Hoan Cac Mon Ngot (festival of sweet dishes) for the first time, and buffet of southern food delicacies. Participants of the festival will have a good opportunity to taste 33 varieties of che (sweet soup) made from taro, green rice flakes and yam; 33 sweet cakes and 33 sweet drinks of the northern, central and southern regions of Vietnam.

What makes the festival more special is that the tourist village will set up rural markets and stalls to remind visitors of childhood and the eating habit of people in the countryside. The tickets for the festival of sweet dishes cost VND 20,000, including lessons on some Vietnamese traditional cakes run by chefs of the village at 1147 Binh Quoi Street.

Moving back to downtown Ho Chi Minh City, the Rex Hotel on Nguyen Hue Boulevard will put up an extravagant buffet dinner of Asian and European dishes on its Rooftop Garden Restaurant on December 23, 24 and 25.

Diners will also enjoy the performance of cong chieng (gong) beating and dancing by tribal chief Krajan Plin and his friends from the Langbiang Mountains. Recently, the UNESCO recognized the Central Highlands gong culture as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

The tickets for the Asian and European buffet and performance cost VND 480,000 for adults and VND 288,000 for children on Christmas Eve, VND 319,000 for adults on December 23 and 25.

(Source: Saigon Times)