Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Best BBQ in Asia

We took the train from Hoi An (Da Nang, actually) to Nha Trang last night.  It was about a 9 hour train ride.  Vietnamese trains leave a lot to be desired!  They may have been nice 5 or 6 years ago but they are pretty rundown these days. Holes in the curtains, tray tables held up by twine, tinny speakers playing vietnamese pop, not exactly the swiss efficiency and comfort we  were used to in Geneva.


Nevertheless we made it to Nha Trang in one piece and got checked into our hotel which is quite nice and a bargain at $18/night.  We had originally planned on being in Nha Trang for only 2 nights & 1 day but it is nice enough here that we decided to spend a couple extra days so will head to the mountains and cooler temperatures (hopefully!) of Dalat on Friday.

Today we were looking for a place for lunch and saw that tripadvisor had highly rated a restaurant called  Texas BBQ & Steaks.  It was just around the corner from us and we had noticed as we were walking about but hadn't paid too much attention thinking it was probably some poor ripoff of BBQ.  The reviews were great though so we decided to give it a shot and OMG it was awesome! 

We shared Buffalo wings as an appetizer and Betsy had a "pulled pork" sandwich and I had a jalapeno cheeseburger.  Everything was excellent and we spent a lot of time talking to Wayne the owner.  He's originally from Memphis where his family has run BBQ restaurants and he has lived in Vietnam for about 9 years.  He was bored being semi-retired and decided to open a BBQ restaurant in Nha Trang about a year ago.  He imports all the food from the US so it tastes like authentic American BBQ.

This was one of the best if not the best BBQ restaurants we've been too!  We will definitely be going back to Texas BBQ before we leave.  Sometimes you get tired of noodles/rice all the time and it is nice to have something that reminds you of home.  Plus I got some good rib-smoking tips from Wayne that I can try out when we get home!

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