From the heart of Parap market billows a savoury plume of smoke. Is it the breath of a sleeping dragon dreaming of a luscious last eaten meal... or perhaps a bain-marie has been set alight by some slimming rioters?
On closer investigation, the smoke was coming from this stall of Vietnamese cuisine...
The cause: no, not the gentleman in the blue-striped polo shirt. Rather: Vietnamese pork kebabs. Ruddy as the cheeks of a Saigon resident drunk on Bia Hoi, the kebabs are a nauseously enjoyable combination of bashed pork, herbs and glaze.
In Melbourne they are generally savoury red balls on a skewer, subsequently sliced into a crispy roll or placed atop a bowl of rice vermicelli. At this store they are presented as a fat sausage sized, squeezed palmful of pig, stabbed by a skewer then grilled, well, almost before ones eyes if you navigate the market to the back of the stall where the bbq is manned.
If you peek behind the pho bowls, beneath the great umbrella, you can glimpse the BBQer holding fort in his sunnies!
These kebabs are delicious! The ruddy glaze is perfectly charcoaled and the centre of the minced pork is juicy without being indulgently fatty. We ate them in a roll last time... this time, after Sarah and I wandered our separate ways to decide what each would eat, chance and desire led us back to the stand from where the smoke billows. The result: two orders of Vermicelli Salad with Pork Kebabs!
This is perfect summer food, fresh, crisp, savoury and sweet. You can see all the ingredients above, in the process of mixing. Actually, I was surprised by how good this market version was compared to some of the examples I've eaten in Vietnamese restaurants. The taste ricochets between the meat, crushed peanuts, chili and the texture of the vermicelli, all the while being washed over by the sweet and gently sour tones of the Nuoc Cham sauce and held upright and honest by the crispness of the lettuce, cucumber and carrot. If you are yet to try this combination, then get down to the Parap Market, follow the savoury smoke and get some into you!
looks fuckin shithouse
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