simbal

Southeast Asian Kitchen + Bar

Braised pork belly, fresh coconut juice, marinated egg (thit kho nuoc dua trung) 

We would like to highlight this dish on the menu because the Vietnamese preparation of pork belly is unique. While pork belly is typically thought of as rich, heavy, and decadent, we aim to showcase pork belly as at once both light and decadent.

 

If there were a dish every Vietnamese is familiar with, it’s this one. I even recall my grandmother eating it tirelessly, three times a week. Yet, this dish was almost left out of the menu due to one ingredient. We had been testing the pork belly braise with a variety of boxed and canned coconut juice, but coming up short on flavor. Luckily, after a chat with my mom, she imparted wisdom that transformed the dish: fresh coconut juice, not boxed or canned. The difference was night and day. The dish became more aromatic and even a more sophisticated depth of complexity. To make this dish, we exhaust cases of fresh coconuts, extracting juice for this dish and coconut flesh for the flan and my mom’s coconut candy.

 

Traditionally, a hard-boiled egg is served with the pork belly; but we thought a soft boiled egg would intensify the taste with its lusciousness texture. This dish is also intended to be eaten with jasmine rice.

 

photo courtesy of Wonho Frank Lee