A bird for riding and for specialties

      Located in Long Thanh District in the southern province of Dong Nai, Vuon Xoai (mango garden) has gone beyond a farmstead to become a tourist destination for people who want a quiet place to escape the noisy city during the weekend.
When there, visitors rarely miss the chance to try riding on the back of an ostrich, enjoying a mixed feeling of fear and fun when sitting unstably on a big bird that can run as fast as 65km per hour.
There are hundreds of ostriches at the farm, and for a mere VND10,000 visitors can enjoy a ride. Sometimes falling off the bird's back adds a lot of fun to the experience.
However, ostrich riding is just an additional tourist service for entertaining visitors. Most farmsteads raise ostriches for the commercial value of their skin, feather, eggs and meat! Some restaurants offer ostrich meat as a specialty to highlight their menu so as to lure curious gourmets.
As they are fed mainly on seeds and plants, ostrich meat is a lot like beef, making it easy for restaurant chefs to show off their skill by preparing an extensive VND80,000 to 150,000 each.
The restaurant offers over 15 ostrich dishes, colorfully presented and with unusual tastes. Some clients like ostrich heart, or liver boiled with hot pepper. Others like ostrich feet, cooked in Chinese traditional medicine, spices and lotus seeds, because of the delicious taste and nutritional values.
However, simpler cooking styles also attract diners, such as a slightly salty grilled ostrich meat with onion and green pepper, deep fried ostrich with squash flowers, ostrich meat steamed inside a gourd or a pumpkin, or grilled ostrich in bamboo tube and coconut milk. All these dishes have become favorites thanks to the tasty ostrich meat.
Other eateries in HCMC lure tourists with their own specialties. Champagne Restaurant (129-133 Ham Nghi Blvd) or Gio Noi Restaurant (265 Pham Ngu Lao Street), nestled in hotels Que Huong and Liberty in downtown, offer dishes such as ostrich spring rolls, banh xeo cooked with ostrich meat among others. Prices range from VND40,000-150,000 per dish.