The whole crew has a bit of a giggle in their voices, all very excited about arriving to such a cute and romantic looking town. And to add more to our excitement, the heat has dropped around 20°C. For the first time we aren’t all dripping in sweat.

Dalat is known as ‘The City of Eternal Spring’ and lies 1500 metres above sea level. With the temperature staying between 10°C and 24°C, it makes a very popular getaway for local Vietnamese, escaping the hot weather.

For centuries, Dalat has been home to many different hill tribe minorities, and in the early 1900s the city was developed by the French as a hill station. They built villas, churches and chateaus that still remain today. With its ideal temperature, regular rainfall and the most fertile soil in Vietnam, Dalat is the premier agricultural land in the country. 

The top restaurants and hotels in Vietnam get all their fresh produce from here, in particular establishments who offer western cuisine contract farmers here to grow rocket, basil, thyme, rosemary and many other herbs and vegetables traditionally not grown in Vietnam.

The majority of Vietnam’s coffee is also grown in the central highlands, in fact Vietnam is the second largest coffee exporter in the world, trailing just behind Brazil. Now there is one variety of coffee that Vietnam is known for; a variety called ‘Weasel Coffee’ or ‘Ca Phe Chon’.

What is weasel coffee? Well, the ripe coffee berries are fed to weasels, the weasels excrete the seeds, the excreta is collected by young children and the seeds are harvested, a process that is thought to enhance the taste of the bean. Sounds awful I know, but it is actually really delicious. Be sure to give it a try when you visit Vietnam, the whole crew is addicted to it.

We have only scheduled three days in Dalat, but I wish we have more time here as one whole day had to be dedicated to the amazing central markets. If you get there early enough you can catch all the growers with their trucks outside on the street to sell and offload all their fruit and veg to the market stall holders. Keen locals in the know also come out at this time to buy directly from the growers and score a good bargain.

It is so busy during this time I can barely move around, the streets congested with trucks, motorbikes, trolleys and piles of wooden crates full of fruit and vegetables. It is all so colourful, the produce so fresh and the energy high. Within an hour it all disappears and the regular market day begins.

It is without a doubt Vietnam’s most exciting and spectacular fresh food market.  All the produce stalls are situated on the ground level.From the second level you can get an aerial view of hustle and bustle of the entire market below and it is here you will also find little food stalls selling regional dishes from all over Vietnam. 

I stand there on the second level looking down at hundreds of conical hats zipping in and out buying their produce for the day and I just have to cook some dishes here, using only the great vegetables grown in Dalat.

All the stall owners are very hospitable, allowing us into their tiny work spaces to shoot my dishes, and a few ladies even offer me their daughter's hand in marriage. I love this country!