We sat in the small but tastefully remodelled kitchen, eating a shrimp salad and a cheese platter.

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There is also a dining area of divans and armchairs surrounded by potted plants and candles, where you can enjoy a glass of chilled Kefraya wine and a tasty, grilled shrimp and asparagus salad.

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Also inspired by the beauty and bounty of this region are chef Andrew Sutton's creative menus at Auberge de Soleil, where diners find shrimp cocktail or a tomato gazpacho salad for their pleasure ( 77K AIFF sound or 77K WAV sound).

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Fortunately four to five meals per day of char kwey tiaw (fried noodles in soy sauce with egg and various additions), asam laksa (Penang's famous, indescribably good curry noodle soup), rojak (fruit and veggie salad in a sweet dark shrimp paste) and much, much more, goes down a lot easier than heavier Western foods.

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At the White Barn Inn Restaurant in Kennebunkport, the only AAA Five Diamond restaurant north of New York City, chef Jonathan Cartwright has a House Smoked Salmon and Marinated Maine Shrimp with a Grape, Pear and Walnut Salad featuring Concord grapes on his holiday menu.

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The final stop, in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), includes chef-led cooking classes and a street-food tour -- and boundless opportunities for trying snacks such as banh mi (sandwiches), pho (spicy noodle soup), goi du du (green papaya salad) and banh xeo (rice pancakes with pork and shrimp).

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