The food in Vietnam has probably been one of the best parts of traveling in this country so I think it deserves its own post. Our first night in Vietnam we did a food tour around Hanoi called food on foot which has been one of he highlights of my trip. It was a perfect introduction to Vietnamese cuisine. A 23 year old Vietnamese girl named Lily took us around to 10 different restaurants/ food stalls and would have taken us to even more if we weren't about to pass out from being so full. She answered any question we had and acted more as a friend than a guide. We were also lucky enough to be the only two to sign up for the tour so we essentially had a private tour for $25 dollars each. These are the places we went:
1) Banh Cuon Gia Truyen
Delicate and tasty banh cuon (silky steamed rice crepes filled with minced pork, mushrooms and ground shrimp), served hot off the screen on which they are steamed, is about all they do here - and they do it well.
This was one of our favorites-- we came back here more than once!
One of the things we were most exicted about when coming to Hanoi was experiencing Biq hoi (Fresh/draught beer stalls). These street stalls are a popular spot for locals to hangout and enjoy cheap cheap beer (around 20 cents per glass), peanuts and other snacks. The beer is made freshly each night, delivered around the city the following morning, and guzzled down by the time the bars close that night. We found that they were usually full of men and that the beer was cheap but definitely not strong. Lily ordered us two beers and a local delicacy called a banana flower salad. This spicy salad is made of greens, banana flower stems and the secret ingredient-- sliced pig ear. I tried a but of the pig ear but wasn't a fan.
3)Bun Bo Nam Bo
Means "Southern Beef Noodle" is a concoction of rice noodles, topped with sliced beef, peanuts, dried onions, bean sprouts, green papaya, coriander and basil leaves - all drenched in a small portion of sweet savory fish sauce.
It was also served with Chả lụa also known as Vietnamese sausage or pork roll. The pork has to be pounded until it becomes pasty and is then wrapped tightly in banana leaves.into a cylindrical shape and boiled. I found the texture very rubbery so this was not one of my favorite snacks.
4)Sugarcane Juice
Sugar cane juice, called nước mía, is very popular in Vietnam as a refreshing drink in the hot Vietnamese climate. Kumquat juice a citrus, is often added to balance the sweetness. It is available at numerous small street stalls, and is often sold alongside other popular Asian beverages. Very refreshing!
5)Floating Rice Cake (Troi)
This is a kind of Vietnamese rice cake is made from glutinous rice flour and a small sugar rock in the middle then fried sesame on top.
6)
Snails and Clams Lily tricked us into trying snails by telling us that we were only getting clams. When the plate of snails arrived at the table we felt bad not eating them-- they actually weren't bad!
7) Fruit stand
We tried two fruits that we had never tried before that are very abundant and popular in Vietnam (I forget the names odd the top of my head).
8) Fruit with shaved ice and condensed milk
A popular late night dessert and hangout spot for the "youngsters" of Hanoi.
All of the seating at the restaurants and food stalls we went to were plastic, small and low to the ground. Andrew was not a fan of this.
8) Snakehead fish spring rolls from Orchid
This was fun because we learned how to make our own spring rolls (which is very simple). The fish was brought out on a grill and heated right in front of us. We were almost too full at this point to fully enjoy the meal so we came back to this restaurant another night.
9) Egg Coffee with Rum
A night cap to our food tour. The egg coffee is made with normal black Vietnamese coffee and egg yolk whisked with milk and sugar. It tasted a bit like tiramisu on the top, very creamy and rich. This cafe was hidden in an alley way and upstairs-- we would have never found it without Lily!
10) Sticky rice with a Fried Egg
We were too full to stop by the sticky rice restaurant that Lily suggested so we went the next day instead. This "glutinous" yellow sticky rice is much heartier than regular rice. Ours was topped with a fried egg, fried shallots and sme sort of delicious yellow shavings (possibly some sort or fat?). We went here a few times and it was always full of locals.
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