We were eager to try lots of different kinds of Vietnamese food while we were in Vietnam, so I figured the best way to do that was with a food tour. There are hundreds of places to eat in every neighborhood, so without a guide, it could easily become overwhelming. We were lucky to get a very friendly guide who started by asking us what kinds of food we liked and if there was anything we really wanted to try, and then he took us walking around the neighborhood on a culinary adventure.
One thing I hadn't really registered before we got to Hanoi is how old it is. As a city, it's over a thousand years old, and, as with all old cities, it has some building peculiarities, like build up rather than out to avoid paying taxes on the land.
There is also an intricate labyrinth of little alleys connecting the city and hiding scenes of every day life along with massage parlours and restaurants.
You can see why a motorcycle is the preferred vehicle in this city. We were very glad to have our guide to lead us around. Eventually, we popped out on the main street near our first restaurant. While the restaurants served more than one thing, it was clear that each place had a specialty dish, and that's what we were there to try. The prepped bowls were lined up, ready to receive the finishing touches. Our first sampling was bún bò nam bộ (beef salad noodle) at 65 Hang Dieu.
The finished product had beef, fried onions, and pickled vegetables on top.
The "dressing" was on the bottom, so you had to stir it up. The sauce was sweet and tangy.
We loved it. We had to remind ourselves that it was the first of many.
Our next stop was another beef and noodle dish, but this one came in a yummy and unique broth made with pineapple, bún bò Huế ( Hue beef noodle).
The standard additions to the broth and noddles were bean sprouts, lime, and some greens.
I love all the baskets of greens around the city.
The soup was delicious, and our guide got Jeff some extra spicy sauces to add in.
There was a lady walking around with a bullhorn recorded sales pitch. She seemed to be selling some kind of pancake. When we asked our guide about it, he ran out to get us one. It's sesame paste. He said it's a typical after school snack.
It was a rainy day, so we got a little wet, but Hanoi has so many colors that it was never dull.
Our next stop was banh mi, the famous meeting of French and Vietnamese culture. It's pâté on a baguette, but the rest of the fillings are things like eggs and vegetables that feel more Asian. There are lots of varieties. We stuck with the more basic one.
Elena was especially impressed with the sign for the bathroom.
It's good that we were walking from restaurant to restaurant, because next up was grilled cat fish wraps, or chả cá.
There were various additions to the fish that you could wrap up and another tangy sauce to tip it in. Sugar and vinegar seem to be the go to sauce ingredients.
We did some more neighborhood walking to try and make space for dessert.
We could not resist the smell of frying dough, so we grabbed some bánh rán, donut balls.
Next our guide took us to a popular place for xôi xéo ngô, tumeric and corn sticky rice with savory meat and veggies.
It was another great combination of sweet and savory, but we were so full by that point that we could only manage a little of the starchy deliciousness. That meant it was time for the famous Vietnamese egg coffee, cà phê trứng The story goes that French colonists decided to make up for the lack of milk for their coffee by whipping up egg to put in there. It is decadently rich, and the spot our guide took us to was lovely.
The girls got egg chocolate instead of egg coffee. It was incredibly rich, and both girls were sick the next day, so we think this might have been what pushed their tummies over the edge.
Despite our protestations, our guide insisted on one more stop for fruit frenzy, kem hoa quả. It was delicious, and he even got us a mango only one for Elena.
The next day though, both Elena and Vivian were down. We learned that we all love Vietnamese food, but we should probably not eat quite so much in one day.
Our tour guide very helpfully sent us a list of all the places we went and what we ate there which he titled the ultimate menu:
1. Bún bò nam bộ (Beef salad noodle) - 65 hang dieu
2. Bún bò Huế ( Hue beef noodle) - 60 Bat Su
3. Banh mi - 14 Hang Buom
4. Chả cá (grilled cat fish) - 23 dao duy tu
5. Bánh rán (donut ball) - 5 luong ngoc quyen
6. Xôi xéo ngô ( tumeric and corn sticky rice) - 35b nguyen huu huan
7. Cà Phê Trứng (Egg coffee) - 37b nguyen huu huan
8. Kem hoa quả ( fruit frenzy) - 17 to tich
