eating in hanoi

i must confess - the main thing i was looking forward to in Hanoi was the FOOD.

In fact, i did tons of homework on it before we flew. My main mission - to try as much local food as my tummy could contain. 

All my research came down to this amazing website that really sums up the must-not-miss dishes in Hanoi. With the print-out of the list of food and a good accurate map, i got the friendly hotel staff to recommend the  best place/ stall for each of the dishes. And i was all set to go on my culinary adventures...dragging along four others whom i suspect must have cursed me at least once for making them walk for endless miles just for a bowl of noodles. hehe. 

This here is not breakfast in Hanoi, but rather my rather 'rich' cheesy egg omelet from Chocolate Lounge in LCCT. Little did i know then, it was nothing compared to the food i was about to indulge in. 

 The best food are eaten while seated on low stools by the busy roadside. A concept that'll never work in Malaysia, or else it'll be a field day for stray dogs and cats roaming the streets for food.
No matter day or night, the locals are frequently seen seated together in clusters, chit chatting while eating their meals or sipping their drinks.

Everybody drinks Hanoi Beer here. At RM2-3 a bottle, it's frigging cheap! But of course, you'll need to drink gallons of it for kicks. 

First stall we visited was this one, selling 'god-knows-what', we went ahead and ordered a plate.

Turned out to be a plate of beehoon-like thingy with fried tau-kua, some weird looking fragrant leaves with a bowl of dip. Except for the tau kua, we didn't quite know how to eat the rest of them. :p

This little stall near the Dong Xuan marketplace sells a good bowl of pork noodles during the night.

The seller prepares everything sitting down, but more amazingly, check out that pot of boiling soup!

I had no idea how to place my order so i just asked for one serving, and i was served this....
.......pretty good, hot and sour peppery soup!

Beside it was another stall selling sweets and dessert. From the various desserts they served, i think my dad tried the 'Che Chui'.

Pretty lass making dad's order...

It was quite nice, something like chendol but just about a hundred times slimier....! It was actually a really slimy gooey mashed up banana inside his coconut milk dessert.

On one of the nights, we decided to try out 69 Bar-Restaurant along Ma May St - a slightly up-scale hangout place popular with the Westerners.

Partly also because i thought my dad was starting to get cramps from sitting on low stools, it'll be a good change to stretch those legs in a proper sit-down restaurant.
Not only did my dad said i was crazy to belittle him like that (oops), but dining here turned out to be a real joke!
Sure, the interior looks rustic, romantic and all, but i assure you, it's certainly over-rated.

Some of the food we had here were ... Vietnamese Coffee (which i think tasted rather ohh-kay),

I had a margarita, of course! Sorry la, those few days of 'freedom' simply meant i had no use for my breast milk. Hence, bring on the alcohol baby!

This appetizer was by far, the best thing we had there. It was a variety of spring rolls which is a must-eat in Hanoi as well.

The rest of the food was pretty much bland. I found it most disappointing that the food did not live up to the interesting names they had........

Have you ever seen a steak cooked and served in THIS amount of juices?! And so garlicky.

My very interestingly named fish dish turned out to be a mere steamed fish in soya sauce. Bummer.
This place has been over rated by those travel books. Skip this one - it's strictly for health-conscious clean freak tourists who have a phobia towards eating from roadside stalls.

Now THIS is something which sounds alien to us but turns out, chan canh ga nuong is our all-time favourite grilled chicken!

This lady sits hovering over the hot grill, never taking her eyes off the wings, bun...

...and chicken feet...with the claws still intact. eww.

My adventurous dad just loves those chicken feet.
Need i describe more?

This is so cute i just have to post it here. This local cutie was so bold, she actually approached us while we were enjoying our grilled pork sandwiches along the streets. My mum in law thought she looked hungry and gave her a portion of her sandwich. Ok, it was actually a portion of the sandwich i was meant to buy back for Mark.

Hey don't blame us, who could resist that killer smile of hers! *melt*
And see how happy she was with the free food!
We later discovered her parents who were setting up their stall nearby. Phew, i was beginning to worry she was wandering the streets alone.

Our hotel introduced us to this place selling a huuuuuge variety of coffee from Arabica to the weasel kind.

They let you sample free coffee here, which we did, then ended up not buying any, coz it weren't as cheap as we hoped it would be. Definitely not a place for locals to stock up their coffee supply.

And now....*drum roll*

Finally i'm sharing with you my favourite food of Hanoi....

It all began at this narrow alley where I fell in love with the delicacies of Hanoi.

'Bun' is generally 'vermicelli' (bee-hoon like) and this stall sells a variety of noodles. For example, 'Bun Oc' = Snail Noodles.

And they really mean it.

Then there's
Bun Rieu Cua = Crab Meat Noodle
Bun Cha = Grilled Pork Noodle...............we call it 'char siew' (what I had below!)
Super yummeh!
The tomato-based broth was so damn delicious, with just the right type and amount of condiments floating in it. Love it, love it, love it! A couple of tourists i met told us it was their 3rd time eating at this particular stall. Too bad i couldn't recall the name of the street, but it's really near Dong Xuan market and i guess it's the only nearby alley with foodstalls along it. Just remember the signboard and the lady seller's face.

I've been told about the wonderful famous Vietnamese bread even before i came to Hanoi. And i'm a sucker for toasted crispy bun, even if it's plain.

Slap some grilled juicy meat (of my choice) and vege in between these crispy mini baguettes (known as 'banh mi'), and you get the taste of h-e-a-v-e-n.

We stumbled upon this shop one night - it's somewhere near the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre.

If you've the chance, order their Beef Steak Bun and i bet you'll come back for more. We did the silly mistake of ordering just one, to be shared among the 5 of us! hahahaha....regret.

Next up was this stall famous for its banh cuon (steamed rice flour rolls filled with ground meat, mushrooms and eaten with lots of shallots). Sounds like HK Chee Cheong Fun right? I thought so too, at first.

The cook preparing our rolls.

We had this as a side dish. No idea what it was, guessing it's some sort of fried bean curd.

Ah, THIS was the star - a light snack but very addictive indeed. Best eaten with lotsa shallots for that extra crunch and aroma. Did not like those leafy herbs though...or is it herby leaves.

My second favourite Hanoi food adventure was taking a half hour walk in search of this place on Hang Dieu road.

Thank God we were able to find seats quickly in this crowded space. Without having to place our orders, the food automatically came to us. A simple one dish place. I like. =D

Looks like a bowl of rojak (Then again, most Vietnamese dishes are served this way!) You have to be able to consume beef to enjoy this. I ain't a 'beef' person but this dish totally changed me. Till today, I wonder how a simple bowl of noodles mixed with beef, mint, coriander, fried peanuts and shallots can be so blardy good. What the heck is in their secret sauce?!....apart from beef stock of course. 

My most memorable dish happens to be so famous that the place selling it is packed with more tourists than locals. Despite its many copycats along the same street, you DO have to look out for the original place - Cha Ca La Vong.

You ain't gonna find any chicken or beef here.
When was the last time i stepped into a restaurant that serves only one thing and one thing only? ....ummm, like neh-ver.
And it ain't cheap too - dinner costs us 170,000 VND each. Ok, that's like RM 26 per person.

We had to climb up some really narrow stairs to this small dining area.

Very quickly our food came and it was a d-i-y kinda thing. First, lots and lots of greens were placed in front of us. I spot spring onion and dill here.

Then, more fragrant leaves (basil! eww) , fried peanuts and chili oil to go with our fish.

Basically we were given the fish which was already marinated and cooked with turmeric, and then it was just a matter of throwing in the greens and mixing them up in a little pan over the fire.

Top with peanuts (to your liking) and a dash of oil, and eat it with Vietnamese vermicelli. It was really really good. The peanuts were freshly toasted and we could replenish them again and again.

Best served with cold refreshing Hanoi beer!

I heard this restaurant was more than 100 years old, and with all the popularity it's been getting, no doubt the prices have gone quite steep. Definitely the costliest dinner we've ever had - close to a million VND! no no, don't panic, that's just about RM 150.

There you go, the food i managed to stumble upon during my 3 day trip in Hanoi. Sadly, there were more to try on my list of 'top 20 food' but there just wasn't enough time, nor space in my tummy. I would love to revisit this country and savour its local treasures. Very traditional, very original and very healthy (it seems!). That probably explains why you hardly find any fat, big-bellied locals in Vietnam. Even my dad was starting to feel out of place. hehe.