Hanoi: a foodie paradise

Where to start, when extolling the pleasure of eating in Hanoi?

Perhaps with  the complimentary gift of traditional young rice cake and the special lemongrass, ginger and honey tea at the hotel when you arrive.

 Then there is breakfast.  A choice of tropical fruit maybe?  Dragon fruit, rambutan, melon, longan, pineapple, mango, or whatever else is in season.

 

Congee with salted duck egg, peanuts, fried shallots?  Or, omelettes with onion, tomato, capsicum or some other ingredient? 

Or pho noodle soup?  Or would you prefer mango pancakes, spring rolls, or noodles.    Maybe some pork and cabbage?

Beside this, the Western choices available of ham, eggs, breads and cereals look very boring.

 Snacks can vary so much.  At Hotel Tirant, we have had rice and green bean, and coconut and rice icecream..

Drinks can be iced coffees or fruit mocktails. 

Or, stop at a food store for yam, banana, plantain and durian chips.  Or even a drink?

For those who like buying fruit away from the hotel,  ladies hawk tiny oranges,

 persimmons, bananas,

 buddha's hand,

mangoes, guavas

 

coconut

pomelo

 The market display have me itching to shop for ingredients.  Pity customs wouldn't allow me to keep them!.  Here are just some of the ingredients we have seen:
garlic and dried fish:

dried fish

not sure but it looks interesting!

dried fish:

There is so much to try for main meals.  On day one, we went to Countryside Cafe where the lovely ladies helped us rediscover the joys of  the Vietnamese stuffed pancake, banh xeo.  You put some of the crust, the stuffing and the vegetables on a sheet of rice paper and roll.  It is wonderful dipped in the accompanying sauce.

Should we do a cooking class with them?  Part of the charm in the decor was the thatched roof, the pickled snakes and the hand- embroidered scenes under the glass of the tables.  We were so full we couldn't fit in the freshly barbequed meat being cooked outside, though they smelled amazing.

On day three, we had beef fillet pho at Pho 24.The one opposite the Temple of Literature is one of a chain where I knew from previous experience, we could get a bowl of pho in an airconditioned room. 

 

 

So light and refreshing. I had fresh coconut juice with mine.

We popped into Koto's for some refreshment, but it really is looking really tired. I think it mainly survives on tour groups. A shame because it is such a good idea to train street kids, but it has lost its enthusiasm and needs a bit of a facelift and some tender, loving care and money injected into it if it is to survive. It was at Koto's that we suddenly registered the Vietnamese dislike of giving negative news. When they say "would you like to....." they are really not giving you a choice, but indicating where they would like to sit, and what they want you to do. We threw the poor staff in a tizzy when they asked if we would like to go upstairs and we answered that we were happy to stay downstairs. Turns out they had downstairs reserved, but they started to make an effort to squeeze us in until we got the hint.

On one night we tried the fare at City View.  Great view but pretty uninspiring, though tasty, chicken and lemon grass.

 

The dinner we had tonight at Cha Ca La Vongin Duong Thanh and the turmeric fish with dill and spring onions cooked at the table and added to rice noodles, peanuts, herbs and sauce was much better:

Wonder what we will have tomorrow?