Eating up-market at Halong Bay versus eating middle-market in Hanoi.

In Hanoi, we have continued to experiment with breakfasts.  This is congee, a sort of rice porridge which is very bland, but if you add these ingredients, 

you have a very tasty breakfast indeed.

Another choice is fried sweet dumpling with bacon - a mixture of East and West

 

Still another is spring rolls and stewed cabbage

and yet another is creme caramel:

 

On our tour of Halong Bay, with Paradise Cruises, we were also offered, among other breakfast dishes,  beef pho (which was a bit bland, and the beef a bit chewy)

 

and prawn dumplings and vegetables and noodles.

 

 

 The policy on the cruise was that the word diet was banned, and they certainly offered a lot to eat.  Lunch had a lot of salads, including  prawn, jellyfish and chicken.

 Mains included squid, morning glory, basa dish and fried rice

 I was happy because I love seafood, but I think a lot of the guests weren't so impressed, even thought there were lots of other choices, including Western ones.

Desserts were equally assorted and included fried bananas (which Bob thought had been fried in pork fat), fruit, creme caramel and strawberry jelly.

 

Off the boat, Bob saw a vendor of starfish, snails and other seafood items.  Not sure if they were food or not!

  

At night, we had a cooking class, so I have a recipe for you!

 

Deep Fried Spring Rolls

Ingredients:

 

Filling ingredients:

500g pork mince

150g grated carrot

3 egg yolks

50g finely chopped onions

30g finely chopped shallots

5o g  rice vermicelli which as been soaked, then drained and roughly chopped

30g dried mushrooms which have been soaked drained and finely chopped

30g dried fungi (wood ear mushroom) which have been soaked drained and finely chopped

 20g finely chopped garlic

50 g finely chopped mint and coriander

20ml fish sauce

pepper and salt

Other ingredients:
Rice paper
3 egg whites
frayed stem of lemon grass

Sauce ingredients:

I dessert spoon fish sauce
5 dessert spoon water
sugar
garlic, chopped
lemon
coriander and mint, chopped
chilli, sliced

Method:

Mix the filling ingredients well.
Rub each rice paper with a damp towel, them use the lemongrass as a brush to rub on egg white.
Put 2 dessertspoons of the mix at the bottom of the roll and mould into a sausage shape.  Roll twice, then tuck in the sides and roll again.
Deep fry 5 to 10 minutes.
To serve, cut rolls into half and provide the dipping sauce

We met a rather lovely Spanish family on the trip and were called up to compete in making these.  Bob and I lost to the kids, but we did get our very own cooking certificates.

Dinner was scallops with a green mango garnish

 

Pink lotus seed veloute (????) soup with a crispy tofu garnish

 

Prawns and potatoes ( the sauce was a bit bland)

Australian beef with a demiglace brown sauce and crispy risotto ( the beef was amazing, and they knew how to do medium rare, but I wasn't keen of the baked risotto)

Chocolate truffle baked in an eggplant, which was actually great!:

 Once we finsihed the cruise and were waiting at the hotel for the bus to return to Hanoi, we were offered potato and sweet potato chips which were a bit soggy

and this little accompaniement

 sweet and sour glass noodle salad and fried fish cakes

 sago and fresh fruit sweet soup

 It was all very twee and rather unimpressive, designed to make us forget that we were waiting ages for a bus rather than to please the senses.

Back in Hanoi, we popped into the rather atmospheric Little Hanoi for a quick dinner after visiting the hospital. It seems to only cater for tourists and we almost walked out  ( one couple did and were very loud in their scathing comments).  I don't know if the food is genuinely Vietnamese of not, but it was bloody good.  We had fried morning glory and garlic, seafood fried rice and caramelised barbequed beef.

The verdict?  Luxury is all very well and good and I loved the rare feeling of being totally spoiled, but when you try to spoil an international assortment of fussy guests with big wallets, you can lose out on taste.  So far, the food we have had in Hanoi may not have been as pretty, but it has been far tastier.