Hanoi - Cháo Dậu Cà Bà-O

Near our hotel there was a stall set up on the street during morning and afternoon that was always busy.

They had two large pots full of some kind of porridge - one yellow and one reddish brown. Looking it up, it turns out to be a very traditional dish we'd never heard of before - cháo đậu. It is a rice porridge - the red version is made with red beans and the yellow one is mung bean.

We got a bowl of the yellow version. The base is fairly bland, but they added in a salted egg and some braised tofu. The egg in particular is very salty, so when you break it up and mix it together, you get a nicely seasoned dish. Not something I'd go out of my way to have again, but it was fun to try.

Hanoi - Bánh Cuốn Trung Yên

Another spot in Trung Yên "magic food" alley. We'd visited Bánh Cuốn Trung Yên before, and really enjoyed it.

It was just the same as it had been five years previously. We got an order each - one with chả and one with an egg on the side (which they do up in a little bit of bánh cuốn).

Super good. We came back again for breakfast on our last day in Hanoi. It was a saturday morning, and they were really busy.

We went "dặc biệt" and each had an order with chả and an egg. Everyone was very friendly - eating in a spot like this is probably our favorite kind of experience in Vietnam.

Hanoi - Phở Sướng

So, we clearly were going to revisit "magic food alley" (Ngõ Trung Yên). This time, we had our sights set on phở.

We'd seen Phở Sướng on previous visits, but hadn't eaten here. We had a great breakfast - one bowl of tái chín (rare beef and cooked beef), and one of tái gầu (rare beef with fatty brisket).

Both bowls were great, and the place was busy, but efficient. Perfect way to start the day.

Hanoi - Quán Thịt Nướng Khói

We walked past this place a couple of times, and it was busy and giving off a good vibe, so we stopped in for some skewers one night.

We ordered some chicken skewers, some pork skewers and some sausage skewers.

All were good, but the sausage skewers turned out to have the best flavor. They had cartilage pieces in them, which gave you something to crunch on.

Hanoi - Revisits to Bún Bò Nam Bộ Bách Phương and Bún Chả Nem 41 Cửa Đông

This was our third time visting Hanoi, and we revisted a few places we've been to a number of times. Bún Bò Nam Bộ Bách Phương (pictured above) is still just as delicious as always. They have modernized the place, though, which diminished the "vibe" of eating there.

Bún Chả Nem 41 Cửa Đông was also a bit altered - taking up more space in front with tables and moving their cooking operation out of the way. Still a great bowl of bún chả, though, and very busy.

Hotel Breakfasts in Southeast Asia

Some of our hotel stays included breakfast. Generally the options ranged from standard Western fare to decidedly un-Western options. Here are some of the latter.

Our hotel in Taipei had a buffet breakfast that usually included some interesting options. The "good stuff" was often picked over by the time we got there, but we managed to do ok for ourselves.



In Hanoi, pho was always available.



And sometimes Bánh Cuốn.



In Da Nang there was a buffet with all sorts of options.



Nothing was particularly amazing, but the variety was fun.



In Hoi An, the Phở Bò had a bit of heat to it:



And they had local staples like Cao Lầu (a really good version, actually):



And Mì Quảng - good, but it didn't make us forget about the fantastic version at Ông Hai.



Our hotel in An Bang beach also had a pretty decent Mì Quảng:



And Bún Bò:



They also always had a very nice plate of fresh fruit.

Hanoi Revisits - Bún Chả, Bún Bò Nam Bộ and More

We had some favorite spots from our first trip to Hanoi last year, and we made a point of revisiting them on this trip.

Bún Chả is perhaps our single favorite dish in Hanoi, and we made it back to the spot we first had it (original post here) twice on this trip. Just as good as before.



Another favorite was Bún Bò Nam Bộ - we also hit this place up again two more times (original post here). Such a great dish.



We did a repeat visit for phở bò at Quán Phở Gia Truyền (original post here). It was good, but I think I'll be looking for a new go-to phở bò spot the next time we are in Hanoi



Bún Ngan Nhàn (original post here) was still going strong, with the duck noodle soup lady efficiently (if grumpily) feeding up a line of hungry customers for lunch each day.



We couldn't say no to BBQ pork on a stick (original post here). Spicy, lemon-grassy deliciousness.



And, of course, it wouldn't be a trip to Hanoi without Bia Hơi (original post here). We visited our favorite bia hơi lady on Mã Mây street, and also enjoyed an evening at a more local spot (where Nhà Hoa and Bát Đàn streets intersect at the west end of the Old Quarter).

Overall, Hanoi was very much as we left it a year ago. More cars on the roads, and the beginnings of encroachment by global fast food chains, but still very much a window into old Vietnam. Hopefully the pace of change will remain slow.

Hanoi - Bánh Mỳ Patê

We tried a few bánh mì shops on our first trip to Hanoi (the well-regarded Bánh Mì 25 among them) without much real success. This trip, we tried our luck again - at Bánh Mỳ Patê.



We tried the BBQ pork (pictured at the top of this post) and the sausage:



I think these were better than what we'd had previously, but they were still just ok. The bread was pretty good, but the meat was fatty, the veg was lackluster, and overall they were quite greasy.

We have yet to find a really good bánh mì in Hanoi.

Hanoi - Wonton Noodle Soup at Mỳ Vằn Thắn - Mỳ Sủi Cảo Tôm Tươi

Our hotel in Hanoi looked out over a busy intersection which made for pretty constant entertainment - who needs a TV when you have a window out on Hanoi.

The first morning we were there, we noticed that the shop across the way was packed with people slurping up bowls of some sort of soup. When we returned from a walk around noon and went over to check it out - crickets. Nobody was there. This is very much a typical thing in Vietnam - lots of foods are only available at certain times of day.



A few days later, we held back from eating too much at our hotel breakfast and headed over while they were still in full swing.



The soup turned out to have a light shrimp flavor, and was packed with stuff - a few whole shrimp, some small wontons, sliced pork, sliced liver, mushrooms, and a huge fried wonton. And, of course, noodles (thin, egg noodles - much like the type you get in Cantonese wonton soup).



The large wonton was also filled with minced pork.



Very tasty, and the broth just got better as the bits soaked in it while we ate.



Well worth strolling across the street for.

Hanoi - Food Tour with HanoiKids

HanoiKids is a great organization that pairs visitors up with local Hanoi University students for cultural and food tours. The visitors get a tour by knowledgeable local guides, and the students get a chance to practice their English and show off their beautiful city - everyone wins.



Our guides were Nga and Yen, and they took us on a fun, informative and delicious food tour in Hanoi's Old Quarter.



Our first dish was Xôi (sticky rice).



The stand was just down the street from our hotel, but we probably never would have stopped there without Nga and Yen's guidance. The rice is served either "hot" (Nóng) or "fried" (Rán).



We had the hot version - a bowl of sticky rice hot out of the steamer and flavored with savory stock before being stacked with a variety of tasty toppings. You can choose what kind of toppings you like. We had a bit of everything - egg (with a bit of fried coating on the outside), a few kinds of sliced pork, pork floss, pâté, Chinese-style sausage, and likely some other bits I'm missing. Every bite of it was really good. We ended up coming back here and having the exact same thing a few days later.



Next up was a stewed, "medicinal" chicken soup with noodles. The soup stock and the chicken were both black, and the flavor definitely had a bit of a medicinal quality. This was accentuated by the greens - mugwort - which were decidedly bitter, but enjoyable. The noodles were like a ramen and came as a block on top of the soup, quickly softening.



Our third stop was at a Chè ("sweet soup") shop. Our tastes run more to the savory, so this is something we probably would not have tried without the tour and we liked it more than we expected.



We tried three different kinds. The one pictured above was probably my favorite - a refreshing bowl of slightly sweet coconut jellies.



The one above on the left had black bean, mung bean, lotus seeds and jellies (and some other stuff). The one on the right was simpler - black rice and yogurt. The menu is below, but I'm currently at a loss to pick out which ones we had.



Our last stop was at a little shop for coconut coffee.



This was a soft, lightly flavored mountain of coconut ice resting in rich coffee. Spoonfuls of the ice dipped into the coffee made for a very refreshing way to end the evening.

We also tried another one - this time flavored with green sticky rice.



Overall, we had a very nice and tasty evening. A big thank you to our guides Nga and Yen from HanoiKids!