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.

An Bàng - Early Morning Market

An Bàng Beach is a pretty touristy area, and as such there aren't a lot of food options around that we find very interesting. One exception is the market which operates during early mornings (show up much after 10 and its all over).

We had breakfast at the market both mornings we were there. The first morning, we sat down at a little table and had some bún mắm - this version with grilled pork (thịt nướng).

It was really tasty. The lady also had a cauldron of broth and was serving up bowls of bún bò. It looked really good, so we came back the next morning to try some.

Unfortuantely, that lady wasn't there, but another lady was working at another nearby table with similar offerings. Very good.

While we were there, a batch of fresh little fish came in and everyone around us immediately stopped what they were doing and huddled around to try to get the best of the catch.

We also found a lady frying up bananas.

Yum!

Da Nang - Bún Mắm Bé Hà

We happened to find a little shop on a residential street selling bún mắm (a new dish for us), so we stopped in for an early lunch.

Bún mắm consists of rice noodles with a funky fermented shrimp sauce and various meats. We got a version with some sliced pork and cold cuts.

The combination of the sauce and some of the cold cuts being fermented tipped the scales a bit too much toward the "funk" for me, but it was a fun dish to try and the people running the place were super nice.

Although we'd come for bún mắm, we noticed that they also had bánh bèo - so we got an order. They were fantastic. So much so that we came back again on our last morning in Da Nang and had an order each.

Da Nang - Hotel Breakfasts

Our hotel in Da Nang did a very nice breakfast - with very servicable versions of local dishes. Above, Mì Quảng.

Bò Kho.

Gỏi Cuốn.

Phở Bò.

"Western Breakfast".

Another take on Mì Quảng.

Bún Bò Huế.

Da Nang - Grilled Meats at Hai Còi and Cay Xè

Craving something grilled, we stopped in for some chicken at Hai Còi. There are a number of similar "chân/cánh" (feet/wing) places within a block or so - we chose this one because it had a good vibe going on.

Although translated on the menu as "chicken legs", "chân gà" really means chicken feet. We enjoy braised chicken feet, but it turns out they aren't super interesting grilled - there just really isn't anything that can be easily eaten on them.

The chicken wings (cánh gà), on the other hand, were incredibly delicious.

Another night after a few drinks in the expat area of Da Nang, we happened to round a corner and stumble upon another collection of grilled meat stalls.

We stopped at one called Cay Xè for some grilled pork.

The tables are set up with holes to accomodate a charcoal grill.

We ordered some pork belly (I think) and they recommended something called "pork frills" (điểm nướng) - not sure what park of the pig that is, but it was tasty.

Interestingly, the setup came with kimchi - I think probably due to the increasing tourism the area is getting from Korea?

Da Nang - Revisits to Bánh Xèo Bà Dưỡng and Bánh Mì Bà Lan

While in Da Nang, we re-visited a couple of place we'd enjoyed before. First up was Bánh Xèo Bà Dưỡng.

The place was exactly as I remembered it.

The Bánh Xèo and was still great.

As were the Nem Lụi.

Another night, looking for a quick and easy dinner, we stopped by Bánh Mì Bà Lan.

We got a sandwich each, and also shared a "breadstick" (a skinny little Bánh Mì with just pate). Nice, simple dinner.

Vietnam - Rooster (Bia Gà) and Bia Nhà

During our trip, we sampled some beer from a few craft breweries. It was nice to try a local take on brewing, and even nicer to get a brief respite from the endless parade of lagers that make up the SE Asian beer options.

Our favorite spot was Rooster (Bia Gà) in Saigon. Their IPA was very good - it wouldn't be out of place on a tap list at home.

The beers at Bia Nhà in Da Nang weren't as polished - they had more of a homebrew thing going on. The people running it were very nice, though, and we enjoyed our visit.