I cannot miss the opportunity to write something about Hanoi food.
Let’s start with some Street food. It is tasty, it is extremely cheap, it is traditional, popular and authentic (I guess…) and we loved it.
- First of all we never got sick… so far, I should write, but I’m pretty confident to say that Hanoi street restaurants, even if dirty and very basic (very basic…), treated us well.
- Second we saved a lot of money.
- Third we tasted some authentic dishes from the Vietnamese Cuisine together with vietnamese people, literally at the same table.
Here are some basics: Pho, but I should rather write Phở (pronounced Pha? or fa? in Italian, and yes, say it with the question mark). It is a hot noodle soup with meat and veggies that vietnamese people eat especially for breakfast, but also for lunch. There are two kinds of Phở: Phở bò (with beef), and Phở gà (with chicken).
We became regular customers of a small pho place just under our apartment on Nam Ngu. The lady who owns the place is pretty direct, she just asks you “Bo? Ga?“, you make your choice and sit together with the other customers. After less than 30 sec your hot noodle soup is right in front of you. You just need to squeeze some lime and add chili if you like… and we like. Everything for 30000vnd ($1.5)
The second dish you need to know and try is called Bún Chả (where bun means pork and cha grilled).
It is a cold or warm sweet soup with grilled pork belly and pork meat balls, where you dip veggies and noodles, it is fantastic! Here is a great spot we were lucky enough to try, very close to FTU.
There is another Bun Cha place me and Daniele went, always on Nam Ngu, our street. The first time it was incredibly good, but then the quality of the meat changed and became fattier and fattier, Still probably the best pork meat balls…
And after…the best Mango Shake on the face of Earth. Right in front of the Pho place on Nam Ngu, there is a small cafe. When they realized we were italians they put some neapolitan songs and started saying “Totti, Totti…Roma, Juventus…”. Tutto il mondo e’ paese.
Another important dish to remember is Chả Cá (cha means grilled, as I said before, and ca means fish).
It is usually cooked on the spot, well not really, the fish is already half grilled, but they bring you a pan where you stir fry the fish with veggies, especially dill. Then you eat if in your bowl together with lime, rice noodles and fish sauce or the super smelly shrimp sauce. This last sauce is really something… terrible. Daniele can deal with it, I cannot overcome that smell of rotten french cheese.
Here is a video and a picture from one of our fist night at the restaurant Quan An Ngon (which means Delicious). Please notice the faces of people smelling the shrimp sauce.
Western version of the cha ca, or I should say chaca chaca..(WHAT IS THAT????)
One night we went with Harvey and Roselyn to try a Bia Hoi in the old quarter. Apparently this is one of the best around, even if the prices went up since last year. Anyway, we had a lot of fun and other then the veal dish, everything else was very good.
Daniele is making sure the order is right, who knows in which language…
Here is some grilled pork, the pork ribs are gone already and in the back there is some breaded and fried beef
La lot, ground meat (in this case it was buffalo) wrapped in betel leaves and deep fried
Here is the veal, great to see, but suuuuuuper fatty. Not my favorite
Igenic condition of the Bia Hoi.
Done!
But pretty much everywhere you go, you’ll find incredibly succulent dishes, and if you try to be adventurous you’ll be probably rewarded. (empty) Snails
(I was supposed to be in this picture…)
But sometimes you just need to go back to your roots: red wine, cheese, prosciutto and a salad.
