My original impression of Vietnamese food consisted mainly of spring rolls and pho. Aside from udon, I’ve always had a lukewarm response to anything noodles or pancit, which explained my lack of interest in trying out pho. But when I was in Vietnam, and I got the chance to have a taste of authentic Vietnamese food, I had no hesitations whatsoever. And what do you know, I actually ended up appreciating Vietnamese food more than I expected.
As I’ve mentioned in an earlier post, you won’t go hungry in Hanoi because there is no shortage of places to eat or food to try out. At every turn, you’ll see a bakery of some sort, a cafe that is bound to catch your interest, and even hawkers on the street peddling various types of street foods.
Brunch. Lunch. Even early and late dinner. Walk around the Old Quarter and you’d see the sidewalks have turned into outdoor dining places. The establishments will set up low chairs and tables where the locals will sit down to have their meal, in full view of everyone walking by.
And it seems it’s a normal thing even for office workers in suits and some other corporate workwear to sit down.
Coffee everywhere!
And let’s talk about their coffee culture for a moment.
The whole time we were in Vietnam, we’d always spot a Trung Nguyen Coffee store or outlet. It appeared to be their version of Starbucks, since it’s a chain of coffee shops. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to have time to try any of them, since us three weren’t really avid coffee drinkers. It would’ve been interesting to have tried it, though…
And since we are in the country that is known as the 2nd largest producer of coffee in the world (second only to Brazil), it was a normal thing to see coffee shops at every turn. What caught my eye, however, were some of the names of these coffee shops.
Like this one. I’m guessing you can drink the coffee, too, right? It’s not just something to look at?
And I am betting that if this cafe is in Baguio City, customers will flock, if not for the coffee, then for the internet connection, haha!
And this is not a coffee shop, but the name also made me smile. I guess this is perfect for people who are in such a rush, huh.
Vietnamese Baguette, anyone?
If you didn’t already know that French influence is heavy on Hanoi, then you’d probably get a vague idea about the fact once you spot the many stores and even street hawkers that sell baguette, or those long, log-like bread.
But this is Vietnam, and they do not call it baguette. Instead, they call it banh mi, which is Vietnamese for “bread”. It looks like your normal baguette, but what makes it distinctly Vietnamese is the use of ingredients and spices native to Vietnam, such as coriander, daikon, and pickled carrots, to name a few.
Across the street close to our hotel was a store that looked like one of a chain of banh mi stores, because I saw some similar-looking places in other areas around the Old Quarter.
Again, we each had different orders, and split each into three, so we can have a taste of all three flavors. XDD
This is the Thit Nuong, or the Doner Kebab Sandwich, with grilled pork, cucumber, green papaya and sesame sauce (25,000 VND or USD 1.10).
And the Sai Gon, or the Saigon Style Sandwich, with deep fried pork, pickles, cucumber and soy sauce. (25,000 VND or USD 1.10).
This is the Ha Noi, or the Hanoi Style Sandwich, with pate, ham, sausage, sour papaya, cucumber and pepper sauce.(20,000 VND or USD .90).
I suppose this is their version of Subway? It’s very filling, tho. One sandwich is already a complete meal, which probably partly explains why there were many foreigners lining up to buy some of these banh mi.
Let’s get serious for a moment. Check this out:
Remember Liem, our guide during our Halong Bay cruise/tour? On our way back to port at the end of the cruise, we sat down with him and asked for recommendations on what to eat and where to eat them once we got back to the Old Quarter. And he very kindly wrote up his recommendations on a piece of paper, complete with the address of the best places to have them. 🙂
Although we wished we were able to go through all the places he listed, we tried our best.
Beef Noodle Soup
First up was the Beef Noodle Soup at Pho 10 Ly Quoc Su.
When we got there, the place was packed with locals and tourists alike. Motorcycles were parked across the front and even the side of the street.
It was already 1:30 in the afternoon when we got there, and the place closes at 2pm (to open again at 5:30pm for the dinner rush). That means the lunch servings are wrapping up. However, it was still packed with late lunch stragglers, including us. Which also meant the place was not the cleanest when we arrived, considering many others have been there before us.
But the moment the food was served – in generous servings, too! – the sight of spilled drinks on the tiled floor and table napkins thrown carelessly littered by customers’ kids all over the place were forgotten.
I do not remember, exactly what we ordered, but we got one of each kind so we’d take a taste out of each others’ orders. But it’s all beef noodle soups, and paired with the bread (oily though it is) it was a great combo!
Grilled Pork Noodle Soup
The place Liem recommended for us to have some grilled pork noodle soup was just around the block from our hotel. So after resting our feet after an afternoon of walking around the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, we went out when it was already dark to get some dinner, specifically Grilled Pork Noodle Soup.
Again, it was not difficult to find, since we only had to take note of the place with lots of people eating. 🙂
Ok, I was never a fan of vermicelli, but I think what sold me on this is how rich the flavor became, thanks to their fresh greens and the grilled pork.
The portions were huuuuuuuuge. This is actually good for one person already, and we kinda regret ordering one for each of us, because two would have sufficed. Ah well, lesson learned.
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Let’s go Gourmet~
The only reason we checked this place out was because online reviews and recommendations said it offered the best views of Hanoi. It sits on the 12th floor of a hotel, several blocks away from the main thoroughfare around the Hoan Kiem Lake.
It’s called the Gourmet Corner Restaurant, and as the name implies, it’s kinda posh.
When we entered the hotel and told the lady at the desk that we’re here for the restaurant, we were directed to take the elevator, which took us straight to the 12th floor. The elevator doors opened and a maitre d’ ushered us inside. So we took a seat, and checked out the view.
As I said before, we came for the view, but after coming in and seeing how slightly posh it is, we felt shamed into ordering some from their menu. For us, it was relatively pricey, since we did not really plan on spending so much money on food when we know for a fact that there are other, cheaper and even tastier options out there.
Plus, we also happened to still be full because of the late lunch we just had earlier. So we just ordered some cocktails….
And yes, I stuck with what I am most familiar with: a mojito. She’ ordered Long Island Iced Tea, and…. I forgot what the other one was.
After the crash course (followed by feasting) on creating our own spring rolls during our Halong Bay cruise with Vega Travel, I developed a newfound fondness for the Vietnamese-style spring rolls. Mainly, I think it has something to do with the rice wrap and the dip, which is probably hard to recreate in other places.
This one was good, and I give propz to the presentation. But there is something else that made me prefer the ones we made. Maybe it’s the fact that we assembled it ourselves, and saw how fresh the ingredients were? *shrugs*
Egg Coffee Discovery
When I first heard about “egg coffee” I was a bit skeptical. It seemed an odd combination to me. But hey, it was highly recommended, and even Liem said we have to try it. So after leaving the Gourmet Corner Restaurant, we made that short walk in the dimly lit streets to look for the place.
Found it!! From the outside it looked like some seedy place where you’d enter and find a bar or something. But it’s not, fortunately for us. We were directed to go up to the second level, where the seats and tables are.
The place is not wide, with only a handful of tables. It also had quite poor lighting, which may have been intentional, I’m not sure. But hey, we’re here for the coffee, and there were also a lot of customers, so it must be really good.
I LOVED IT. Both the hot and cold version. If not for my self-imposed coffee limit, I’d probably have ordered a second cuppa (after sipping the iced/cold version my friend ordered.)
Surprisingly, the combination of egg and coffee suit my palate. I normally drink my coffee with no sugar but just some cream, and I liked how the egg sorta became a substitute for the cream.
When I heard about a local coffee shop in Baguio offering egg coffee, I just had to try it. Compared to the one at Coffee Giang, tho, the one I had in that local shop fell kinda flat. It was good in its own way, but I just found the egg made the drink a bit thick? Like it was more egg-y, if you know what I mean.
Grilled Fish
After having egg coffee, we were already quite full. But we just had to try another one because it’d be a shame if we didn’t. considering how Liem made the effort to think of a place to recommend, haha!
So we found the place where he said the Grilled Fish is very good. The serving staff that waited on our table was also very nice and helpful as she cooked for us right on our table and showed us how to do the rest.
On a normal day for a Pinoy like me, it’d probably be just like any other meal. But what made most of these Vietnamese dishes stand out is how fresh and flavorful it is. They are so generous with their servings, and especially with their greens. At one time I picked up a leaf and recognized it as some of the “weeds” we just trod on and played at when we were kids. We just went, “THIS IS EDIBLE?”. And then followed by, “OH WOW IT ACTUALLY TASTES GOOD!?”
But wait, how about some street food?
If you want some street food, then you should definitely check out their night market. And yes, night markets are also popular in Hanoi. In fact, whole roads are closed around the Old Quarter for these night markets.
Personally, it looked just like any ordinary night market we have back at home, with practically similar wares being sold. So our attention was actually mostly riveted on the food being sold at hawker stalls.
Like this ice cream that they whipped right in front of our eyes.
A combination of some powder, some liquid flavoring, quick hands, a couple of minutes, and voila! ICE CREAM!!
And why am I not surprised to see that people are queuing in the stalls that sell… Korean street food. Yes, you read that right, KOREAN. And we also joined the crowd, haha!
Verdict: passable, though they do not hold a candle to the authentic ones (which I hope to try again soon!)
When I got back home, I asked my co-workers if they knew a place in Baguio that serves Vietnamese food, and they mentioned a couple of places that served pho. And they seemed unimpressed. Perhaps, one of these days, I’d check out those places and hope to be reminded of the wonderful gastronomic experiences that our Hanoi foodventures gave me.
But yes, Vietnamese food is not just about pho.
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