28th January 2008
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Oh god, it’s so difficult to describe the last 2 days in Hanoi. We explored the streets once again, roaming every corner of the small town. I just hate missing out on anything. You know what i mean? I’m kiasu i know *wakaka! But there was so much going on and so many first for me… and of course the main reason would be the food, glorious food we got our hands onto!

Every shop on this street sells apparels!

Bubbling with commerce and pulsating with life, there is no better way to spend time in Hanoi than walking the streets, soaking up the sights and culture.

There are more than 50 streets alone in Old Quarter itself. One peculiarity is that shops are generally organized according to the merchandise they are selling. This concept goes way back in the 13th century. Most streets have the prefix Hang, which means ‘merchandise’ and followed by the name of goods sold on the specific street.

Snacks anyone?

I’ve seen the whole street occupied by stretches of shops selling only shoes or only clothes or even only stationaries. But i was totally dumbfounded to find a whole streets with shops selling headstone carvings on Hang Bac (silversmith) Street… and imagine how shocked i was when i saw row of shops on another street selling nothing but coffins! *gulp… it’ll sure be darn creepy at night…

Spooky…

Old Quarter is indeed a town of many surprises. This is especially true during the late afternoon when it’s tea time till the wee hours after midnight. That is the time where hawkers and peddlers pound the streets with local delicacies. The myriad of food you could get off the streets are wondrous. Even the most simple and common dishes had me wooed.

Rice balls with black sesame fillings

For one, i’ve never tasted glutinous rice balls (tong yuen) as good as this before. It’s chewy on the outside and crunchy in the inside. The sweet and robust grounded black sesame filling gave it an extra aroma. Plus i never liked the hot ginger syrup that comes with it but i almost finished it this time. I guess the peanuts in the syrup did the trick :P. This only cost 2,000VND.

Kuih/Cakes

Seeing that there were so many selection of delicacies, we did not get the chance to try everything in sight. I wish i had an extra stomach to spare LOL.

Roasted duck

Vietnam is also famous for it’s coffee especially ice-coffee. Rich, aromatic and robust, the coffee in Vietnam is traditionally brewed with a small metal Vietnamese drip filter into a cup containing condensed milk.

Locals seems to enjoy coffee anytime of the day judging by the number of coffee shops in Old Quarters. Coffee shops are especially crowded (with tables and chairs set up on the streets outside the shops) in the morning before business hours.

Hue Cafe for Vietnam coffee beans

We were looking
forward to bringing back some Vietnam coffee beans home but we got lost. We found a good many vintage cafes but couldn’t find those that sells coffee beans. Fortunately we stumbled upon a friendly local who spoke fluent English. It is obvious that he works for one of the many tourist agency in the town. Thanks to his helpful directions, we were able to find the coffee we were looking for.

Hang Hanh Street have so many shops selling coffee beans, it’s fantastic. Most of the shops sells the same type of coffee beans such as Highland Coffee, Arabica Coffee, Robusta Coffee and Weasel Coffee. Highland is the more popular choice while Weasel is popular among backpackers because of it’s ‘exotic’ production process.

Slurpp!

If you didn’t know, Weasel Coffee is also fondly known as ‘shit coffee’. No kidding! Coffee growers feed coffee beans to the rodent and collect the beans after it passed through the animals’ body. The result is a musky and flavorful coffee we know as Weasel Coffee. Well, that’s how it was done traditionally anyways. Nowadays, i don’t think it goes into rodents anymore.

For 20,000VND, we both had a small cup of coffee each – Highland and Weasel. The first sip got me hooked. Vietnamese coffee is indeed the best. However, the Weasel was way too musky. By the way we bought 1/2 kg of Highland Coffee for only 60,000VND and the coffee filter for 10,000VND. That’s a bargain fro sure.

Clams and escargot

As a land of bounty from land and sea, getting your hands on fresh seafood is pretty easy. Everywhere we went, there were stalls with baskets full of escargots and clams ready to be dumped into the cooking pot. Hanoi is the ultimate seafood heaven and it’s dirt cheap too :P.

Squatting corner LOL

Bánh mì are French bread or baguette. Once colonized by the French it’s not surprising that baguettes had been localized and remain popular among Vietnamese. Thse freshly baked bread are filled with grilled meats or pork and vegetables.

French bread or baguette

That said, there are other types of fillings and sometimes it’s sold an eaten just like that without any fillings.

Baguette with omelet

We couldn’t get enough of the omelet baguette. Lip smacking stuff!

Granny frying yummy spring rolls… oh and look at the pup behind

No one would visit Hanoi without trying their spring rolls or nem. Again the fillings varies according to stalls. What they have in common is the use of rice paper as the skin. At a price of 2,500VND each, these tasty appetizer is a must try. You’ll know why Vietnam is so famous for their rolls after tasting it for yourself.

Greasy but yummy!

Come dinner time, we were tired and ventured into a tiny shop selling pho – rice noodles. When i mentioned tiny, i mean REAL tiny. The shop could only fit 2 tables at most.

Greasy shop

I was apprehensive and had my reservations at first. The shop was filthy and greasy. Come on, the floor was black with grease. Even the table was kind of oily.

Pho ga – chicken noodle

The pho ga we ordered turned out to be the best noodle i’ve ever tasted. No contest! We actually ordered pho bo but they gave us the wrong thing -_-”. That’s the thing in Hanoi. Most of the locals don’t understand even the simplest English. But no matter what the point is, the rice noodle was fantastic.

By the way, Pho comes in 2 varieties; chicken (pho ga) or beef (pho bo).

Yummy rice noodle

Eating in Hanoi is all around the clock. Even after 10pm at night people prowl the streets for something to fill the tummy.

Satay lady

Peddlers hawks satays, pastries and fries.

Satay… burp!

And even porridge. The porridge is different from those we have in Malaysia. Somehow it tasted better. It’s thicker and sweeter.

Porridge

Seafood galore

With all the food available 24/7 in Hanoi, i’m beginning to wonder why is there no fat people around. -_-”

Flower market

At the wee hours past midnight, people would sit at the many beer joints on street corners enjoying bia hoi – Hanoi draft beer. Nothing beats sipping beer and relaxing watching the hustle and bustle of the town.

Corner street

The beer is brewed daily and it’s very light (3% alcohol) refreshing lager at a fraction of the cost of draft or bottled beer in the West. It only cost 2,500VND per glass. That’s an easy RM0.50 per glass only!

Beer joint

And of course where there are customers, there are a lot more peddlers around. Armed with a mobile stove, they go around selling their snacks.

Mobile woman in action

I could sit whole day just sipping beer and eating dried smoked squid the whole day. Sigh…

What a life…

To be continued at:-
Last Stroll and More Food in Old Quarter

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Note: All photos are taken with my Panasonic Lumix F8.