![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/street-food-hanoi_seafood-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/street-food-vietnam-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\nPeople eat in small taverns set up in garages or other annexes of houses or directly on the sidewalk, where dozens of tiny plastic chairs are moved and lined up according to how many customers stop at the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/street-food-furniture_hanoi-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/street-food-furniture-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe funniest thing is that the plastic tables and chairs on the sidewalks are illegal \ud83d\ude42 I can’t imagine how the authorities deal with this, since they’ve taken over all the streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Apparently, the police come by for checks\naround twice in the evening. People gather up the tables and chairs, then\u2026 put\nthem back. I, for one, haven’t seen a single policeman, but I’ve seen hundreds\nof table and chairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/street-food_furniture-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nHanoi seems like a huge public canteen!\nPeople are happy because they can grab a meal at any time, anywhere on the\nstreet, a wide variety at recognized high quality and very affordable prices!\n(A main course in Vietnam costs $5-7.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To quote a local, “Vietnamese eat\nanything that has four legs, except tables<\/strong>” hahaha. Yes, it’s true,\nthey eat anything from pork, chicken, beef, duck, to dog, cat, rat. I’ll get to\nthe latter in due course…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/ducks-on-the-spit-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a>ducks on a spit<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Pork is the cheapest, convenient because\nthey make a lot of dishes from it. Then comes chicken. Followed by beef and\nduck. Dog is expensive! It’s more expensive than all of these (only beef\nsometimes surpasses it), as it’s considered a delicacy. Therefore, the fear of\ngoing to Asia and being served dog instead of pork or beef shouldn’t exist. No\none is foolish enough to serve you one of the most expensive meats on the\nplate. Instead, you might fear the reverse situation: wanting to eat dog but,\nin fact, being served pork\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vietnamese cuisine uses a lot of\nvegetables and seafood, as these are abundant. Their essential ingredient in\ntheir dishes? The greens.<\/strong> I’ve never eaten so many fresh leaves in my\nlife, enough for three years! With everything! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking of “fresh”: Vietnamese\nbuy fresh meat daily, fresh fish, fresh vegetables. It’s their culture to do\nso, a habit from the times when refrigerators didn’t exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Contrary to my suspicions, Vietnamese food\nis not spicy! Or it can be if you want it to be, as there’s always a bowl of\nchili slices on the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/vietnamese-dish-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWHAT TO EAT IN VIETNAM?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
I’ve heard from others who have visited Vietnam before me that the food is DELICIOUS. Well… I had my doubts, as I’m usually picky. But what do you know? I ended up savoring dishes that I knew little about, but I loved them! I didn’t even want to know what they contained \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I really enjoyed Vietnamese food! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I started, ravenous upon my arrival, with\nsomething traditional: PH\u00d3 SOUP<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s a soup born right in Hanoi, made with\nrice noodles, pre-boiled chicken or beef, aromatic herbs (including coriander\nand mint), and 20 ingredients. You find it everywhere, on every street corner.\nIt’s part of the Vietnamese breakfast, but people practically eat it at any\ntime of day. It’s the most well-known Vietnamese dish in the West, and a very cool\nthing \u2013 it’s even registered in the Oxford dictionary!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I ate it in a place recommended by several\nlocals \u2013 20 Ph\u1ed1 B\u1ea3o Kh\u00e1nh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/chicken-pho-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThis place is nothing but a bodega that I would have easily passed by on my city wanderings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/pho-restaurant-hanoi-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWith pots on the street, steaming, with a\ncook behind the counter, breaking down some chicken, with two tables inside\n(only later did I see a staircase that probably leads to another dining area\nupstairs), none of these would have lured me in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the recommendation mattered!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had the special chicken ph\u00f3<\/strong>, not\njust with chicken breast, but also with the thigh, organs (I spotted the\nliver), egg, and who knows what else. In fact, I don’t even want to know\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/asian-cook-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/chicken-pho-pot-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\nI ate at a table with a Vietnamese man.\nThe place’s owner put me there, so I went along\u2026 The man slurped the soup and smacked aloud as noisily as\npossible. I smiled. I remembered that I have read about slurping as a sign of\nappreciation among the Vietnamese, showing that you like it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I slurped too, so\npeople wouldn’t think I have something against their soup\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/pho-spoon-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nI ate with a metal spoon and two\nchopsticks, mimicking what I saw the man in front of me doing. I copied his\nactions, but my pieces kept slipping between the chopsticks… <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thanks for the meal!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/beef-pho_Pho-10-Ly-Quoc-Su-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIn the following days, I also had beef ph\u00f3<\/strong>. Again, in a renowned spot recommended by locals \u2013 Ph\u1edf 10 L\u00fd Qu\u1ed1c S\u01b0. Another bodega. Full of people, nevertheless, I was quickly seated at a table with two other tourists, Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/beef-pho-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWe smiled at each other, cleaned our table corner ourselves, then sipped together from our beef ph\u00f3. I struggled a bit, as they put a lot of scallion in it, and I fished it out like a Hemingway casting a fishing rod, with great skill. (Note: I really don’t like scallions!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/bun-cha-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nBun cha<\/strong>\nis another traditional “soup,” a Hanoi specialty. I also tried this. Of\ncourse, in a place renowned for serving the best “bun cha” in town \u2013\nBun Cha Ta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Upstairs is a salon where you take your\nshoes off before eating. I found out only after I’d eaten downstairs. With my\nshoes still on. But better: a bit less of a foot smell aids in the normal\ndigestion of those people\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interesting broth. In it \u2013 pork and some\nvery tasty mini burgers. Separately \u2013 noodles and aromatic greens, very fresh.\nI was explained how to eat it: you pick noodles from the bowl they’re in and\ndunk them in the broth. Then you grab some greens and soak them in the broth as\nwell. Only after that, you take the result from the broth and savor it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, with a point of comparison, I can say\nthat I liked Ph\u00f3 more than Bun Cha. Well, maybe it was the first impression?…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SPICES<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Almost everything I ate in Vietnam, no matter where, a few must-haves stood out:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/fish-sauce-with-papaya-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/fish-sauce-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\nFish sauce<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I read about this sauce, it didn’t inspire much confidence, so I ignored it in the first few days. I regretted it later, when I discovered that, indeed, it’s excellent with many of the dishes served. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s a sauce made from anchovies, garlic, and chili. Very good, especially when dipping spring rolls in it. (The one on the left also has papaya.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/baby-lime-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nBaby limes are always on the table. A\nsmaller lemon than the limes we know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You either have a bowl full of slices, or\nyou have a piece next to coarse salt and pepper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/condiment-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nI learned to make the simplest and\nquickest sauce: squeeze lime over salt and pepper, mix them, then coat the meat\nwith it or pour it into a soup. Good!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I learned something from a Vietnamese:\nafter squeezing the baby lime, you take the chopsticks from the pile on the\ntable and wipe them off with the remaining lime juice\u2026 Even if they’re washed\n(because they’re not disposable), it’s safer to “clean” them with a\nlittle lime juice too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FOOD TOUR IN HANOI<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Initially, I wasn’t tempted to go on a\nfood tour, given that I had already eaten enough on recommendations. But I\nthought it wouldn’t hurt to be “guided” by a local through the city\nfull of eateries that I likely wouldn’t have ventured into alone. Besides, I\nwas hungry, nearing dinnertime\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, I paid $25 and joined the group on a\n3-hour culinary tour. I invite you to salivate\u2026 uh, I mean, to savor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/chicken-pho-ingredients-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAfter a walk through traffic (where else?…), the first stop is in a sort of garage, where Ph\u00f3 is served. Chicken ph\u00f3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/food-tour-hanoi-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIt smells good, and our guide tells us that’s the sign to confidently enter such a street eatery, no matter how bad it looks: if it smells good, it tastes good!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/street-food-hanoi_cook-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe people here wake up at 4 am every day,\nslaughter 10 chickens, and then prepare ph\u00f3. For Vietnamese, for foreigners, it\ndoesn’t matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have a question about what I read online\nand, until the soup arrived, the guide clarified it for me: it’s not good to\nplace the chopsticks in a “V” shape or insert them into the rice in a\n“V” shape. It’s a symbol of death. When you’re done, the chopsticks\nshould be placed side by side over the bowl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/street-food-hanoi_restaurant-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe next stop is in a kind of\u2026 warehouse. We all gather around a few tables, on small kindergarten-like chairs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/hanoi-street-food-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAt the entrance, half outside, half\ninside, a 70-year-old woman has her kitchen set up on the floor!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is infernally hot in her area, as\nmultiple burners are lit, on which the lady continuously prepares a dish. She\ncooks beef spring rolls. She’s been making these for 30 years!!! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/how-to-eat-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWe are amazed, we admire her, and then panic, as we learn we have to make our own spring rolls, or no food for us, huh!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/vietnamese-spring-rolls-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWe receive instructions, and everyone does their best. To be honest, I ate the ingredients more spilled than wrapped…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/banh-mi_hanoi-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/banh-mi-hanoi-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\nOver the next days, in different places in\nHanoi, I saw queues at stalls or small restaurants. Surprisingly, most queuing\nwere tourists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“They’re waiting for Banh mi<\/strong>“,\nI find out. And on our food tour, I discover what it is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/banh-mi-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nSandwich with pork, liver p\u00e2t\u00e9, green\nsalad, carrot and papaya salad. It’s extremely popular in Vietnam, and I realize\nthat it’s the only dish that comes with bread! Seriously, throughout the\nvacation, I had bread only at the hotel breakfast, otherwise, you don’t get\nbread with anything else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Banh Mi is cheap. It\nwas included in the tour cost, but I had it at other places in Vietnam and paid\n15,000 dong for one, which is 2.94 lei (a little over half a euro).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you don’t like liver p\u00e2t\u00e9 in the\ncombination, you can request it without. Or there are sandwiches on the menu\nwithout it from the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“As the dog is the man’s best friend,\nBanh Mi is the Vietnamese’s friend”, our guide tells me to underline the\nsandwich’s popularity. Immediately after hearing “dog”, I began to\nask questions haha\u2026 I’m gonna tell you what I heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/vietnamese-dessert-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nA dessert followed, quite rare here, as\nthe Vietnamese rarely excel in desserts. They lack training. Well, how can you\nbother making dessert when you have such a bounty of fruit that I, personally,\nenvy!?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We stopped at a spot labeled Dessert Shop, a sign that someone is trying to corrupt the Vietnamese into eating cakes and ice cream and leave the fruit \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We were served sticky rice with ice cream.\nIt’s a sort of rice pudding, but without milk. And the rice is much denser,\nand, attention, it’s green!!! (visible at the bottom of the bowl).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why green though?? Well, from certain\nleaves that sweeten it. This way, they don’t add sugar or milk. Pretty smart,\ndon’t you think? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/food-tour_beer-street-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAlthough I thought that the dessert was the end of our food tour, that wasn’t. Beer<\/strong> came next! Because beer after ice cream it\u2019s a dream \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before clinking glasses on the famous Beer\nStreet<\/strong> (about which I’ll talk in a future post), I noticed something: as we\nadvance in our tour, the chairs become more and more smaller hahaha. And I\nlearned something: showing respect to a person also comes from simply tapping\nglasses with him\/her. A young person toasting an older one or a subordinate to\na boss will always hit the glass below the one they’re showing respect to. I\nwatched the young guide with us do the same, precisely a bit lower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, since we were out for a drink, I\nasked what his favorite… food is. “All the food in Hanoi”, he\nreplied, reminding me what I had learned a few days earlier: food from northern\nVietnam differs from food in the south. Ph\u00f3 eaten in Hanoi tastes different\nfrom Ph\u00f3 in Saigon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you go to a Vietnamese restaurant in\nAmerica, for instance, the food will be like that in southern Vietnam. The\nexplanation? Most Vietnamese who fled from the war to the wide world are from\nthe south. So they cook the way they did at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/street-food-hanoi-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWe continue savoring dishes with a northern taste\u2026 Because yes, we keep eating, what do you think?? But with increasing difficulty. Not just because we are stuffed after everything we had eaten so far, but also as, incredibly true, at the next stop, we sit on even smaller chairs than before, with our knees in the mouth and our bellies contorted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/vietnamese-food-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nI ate dried beef with papaya salad. And with other things too… Such as peanuts, generously added. I noticed that Vietnamese people use peanuts a lot in salads or as a “seasoning” to complement their sticky rice rolls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/peanuts-in-the-sun-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nDuring our travels, we saw how these people stretch large sheets directly on the road, sheets on which they leave peanuts to dry. Or to tan… Naturally roasted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/dried-fruits-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAnyway, you can find abundantly all kinds\nof dried fruits, seeds, etc. You can buy them with a wheelbarrow!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And we arrive at the final stop of our\nfood tour: a traditional coffee shop, where we will drink egg coffee<\/strong>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I have to tell you a bit before\ninviting you to “egg coffee\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/laika-cafe-hanoi-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nCAF\u00c9S IN HANOI<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
I don’t drink coffee, I’ve never drunk it, so my first visit to a coffee shop in Vietnam ended up with a “lemon tea” haha. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/cafe-tra-chanh_hanoi-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/lemon-tea_hanoi-st-joseph-cathedral-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nI don’t drink tea either (for me, tea\nremained a “flu drink”), but I was influenced by a recommendation I\nfound online, that you can’t miss having a lemon tea in front of Hanoi\nCathedral while watching the traffic. So I complied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then I started to learn more about\nVietnamese people and coffee: did you know that Vietnam holds the 2nd place in\nthe world for coffee export, after Brazil?!? I wouldn’t have guessed that even\nin 100 tries!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And this is thanks to the French. It’s one of the good things they admit about the French occupation. (I’ll write about others in a future “episode”.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I can almost see the French, tired after\nthey invaded Vietnam, with their suitcases still unpacked, wondering,\n“well, well, where’s our coffee??” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And there came coffee to Vietnam. First\njust like \u201clet\u2019s have a coffee\u201d, then \u201clet\u2019s have a coffee shop\u201d, ending now as\namong the trendiest in the world!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/coffee-club-hanoi-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/coffee_hanoi-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/the-note-coffee-hanoi-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a>The Note Coffee Hanoi \u2013 a coffee shop covered in post-it notes written by customers<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n EGG COFFEE<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
For coffee lovers, Vietnam is a perfect\nplace! But no matter how well you know the types of coffee from around the\nworld, once you’re here, you must taste “egg coffee”. Even I, who\ndon’t drink coffee, tasted it…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I said that if I’m already recording a\npremiere, let’s do it in a famous caf\u00e9 in Hanoi: Caf\u00e9 Giang<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/cafe-giang-hanoi_egg-coffee-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nSomehow hidden on a small street in the\ncity, Caf\u00e9 Giang is the mother of egg coffee! Well, the father, because it was\ninvented in 1946 by Mr. Nguyen Van Giang, and the story is quite amazing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The man worked as a bartender at the\n5-star Sofitel Legend Metropole Hotel in Hanoi. Due to the milk crisis during\nthe war at that time, the French were missing their “caf\u00e9 au lait”.\nMr. Giang, to get rid of their complaints, thought of a substitute. So he\nstarted beating egg yolks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And he also opened a caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Caf\u00e9 Giang has been moved twice from its\nbeginnings until present, but the egg coffee recipe is almost the same as in\nthe early days! According to his son, who currently manages the business, the\nmain ingredients of “egg coffee” are chicken egg yolks, Vietnamese\ncoffee powder, sweetened condensed milk, butter, and cheese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/cafe-giang-hanoi-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nEven though I arrived in the evening at\nthe caf\u00e9, the place was full!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I sat on a small chair at a table and\ndirectly ordered the “egg coffee”. It came quickly, the cup placed in\na bowl of hot water to maintain the coffee’s temperature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/egg-coffee-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nI sipped it \u2013 more the egg haha. It\nreminded me of my childhood when, lacking desserts, I used to beat egg yolks\nwith sugar in a cup until I got “something sweet”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I slowly sip it, trying in vain to seem\nlike a coffee drinker, I look at the menu. That’s when I noticed I could order\ncold egg coffee as well. Because there’s a cold version, not just hot. But\nbrace yourselves, they also have egg beer<\/strong> and egg coke<\/strong>! I didn’t\ndare to try them\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My coffee cost 35,000 dong, which is\naround 1.38 euros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/cafe-giang_family-photo-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nI had no idea that a few days later, I would\nsee a picture of the Giang family in another caf\u00e9 where we ended our food tour.\nIt’s one of the locations where Mr. Giang’s business operated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A very, very old house, right in the heart\nof the city, a house where four families once lived together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/egg-coffee-cafe-hanoi_2-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIf you’re not deterred by the ground floor where the kitchen and bathroom once were, you can climb the stairs and enjoy “egg coffee” in a friendly little room where you can even see how your drink is prepared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/egg-coffee-cafe-hanoi_1-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/egg-coffee_egg-cocoa-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThis time, I thoroughly looked at the menu\nand chose “egg cocoa” so I could enjoy it to the last drop. Because I\nget along well with cocoa\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The culinary experience continued, and\neven though I thought I knew a lot, I discovered more dishes because, as the\narea changed, so did the type of food. So, I will return “region by\nregion\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SNAKE TO EAT<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/snakes-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nI have eaten snake only once before. Many\nyears ago, in Hong Kong, where I ordered snake soup<\/strong>. I had the sensation\nof eating chicken, and the broth was a bit too gelatinous for my taste. But it\nworked, and I boasted later that I had eaten snake\u2026 (Well, a few small pieces.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Vietnam, snake isn’t cheap at all\ncompared to other animals. I’ve met Vietnamese people who told me they have\neaten snake only twice in their entire lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SNAKE MEAT RESTAURANT<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Nguyen Van Duc 2<\/strong> \u2013 I show the taxi driver the note the hotel receptionist wrote for me\nwith the restaurant serving snake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Snake,” he says and I confirm.\n“Very famous!” he continues, which makes me understand that this\nplace, located far from the center, across the river, is well-known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I arrive in a poor neighborhood, deserted\nat that lunch hour. Deserted, including the restaurant. In essence, it was just\nme and the staff. They were friendly, but didn’t speak a word of English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/snake-restaurant-hanoi-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe waiter picks up a slender snake from an aquarium and tries to explain something to me. Then he places it in my arms for a photo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/snake-restaurant-hanoi_me-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nNot understanding what he’s saying with\nthe snake and without the snake in my arms, he puts it back in the aquarium and\nbrings a menu. Oh, no, don’t imagine it was in English… Everything was\nwritten only in Vietnamese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He shows me several pictures, then stops\nat one page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/snake-menu-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nHe explains that I can have a complex\nsnake tasting: 11 dishes. 40 euros in total. I say “ok” immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He reaches into the aquarium again, takes\nout a snake, and presents it to me asking something like “Good enough,\nmadam?”. I only snap out of it when he and a colleague call me to the\nback, signaling for me to film with my phone, as they are about to\u2026 kill that\nsnake!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He shows me an empty bottle, asking if I\nwant it filled with something from the snake (blood???), I quickly say noooo,\nthen I have a second to step back, so I don’t witness the killing of that snake\n(which the second guy was about to hit against a wall).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I go upstairs, sit at a table, and remember that I did indeed read that in such places, people kill the snake in front of you, then cook it. All of it! They waste nothing, turning every bit of snake into something to eat. There’s nothing pre-prepared, everything is done right there on the spot. So, you can’t say you haven’t eaten fresh snake \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now I understand: that snake will indeed\ntransform into those 11 dishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With Google Translate, I managed to find\nout that the restaurant is full in the evenings. Both tourists and Vietnamese\ncome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a long wait, the plates start\ncoming. As he brings them to me, the boy with the snake points to the\ncorresponding number in the menu for each plate (since they don’t come in\norder) and tries to translate \u2013 he with his hands, me with Google Translate. We\ndon’t reach any result, so I make a decision: I won’t ask anymore, but I’ll eat\nwhat my brain and stomach allow me to eat. BUT I take photos of the menu,\nintending to ask the guide I was going to meet soon what each item means.\nThat’s how I find out, with a delay of a few days, what I ate:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/snake-soup-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nSnake soup<\/strong>. That was clear to me from the beginning. However, surprisingly, while I had no issues with it in Hong Kong, here it seems very, very nauseating to me. I take a small taste and that’s it. I don’t want to have an unhappy start to this experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/fried-snake-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nFried snake<\/strong>. I really can’t fault it, perhaps because it tastes similar to a meat I eat in my everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/fried-snake-intestine-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nFried snake intestines<\/strong>. Well… this is where they lost me. I try a small piece, but I can’t manage more. I wouldn’t want to have my intestines spilled at their restaurant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/snake-meat-balls_crispy-snake-skin-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nSnake meatballs<\/strong>. Very good! Tasty! And crunchy snake skin<\/strong>, a sort of snake chips. Good, but heavy…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/snake-meat-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nSpring rolls with snake meat<\/strong>. Delicious! Really good!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What really bothers me is that I don’t\nhave any bread with these dishes. It feels like I want to have some bread to\nkeep my stomach under control…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I search on Google Translate for\n“bread” in Vietnamese and show it to the boy, accompanied by a\ndesperate question: “Bread??”\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He looks at me as if I’m speaking\ngibberish and immediately replies: “No!!” It seems abnormal to want\nsomething like that. Damn! I start to feel not butterflies in my stomach, but\nrather beetles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What do you think I do? I ask for a Cola\nas a substitute for bread. And I see that it works, haha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The dishes keep coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/snake-spring-rolls-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nSnake meat in La Lot leaves<\/strong> (fried). Just the name makes me search the internet to see what leaves\nthese are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyway, I enjoy this dish! I eat it with\npleasure, without thinking about what these leaves conceal, besides the snake\nmeat…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/snake-ribs-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nSnake ribs<\/strong>.\nWhat?!? I wouldn’t have thought of that… Snake ribs??? In the dish, there is\na kind of… pebbles, and I’m told to eat them with rice crackers. Oh my,\ncrackers!!! Imagine that I eat them instantly, reminiscing about all the dishes\nbefore where they would have been really helpful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ribs are okay. Crunchy. But heavy too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/snake-meat-stewed-with-traditional-medicine-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nSnake meat simmered with “traditional medicine”<\/strong>. It’s a broth of herbs and plants with pieces of snake similar to those small fish pieces with bones where you can’t separate the meat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I take a little taste of it and instantly abandon it. It seems dreadful to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/sticky-rise-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nRice<\/strong>.\nReally?? Now, at the end??? When I was craving bread, this rice would have been\nperfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I try to take some from the bottom of the\nbowl (as it looks like onions on top) to help settle my stomach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/street-food-hanoi_seafood.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/li>