HANOI PART 1

My wife and I went to Hanoi for the week end at the end of January. I waited until now because I wanted to go during the winter which is more pleasant to move around.

It was a very interesting place and although I have been to Ho Chi Minh City numerous time over almost 2o years, it was still an adventure for me to explore Hanoi.

On the plane there, we met a Korean (I think) gentleman who was dressed in a Catholic monk fashion but I did not think he was one. The strange thing was that he was shoeless. He even tried to preach to everybody on the plane as it was taking off!!!!! I did not manage to get a picture of him but I noticed that there was a huge cross which was on the luggage conveyor...must be his. He must be on a mission here.

One of the first thing I noticed here was that it was still Christmas season here. The locals have still not taken down their Christmas decoration although it was the end of January. I wonder how long is the Christmas season in Vietnam. I''m sure no one's complaining though.

The fresh produce market which was located very near our hotel was full of surprises although not expectedly. There were quite a few strange stuff there.

There were a lot of fishes, eels of various types and other types of seafood which were all alive but kept in simple plastic or metal basins.

There were also a lot of fruit stall. This is a cut milk fruit (see my previous blog). Really yummy and please do try it when you are in Vietnam or Cambodia.

Also some flower shops with quite a wide variety. however, I managed to only take a passing photo of 1 stall.

The markets and surrounding shops had it fair share of weirder stuff. Like this guy, who was roasting pig trotters and selling them in the market.

I passed a stall who was selling meat and roast meat. I thought they had a nice roast piglet but to my horror, it was a roast DOG.....OMG. I asked to take a photo but the owner said no, later I took a quick picture but it was not clear.

There were also other strange stuff like this achohol soaked with a monitor lizard with a scorpion in its mouth. I suppose it must have been some kind of aphrodisiac! This product must be popular as we saw them in quite a few places.

Other interesting thing was small shopd selling a wide variety of pate, hams and sausages, very French and a stall selling mini baguettes with some kind of stuffing. It actually looked good but as we just had a huge lunch, we could not eat anymore.

We also visited the week end night market situated near to our hotel. It was interesting and very crowded.

They were also a lot of shops selling the "Tet" decorations, Vietnamese new year which is the same as Chinese New Year.

A stall which attracted a lot of attention was selling nigh lights but it looked so pretty that a lot people stopped to see it.

Some night views of a temple and the city.......





Until the next time, cheers.

HANOI FOOD PART 2

There is a very popular restaurant in Hanoi (and also in Ho Chi Minh City) called "Ngon" or delicious in Vietnamese. The deco is well done and they normally use a renovated villa. They have food station and serve mainly street food as well as popular Vietnamese dishes.

This place is always crowded and popular both with the locals and foreigners. From the photos posted, please do not think we ate so much food at one sitting. In fact, we like it so much (I have been a few times to the restaurant in Ho Chin Minh) that we went there for lunch and dinner in a day.

Some photos of the restaurant during lunch.






A photo of one of the food station....

One interesting dish that I tried was fried sparrow.... see the size which is about 2 inches long only. There is no real meat but the taste is quite nice.

During lunch, my Vietnamese guest ordered some prawn fritters, not really Vietnamese but it was really good as the prawns were fresh. The seafood fried rice shown here was also very good.

The following dish was a noodle with pig trotters. This was one dish we did not like. On the right is a "sarsrapilla shake"......in Malaysia it is "ciku" fruit and it's really sweet. The ciku fruits in Vietnam are really large and sweet. Don't miss eating fruits when you are here.

This is another traditional Vietnamese dish called "bun cha"...marinated grilled meat in soup and eaten with vermencelli. Yum.....

During dinner, as it was quite chilly, we had steamboat (hotpot). The soup was tasty and it was good, not too heavy for dinner.

We had a lot of other stuff but I did not take photos in time as we were hungry....

The best part of Ngon is the prices are really reasonable...for 4 to 5 persons, the bill should not exceed USD 35 and that is including drinks and beers.

For lunch another day, we went to a Chinese restaurant near St Joseph Cathedral. it was an upmarket restaurant in Hanoi by the look of it. We were not sure what to eat and ordered some steamed chicken, stir fried vegetables, soup, tofu and fish head with vermencilli. The fish head was good and the taste of the vermencelli was really good. They probably cooked this with pork bacon to have such a nice taste.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped to get some fruits. My wife wanted to eat "milk fruit". She tasted this in Cambodia a long time ago. I was sceptical as it did not look at all great. But, looks can certainly fool you....the taste was really like sweet milk, no wonder it is called that.

I fell in love with the fruit...it was not cheap...about USD 4 per kg. We had 2 milk fruit and a custard apple (very large) and cost us about USD6...not cheap by Vietnamese standards. But. it was so worth it.....now I know what fruits to have in Vietnam the next time.

Until the next time, cheers.

A WEEK END OF FOOD IN HANOI PART 1

My wife and I had been thinking about visiting Hanoi for so long and during the 3rd weekend of January, we made our way there. I wanted to coincide the visit during winter to experience a cool weather.

I've been to Ho Chi Minh City countless of times over almost 20 years but my first to Hanoi. On arrival, it was raining. In fact, in rained the whole day Friday. We could not do much.

Our purpose was two fold, to just look around and eat, without much planning. Our hotel was located in the Old Quarters and close to food and sight.

My blog on the visit is also divided as such. On to the food.........

Our first meal was a upmarket "mixed rice" or "chap fun" in Cantonese. It was not bad actually. We had some roast duck, pork ribs, stir fried french beans and a soup.

The food cooked was quite tasty.

Quite a wide variety and there is also an extensive menu at this shop. It cost us about US$10 with a sour sop shake and bottle of mineral water.

Later in the evening, we tried a pho ga which is chicken pho (noodle in soup). The version in Hanoi is somewhat lighter than the one in HCM City. The soup and chicken was good. We actually wanted the soup only and ate only a little of the noodle, being a cold and wet day.

The chicken displayed....it was quite tasty.

Innards galore and the unlaid chicken eggs.

Beautiful pho ga....

Later in the night, we saw a shop doing very good business and wanted to also try it. It turns out to be glutinous rice with potatos and fired shallots with toppings of your choice.

My wife and I shared a bowl with various pork sausage, hams and stewed pork. It was my first time eating this and it was lovely. They have other versions with maize (corn) as well.

Lastly, we came to a small shop selling the Vietnamese baguette (Bahm Mi). We tried with pork and potatos. It was quite well done and the bread was just right....light and crispy. They also had the "pau" but it was not good... it had just a little filling...with 2 quail eggs and some vegetables.






Until the next time, cheers.