Street Food Tour - Hanoi, Vietnam
Hanoi, Vietnam
Warning, warning long post as Dave is watching Moto GP qualifying.
Having to change our plans due to bad weather and dangerous landslips becoming increasingly regular we decided to put ourselves and the bike on the overnight train back to Hanoi.
The trip down from Sapa was a little hairy in parts. 36kms of curvy downhill road most of it in the pouring rain! By the time we arrived in Lao Cai I was ready to leave the bike behind for a while and just relax on the train.
The train ride, this time a four berth, was much better than the last time. The train was cleaner and more comfortable. As we had the bike we were forced onto the 9.00pm train, as this was the only one that would allow the bike. Yet again we had to bribe the local officials to get it done because the bike was slightly larger than the usual step through. This part of travel in Vietnam is becoming really, really tiresome. It would seem every government official is on the take and clearly being a westerner and not part of a tour group has seen us fork out heaps on bribes. Anyway this time it got quite heated and while just once I wouldn't mind seeing a little bit of natural justice delivered, I didn't fancy bailing Dave out of prison. Yet again we inhaled and paid up. Did I mention it was really, really annoying!
One of our cabin buddies was an older Vietnamese guy who rolled over and went to sleep almost immediately. Perfect. The other was a boarder patrol officer who, given the paragraph above, evoked only suspicion and contempt from me. Dave was diplomatic and quite cheeky even suggesting that his enormous gold ring was paid for with bribes. He laughed, but that knowing guilty laugh. . . prick. Ok, ok soI left my humor in Sapa!
Anyway good news is that soon he also went to sleep and Dave and I were left to enjoy the train ride well into the night, albeit with an unenviable soundtrack of snores and a bad sinus condition.
Arriving at 5.00 am on Friday morning we organised an early check-in and wondered how to spend the rest of the day. I thought we could do with a little fun and a little challenge. . . enter street food tour!
I was really looking forward to this but must admit to a few steeling wodka's to keep to my promise of trying everything on offer. It was a good group of six. All Aussie's (kind of) ok us two and four New Zealanders with no thought of ever leaving Melbourne. Our guide Johnny was a rascal but good fun and the night began relatively benign with crab spring rolls and two types Pho (no offal this time). The new type of Pho we tried had beef slow cooked in cinnamon and red wine, very earthy and very different to the usual Pho.
Next up was eel. Ugh! First eel soup and then a salad containing both fresh and crispy fried eel. The soup was unsurprisingly disgusting on a texture level but taste wise was quite mushroomy. Not a fan. Dave not a fan either. The salad however with fried eel was pretty good. Fact number 1, crumb and fry anything it will taste good.
To wash the eel completely away we next tried sugar cane juice. Very refreshing and not as sweet as I would have thought.
Next up, beef salad with green mango and banana flower and a Hanoi beer to wash it all down. I love this salad, reminds me of Hoi An. A heap of fresh herbs dressed with a great sauce. The beef was dried, also nice and very salty. Before the Salad Johnny brought over a sad little sample of sparrow. See photo. This was nearly my first stumbling block but I did manage to crunch a little wing and leg. Dave the unashamed carnivore crunched an entire body. I still feel guilty eating something that small which I know is not entirely logical but it is there none the less.
Next up was a rice paper pancake filled with mushroom and pork and topped with fried shallots, herbs and served with a soy based sauce. See video for the whole process. These were amazing and before we leave I have tasked Dave with finding the place so we can have some more. Fingers crossed.
By this stage we were all full, so for the next hour we walked around the night markets gradually sampling some local fruit. Mangostien, custard apple and a lychee type thing (sorry forgot the name) all very nice.
Eventually we were all that hot we agreed to more food. This time a restaurant that we had already been to (and was fabulous, bonus). We sat down to green tea and then the happy water (rice wine infused in coconut) flowed. The coconut rice wine was significantly easier to drink than the break fluid we drank in Sapa. Joy.
Next up was what I thought would be the final challenge, yes dog meat. Did we, didn't we. OK we did. Taste was OK, similar to pork but my head made it very difficult to swallow what was the smallest of pieces. Ugh I still don't like to think about it. . . Dave of Course munched a large portion, how did I marry him......
Next was tamarind duck and then catfish fresh rice paper rolls that we made ourselves. Again these were both amazing, so fresh and flavorsome. I have finally mastered the rice paper roll thing so these are sure to be on the menu at our place over summer.
Just when we thought we were done, Johnny re-enters the room with a little bowl and before he told us I knew what was in it. Duck eggs with embryo. No way was I trying this one and I could tell Dave was not keen either. Johnny gently opened it up so we could all get photo's, gross but he didn't give up trying to get us all to try. Finally one of they guys said he would try it and before you knew it Johnny had a portion on his plate. It took him a while but he did eventually have a go. I couldn't look.
After a few more shots of the rice wine we tumbled down the stairs for one final delicacy, egg coffee. Ok so this sounds really gross but it is amazing and makes for a great desert. An egg, not sure if it is the whole egg, is whipped until is it silky but frothy. It is then put on top a glass of Vietnamese drip coffee (i have fallen in love with this stuff). There are other varieties such as chocolate egg and rum egg. A great end to what was a fun night.
Overall the food in Vietnam has been great although sometimes it can be hard to find what your looking for. The bigger places tend to be the hardest but we have found Trip adviser (website) to be really good, much better than lonely planet. Travelers post reviews and it is easy to identify the false reviews from the genuine and unlike lonely planet your reading about someones experience from the previous day or week.
We're off to the movies. Time for some blatant escapism.
Cheers.
Bec