Hanoi Food Challenge #2 - Day Seven!

The final day of my Hanoi Food Challenge Number Two fell on a VERY rainy Sunday. Christine and I planned to ride our bikes around the lake to Daluva to try out the new menu there. The rain had died off for a while and it all looked promising as I set out, but by the time I got to our meeting point, it had started to rain again, and by the time Christine arrived a few minutes later it had increased enough that I was already considering other options. We decided to soldier on, but a few minutes down the road, it started to rain harder, and harder, and harder, until I just said nope. Not worth it. By the time we got there I would've been drenched and miserable, and I just didn't want to have lunch like that! I rode the few minutes back home, arriving here dripping wet and still hungry. 

After I dried off I attempted to order in, feeling horrendously bad about someone having to ride a motorbike through the rain to deliver to me, but the restaurant rejected my order because they didn't have one of the dishes I'd asked for. 

At this point, finally, the rain eased up again and I was still hungry with no prospect of food coming so I put my very soggy sandals back on and headed out to this Japanese Okonomiyaki place off Ngoc Ha that I've walked by several times and always wondered about. It's also on Nonna Chong's street food map of Hanoi, which you should definitely check out!

You may remember that I'm not much of a Japanese food connoisseur, so of course I had never had okonomiyaki before. In fact, I had no idea what this place would actually serve until earlier this week when a friend mentioned that she loves okonomiyaki, and explained to me what it was. Then I put two and two together and decided I had to try this!

This place is cute, with a little upstairs room that overlooks a small lake where they're building a temple.

There's more than okonomiyaki on the menu, with sushi and rice bowls also featuring! I had no idea what to order, but since I'd come for the pancake, I decided on the bánh xèo Osaka, since it seemed to be the classic one, and added on cheese from the list of toppings.

There's another side to this with all the sushi.

I'm not actually sure that I liked this. From one bite to the next I went back and forth between finding it delicious and disgusting. I think it was the chewy cheesy bits and the meat that I liked, but could've done without all the mayonnaise.

For 50,000 dong this is worth another try, or at least I'll go to the place and try something else. The menu had the word Aozora on it, and looked quite similar to the one at Sushi Aozora from my first Hanoi Food Challenge, so maybe it's part of the same company.

On my way home I had to stop for cake. Well, I didn't have to, but this Fresh Garden store just opened up the road from me. While I'm not a fan of Asian bakeries in general (there's a reason I make my own cakes!) and this is just a chain that's all over Hanoi, I've never actually been in a Fresh Garden store so I felt like it was my duty to try it.

 After I'd examined all the cakes I decided on this nice chocolatey, perhaps a bit Black Foresty looking one.

Then the girl told me that it was buy one, get one free. I really only wanted one, but I'm never one to say no to cake. So I got another, different one. Two pieces of cake for 25,000 dong. 

I ate the chocolate one, and it was ok but as I would have expected, it was a bit dry and the frosting was a bit plasticky tasting. A girl can only eat so much cake in a day, so the other one is still sitting in my fridge!

A couple of weeks ago I met a guy who lives very near me, down lane 173 off Hoang Hoa Tham. He asked me if I ever eat at Cutisun, the steak restaurant down the lane just across from that. I told him there was no restaurant down there, but he insisted. Well, he was right! I had no idea! I must have walked past this place hundreds of times, and never saw it. How is this possible?

I'd seen this sign before, up above the buildings, but for some reason had never figured out that it meant food! I think I never saw the restaurant because I most often walk past this lane going the other way, and mostly on the other side of the street, so it would've always been either at my back and/or across all the traffic.

 

Cutisun is super cute both inside and out!

Cute birdy placemat at Cutisun.

They had steaks on the menu for 65,000 dong, with either black pepper, bbq, or cheese sauce. There was also Shaking Beef, venison, and lamb! These all come with a few fries and a very small salad, and bread. The portions are not big, but for the price, what can you say?

Christine had the Shaking Beef and I couldn't resist trying the lamb. The waiter even asked us how we wanted it cooked! 

Shaking Beef (no sauce, just quite tasty, well-cooked beef!)

The salad had purple dressing on it, and we couldn't figure out what it was.

Lamb with BBQ sauce.

Lovely warm fresh bread.

Christine's was delicious. My lamb didn't taste much like lamb, but maybe that's because it was drowned in a very overpowering barbecue sauce. It was still tasty enough, after I scraped off most of the sauce. Next time I would ask for that on the side instead.

Because the portions were on the small side, we then had to have dessert!

Christine had the crème brûlée, which had the proper crunchy top, and she said was tasty but perhaps a bit more on the eggy side than the creamy side.

I had the mousse cake with chocolate syrup, which was almost more cheesecakey than moussey. Next time I'll try the passion fruit syrup instead.

Considering the price and that this is only a 5 minute walk from home, I'll definitely be back!

Canadian Comfort Food

As I mentioned in my last post, I was recently at home in Canada for a few weeks' holiday. Just before I left, someone asked me what things I would be indulging in at home that I can't get here, but I couldn't really think of an answer! Most things I could think to want are available here in Hanoi, or I can create a reasonable facsimile, but as I was there I kept stumbling upon things that it turns out I did miss.

So, in no particular order, here are a few things I enjoyed eating while I was at home:

Ok, I know I said no particular order but first and foremost HAS to be Grandma's apple cake. Anything at all made by Grandma, really, would always be my first choice of things to eat. I mean how could you not want to eat something made by a 96 year old woman who still lives on her own, works in her garden, and only gave up driving this year? It's gotta be amazing, right? Simple, moist, and delicious, you can see here that I have two slices on my plate. My first one was very small, so when I made a fuss about it, I was given a second slice! Yum!

Some of you are probably saying "HUH?", but I love the A&W Teen Burger. I don't know how they do it, but somehow the combination of just the right amounts of condiments make it so, so yummy! I know it doesn't look like much, but just thinking about it now is making my mouth water! And of course, it HAS to be accompanied by sweet and creamy A&W Root Beer! And some fries, I guess.

One of the things I miss most about home is the delicious seasonal fruit in the summertime. One delicious berry comes after another, along with cherries and peaches. I was a bit too early this year, so these cherries came from California and weren't nearly as good as the ones just off the tree, but I just needed to have a little taste!

One day, I met up with friends and spent part of the day helping their little people Owen and Myla look for crabs under every single rock on the beach. Afterwards, we watched a big choo choo train go by, and then found a restaurant serving cheap, fresh fish and chips. I don't eat too much fish in Hanoi, mostly because I don't trust it, and delicious battered fish and chips are even more of a risk! (They NEVER live up to my hopes) These were delicious, but I have to admit that by the time I was done I felt pretty gross. I guess I'm not used to eating quite so much grease!

This is a no-brainer. First of all, fish and chips just taste better with beer. Secondly, you just can't get beer like this in Hanoi, which is why half of it was gone before I remembered to take a picture. This was some kind of Honey Brown Lager from I can't remember which brewery but I remember thinking it wasn't Okanagan Spring! (Although that would have been just as delicious)

At this point I'm going to make some honourable mentions of Twizzlers, cheesecake, and my brother's Beer Can Chicken, all of which I plain old forgot to take pictures of! Strawberry twizzlers are simply one of those candy items that once I stop eating them, I can't stop! Trish made a beautiful cheesecake one day, which I don't make here because cream cheese just costs too much. Yum. And Paul's Beer Can Chicken fell off the bone in the most succulent, delicious way that I'm unbelievably upset that I can't make it here (my oven isn't big enough to stand a chicken up in). I think I ate more chicken in one sitting that night than I ever have before. And that's saying a lot.

On one of my last nights there, Dad and Dorothy took me to a Greek restaurant. When Dad got his menu, he didn't even look at it because he already knew what he was having: roast lamb. If Dad likes it that much, then as a lamb lover who doesn't get it much here, I had to have it too! This thing was ENORMOUS, and required no cutting because it simply fell right off that bone with only the slightest pull of the fork. I have had lamb here in Hanoi, but it has NEVER tasted like this!

On a hot, sunny day in Vancouver, there is nothing quite like a Slurpee. Coke flavour for me, always. Sugary and icy, it satisfies like nothing else. I regularly drink sinh tố (smoothies) in Vietnam, which are probably healthier, and are also delicious, but I needed one of these.

One of my most favourite, least healthy snack foods is Hawkins' Cheezies. So crunchy. So cheesy. So good.

I took these on my trip to Mexico with me, and told the girls they were the best Cheezies ever. "Better than Cheetos?" they asked. Yes. Very yes. I don't think any of them even tried them. Their loss. More for me!

 On a sad side note, James Marker, the inventor of this deliciousness, died just a couple of months ago at age 90. Let's hope the company survives for many more years!

Like cherries and berries, corn on the cob is one of my favourite things about summer at home. Also like the cherries, this corn comes from California, because at the time of year I was there the delicious B.C. corn was nothing but a twinkle in the farmer's eye. California corn was still pretty good, and I wanted it all the time. I begged Dad to go buy some for dinner, repeatedly. I want some now.

What is this, you ask? Do these ingredients give you a clue?

Or this?

Ok, I'll tell you. It's dill pickle dip. I'd been looking for an excuse to buy some and eat it all, but it wasn't until I was staying at my brother's and we decided to invite my sister over for an evening that I finally had the chance. But then instead of going out to buy it, I decided to stay home and make it! And it was so, so good. Dangerously good, because although I can't buy it here, now I know how to make it anytime I want. I always eat it with plain, salted chips. Ripply ones so the wrinkles trap more dip. And that's what makes it so dangerous, because although I rarely eat chips here, with this dip I just won't stop.

The last item on my list is the one thing I always want when I go home - a Boston Cream Donut from Tim Horton's.

Most people dream about Timmy's coffee, but I'm not a coffee drinker so this is my Tim's fantasy. Soft, light donut, with sweet chocolatey glaze on top, and smooth vanilla custard inside. I remember back in 2003, when I arrived back home from 15 months travelling in New Zealand and Australia, on the way home my parents asked if I wanted to stop for anything. Yes. We stopped at Tim Horton's, and I had one of these. Because I don't make it to Tim's very often, this is the only kind of donut I've had there in years.

And now that I'm thinking about it, I might need to try making some kind of Boston Cream confectionery of my own!

Now that I've made myself ridiculously hungry, I hope you've enjoyed my list of all these things that I didn't know I missed!