Hanoi Food Challenge #2 - The Recap

My Hanoi Food Challenge Number Two is finished! I visited a total of 19 new places in that week, which is two more than in Hanoi Food Challenge Number One!

So, here's my quick recap of all the places I went. As with last time, I'm separating them into places I would definitely go back to, those that are probably worth another try, and those that I'll probably only go to if dragged there for some special reason.

I'll definitely go back to:

1.  TET Décor Café (Day 1) - Beautiful, with good food. Actually I think there are already plans to go back this weekend with a faithful reader!

2. Bluebird Restaurant (Day 1) - With such delicious meals, I can't figure out why this place isn't busier. It looks crazy expensive from the outside, but is actually no more so than some other places on that street. Go!

3. Colonel Quy's (Day 2) - There aren't many places you can get a full English breakfast in Hanoi, and especially not while sitting in a quiet garden next to the lake. Totally worth it.

4. Hủ tíu noodles at 21 Hàng Điếu (Day 2) - Cheap, yummy noodles on the street. What more could you want?

5. Bud Mo (Day 3) - I'll probably go in the winter when I need some proper stodgy Ukrainian food, or whenever Jacqui drags me there to sit in the garden and drink Siberian Pine vodka!

6. Sushi Dai (Day 3) - Good value for money, decent food, and close to work. 'Nuf said.

7. The phở place on Kim Ma near work (Day 3) - Another good alternative for those days when I don't have food at home. 

8. Han Kook Kwan (Day 4) - A very promising replacement for our favourite old Korean restaurant!

9. Paolo & Chi (Day 5) - Tasty pizza, delivered to your door. So what if it costs a bit?

10. The 5th floor cafe at work (Day 5) - Not because it's that good, but because I can get food there without leaving the building on those days when it's pouring rain.

11. Thai Elephant (Day 6) - Pretty good Thai food in a city where good Thai is somewhat lacking. Yum.

12. Cutisun (Day 7) - Maybe not the best quality meat but it's cute inside, tasty, cheap and very close to home.

I'll maybe try again:

1. Chả cá on Giảng Võ (Day 4) - Fish that was yummy enough, but I probably won't go out of my way for it.

2. Cafe Nắng Sài Gòn (Day 5) - I think there's better bánh xèo to be had elsewhere, but I'll go when I have a craving at work, and I still need to try the Rock@Roll Lipton.

3. The Locals (Day 6) - Probably not to eat, but it's a cute place to sit inside and have a drink.

4. Bánh xèo Nhật Bản (Day 7) - Because I'm still not sure how I feel about okonomiyaki, so I might go try something else on the menu.

I'll skip:

1. Mỳ gà tần (Day 2) - Although the chicken in it was delicious, I didn't like the rest of it, so probably won't go there again.

2. Cafe Quang (Day 4) - A lovely setting on the lake near work, but I still prefer my bánh mì trứng lady on the other side of the lake.

3. Fresh Garden (Day 7) - Less than fresh, and I can make better cake myself. However, I did see some whole wheat bread there, which in a pinch might be worth a try.

All in all, I'd have to say that was a pretty successful week. My only regret is that I feel like I didn't hit the budget end of the scale very well, but maybe next time!

Yes, that's right, there's going to be a next time. Because out of 44 places on my list (ok, a few are question marks as to whether they are actually eligible for the challenge) I only hit nine. NINE. So I'll let you know when I do this again!

Hanoi Food Challenge #2 - Day Three

I had a little break from my Hanoi Food Challenge Number Two, because Monday was a fasting day. I picked it up again on Tuesday, with a start at a phở bò (beef noodle soup) place just a few doors down from work. This restaurant has been popular with my coworkers for a long time, but for some reason I'd never been!

 

They have a bunch of different kinds of  phở bò, and I actually don't know what the difference is. I think it has something to do with the quality and doneness of the meat, and what I got was phở tái, whatever that is!

I've eaten a fair bit of phở bò since I've been here, and this was pretty good! I'll be back!

For lunch I managed to gather a group of people and convince them that we should wander down Kim Mã street where there is a plethora of Japanese restaurants. I've only ever been to one of them, which is quite close to work, so as soon as we had passed it, all were fair game. We passed by one which we know to be expensive and flashy, and another that looked dark and uninviting, and then we found Sushi Dai, which had lunch sets advertised outside for 99,000 dong (about $5). Sold!

We went inside and they were pretty happy to see us, as the place was quite empty. I guess that's what you expect on a street full of Japanese restaurants. It also had a bit of a musty smell, which was a bit worrying, but they showed us upstairs to a private room with air conditioning and a big tree in the corner.

We ordered a bunch of iced tea, which we discovered when it arrived was actually strawberry tea. It was a bit odd, but it affected the smell more than the taste.

We ordered various sets, from sushi to grilled fish to beef to bacon to bean sprouts. All of the sets came with the usual salad, miso soup, bit of egg, random weird sausage, and most importantly, pickled onions. A lot of us were very happy with the pickled onions!

My sushi was pretty tasty, but as I think I've mentioned before, I'm not exactly a connoisseur. Christine said her beef had a nice flavour, but was a bit tough and gristly. 

It seems that they have hotpot in the winter (and maybe now too, but the sign was quite specific!)

Another plus side was the slices of melon they brought us at the end of the meal. We all agreed that while it maybe wasn't the best Japanese food in Hanoi, it was still pretty good value for money, as most places on that street would charge about 150,000 dong for a lunch set.

On Tuesday nights we go to lacquer painting class at 7, so time was limited. Because of this Jacqui and I decided to go somewhere nearby, so our choice was Bud Mo Ukrainian Restaurant. This place is set in a lovely garden, which would have been beautiful had it not been so rainy!

 

I loved all the little Ukrainian decorations, including this mural of people having a party in the countryside!

One thing I love too is the juxtaposition of cultures; these murals were right above the typical Vietnamese altar that every business here has.

Jacqui lived in Russia for a while so we pretty much let her do the ordering!

We started with some "Countryside style" Ukrainian sausage, which was filled with proper chunks of meat and came with a delicious sauce. At the same time we got some Deruny (potato fritters) with sour cream.

We then continued with some pirogis filled with cottage cheese and served with sour cream, and some Pelmeni (ravioli stuffed with meat) with cheese and mushroom sauce. We finished off our meal with a meat-stuffed red pepper.

This was all delicious and didn't feel so heavy, as you'd expect Ukrainian food to. Maybe I was just really hungry!

FYI, they also have beef testicles stewed in sour cream sauce, if you're interested. We passed.

We were on our way to lacquer class so didn't have any, but I'm told this place has excellent home-brewed beer. Jacqui was also drooling over the selection of Russian vodkas! I guess that just means we'll have to come back sometime when we aren't on our way to lacquer class.

That's Day Three! I'll post about Day Four tomorrow...and trust me, it's also a good one!

Green Bamboo Cooking School - Hoi An

You may remember waaaaaaay back just after Christmas I went to Hoi An for a little holiday and while I was there I did the Taste of Hoi An street food tour. At the end of Part 2 I hinted at a cooking course, and now you finally get to hear about it!

The "Teacher" on the street food tour, Neville, recommended Green Bamboo Cooking School, and it had been recommended by other friends, so that was the obvious choice. I was just lucky enough to get the last spot on the day I went!

As with most cooking classes, it started with a market tour and then moved on to the kitchen, and rather than tell you I'm going to make this more of a photo essay and just show you!

All kinds of delicious dishes on offer inside the market.

Spices and sticky rice cakes.

It's a lot of work to shred coconut!

More spices and other goodies.

Pre-herbed fish. Ready to cook!

The fish market is always busy!

We then went to our kitchen, which just happened to be right in our instructor's beautiful house!

We got to choose our dishes from a fairly extensive list, and someone had already chosen my favourite Bánh xèo , so I picked the stuffed squid in tomato sauce.

I got to do everything from scratch, including cleaning out these huge squid, which was a new one for me!

We spent ages chopping, dicing, slicing and grating, and then when everything was ready we made each dish one by one, snacking on the first couple while we made the rest.

Wrapping spring rolls.

Making bánh xèo.

Yum! So crispy!

The squid was stuffed with a mixture of pork, onion, carrot, woodear mushroom, and various other spices and condiments.

Banana flower salad with beef and prawns. Another one of my favourites!

Fish in a clay pot. Delicious.

Van making a huge pot of broth for our phở.

Mmmm phở bò (beef noodle soup).

My finished squid. Yum!

That's it! We finished off the day of cooking with a huge feast of all the things we made, and Van gave each of us a pair of cooking chopsticks (extra long ones) and a recipe book so I can make any of these any time! Yum!



Hanoi Food Challenge - Days 3&4

It's day 5 of my Hanoi Food Challenge  and I'm loving it! I've already found at least 4 places I'd easily (and will!) go back to, and I end up so happy when I find a gem that I didn't know about!

On Tuesday at lunchtime Jacqui asked if I wanted to go for lunch and it turned out she was up for finding somewhere new! We wandered down the street until we saw this unassuming little sign next to this alley.

We wandered down and found ourselves in a large, quiet courtyard, with another little alley leading off it and another small sign, leading to a little room with a woman selling bowls of a delicious broth loaded with noodles, tofu, greens, and a couple of different types of sausage.

                  This is how good it was:

On Tuesday nights I go with some friends to a lacquer painting class up on  Xuân Diệu so I convinced them to come with me for dinner beforehand. On Jacqui's suggestion we went to Linh & Ben, a French place that has a lot of delicious sandwiches and paninis, as well as a lot of deli meats and cheeses and homemade food products. I was in heaven!

The cute and charming interior

We sat outside on the patio, which is set well back from the street and thus quite lovely!

I ordered a Tartiflette Reblochon and bacon panini (potato, cheese, and bacon) and it was delicious!

Sam had a salmon, aubergine, and goat's cheese panini, and it was possibly even better than mine. I am in love with this place and I can't wait to go back! I also can't believe that Jacqui's been keeping it a secret from me all this time!

On Wednesday I was doing speaking exams over lunchtime, so I didn't have time for much, so I ordered a sandwich from The Deli so it would be waiting for me when I had a break. Of course the rule is that I had to try something new, so I went for the Middle Eastern Beef sandwich.

Although it wasn't any kind of beef I'd normally recognize, and it was in the form of sort of sausage patties that were quite mushy, the flavour of this was ok. It had hummus spread on the inside which added a nice touch, but honestly I don't think I'd order it again.

On Wednesday night I was at home again and this time that bowl of phở sounded good, so I went to the new phở place around the corner from me that I've been meaning to try.

My bowl of phở was pretty yummy, and came with all the usual condiments: chilies, chili sauce, garlicky vinegar sauce, and limes.

After that I was not quite full, and two doors down there's a chè place that I've also been meaning to try, so I went there for some dessert.

Chè is a Vietnamese dessert and there seems to be zillions of different kinds! Some are made with fruit, red or black or green bean, coconut milk, yogurt, and all kinds of little jellies or tapioca strings.

I was given this menu, and spent a good five minutes trying to decipher it.

I finally settled on the Chè đậu đỏ trân châu xoài  which I knew would come with red beans and mango and something else I didn't know!, which turned out to be a few different kinds of the jelly bits.

It came to me at room temperature, along with a bowl of ice which I just assumed I was supposed to put in!

Chè is delicious, if you can get used to the textures. After looking at that menu, I think I'll be going back to sample a few of the other kinds!

The chè maker let me take his picture!

There's still more to come, including bánh mỳ, bún chả, a Spanish restaurant, and margaritas!