#27 - Faces and Food of Hanoi

 

Our dinner at Green Tangerine was set in stone months ago after Steve’s diligent research for the best French restaurant in Hanoi. And, as it turned out, it was only a four minute walk from our hotel. 

Through a charming courtyard with heat lamps and twinkling lights and up the stairs to a lovely second floor room set with white tablecloths. 

Since we weren’t too hungry, after a lunch of Cha Ca Vong and banana flower salad (two local specialties) we settled on a bottle of Rioja, two starters and one main, all to share. From the amuse Boucher to the last bite, it would be hard to say which was more impressive, the food or the presentation.

Red Tuna Târtar 

Sea Scallop Carpaccio on Beêt, Pineapple & Mango

Mushroom Cake App

Satiated, we returned to our hotel unable to figure out how we could possibly make room to eat again on Friday morning for our 10am street food tour with Ha. 

Before we begin, let’s recall the cleanliness score of Vietnam overall. Probably a four. Next remember the blog photo from the market with the mouse eating the dried fish, and me wondering just how much mouse shit was in that bag, and which restaurant buys their fish there. Score reduced to two point five. 

Lastly you need to know that the sidewalk food vendors basically wash the dishes in the street/gutter with God knows what water and they all use and reuse wooden chopsticks. Score is probably now zero. So with all this knowledge we ventured forth to consume street food for two hours. 

Serving Egg Coffee since 1946

First stop was for egg coffee. You may be familiar with Vietnamese coffee, strong and dark with condensed milk. It tastes like a caramel coffee and is pretty good as a dessert or afternoon pick-me-up. But egg coffee I had never heard of. It starts with the same short pull of dark coffee but is topped with a whipped concoction of raw egg yolk, sugar, honey and some secret ingredient. It tastes a bit like when you are baking and whip egg yolk with sugar, a fluffy soft meringue taste. And it was delicious. To quote Legal Nomads, it tastes like Cadbury Cream Egg with a touch of mocha. 

Coffee comes in a glass mug, resting in a plastic bowl
of hot water, in order to keep it warm

Next stop, street side sitting on tiny, tiny stools with motorbikes roaring by maybe six inches away. Here we had Bahn Cuon, fried shrimp cakes, a Vietnamese version of an empanada stuffed with......something, and a rice flour pancake with mushroom. All was consumed with used chopsticks, a bowl of fresh herbs and fish sauce. A bit greasy, clearly with well used oil, but tasty. 

Pho (fha) was next. We opted for beef and Steve picked rare, not well done...what was he thinking...mouse poop and ecoli all at the same stop? The broth was much lighter than the pho we eat at home, again a big bowl of mixed herbs with fresh rice noodles and spoons that I don’t want to know where they were washed.

We were getting full even though at each stop Steve, Ha, and I shared only one order of each dish. We had two more places to eat. 

BBQ pork in sweet and sour broth, and some crab spring roll, much better than I imagined....and, finally, dessert. I’m not sure I can adequately describe what sweet soup is. You can eat it hot or cold with ice. You can choose one or two or three kinds of beans and then add in jelly cubes made of sap from the native jelly tree. It was different and interesting but we didn’t finish. 

Back at the hotel I marveled at our iron stomachs. Neither of us has had so much as one stomach cramp, one bout of diarrhea or missed one meal. And neither of us choose to think about how dirty the kitchens are and, even in an okay restaurant, I try not to have to use the bathroom. 

For our afternoon at leisure we strolled around the lake, walked the French Quarter with its less hectic traffic, wider streets and better shopping. Our last stop was the Metropole Hotel, famous for its Bamboo Bar, for a cocktail and definitely the prettiest Christmas trees of our trip. 

Yes, Obama was here not long ago, and 

ate & had a beer....just not at this restaurant.

He ate with Anthony Bourdain , and that small cafe is 
now overrun everyday..now many fake Obama Restaurants.

Tonight we may opt for a glass of wine and a starter back at the Green Tangerine in the heated courtyard and an early to bed for our 7:30 am start tomorrow. We are off to our last stop in Vietnam, Halong Bay, for a one night boat cruise in what should be spectacular scenery. I have figured out just how bespoke our trip is because our driver and guide not only drive us the three+ hours to the boat, but literally sleep in that town to return us to the Hanoi airport the next day, when we wing our way to Singapore. We definitely paid too much!

BONUS PICTURE:

FREE RANGE BARBER