Food Stalls, Hanoi

Food stalls can be found at literally every corner. It'll take a little courage to eat in some of them as the food looks uncommon if not strange or inedible - but you'll most likely be satisfied afterwards. Basically all of them have their "menu" visible on a large plastic sign. If you plan to eat in food stalls, it might be a good idea to learn the most important dishes or their ingredients. For instance, pho (pronounced like fur) is a very tasty noodle soup that you will find almost everywhere. Dishes with chicken are called something plus ga, dishes with beef include the word bo (pronounced almost like boar). In case you're willing to try dog meat, you should know that it's Thit Cho in Vietnamese.
It's literally impossible to describe and recommend one food stall - many of them are worth a try, while others are an offense to your stomach. Nevertheless, I will try to do so. Back in 2004/2005, when I worked in Hanoi, I ate lunch at a specific food stall daily. Their specialty was Com Rang (pronounced kerm saang), i.e. fried rice. Unfortunately, the place closed down a year or so ago as a new road was built - the golden age of Com Rang is over... :(

Here's what it was like back then:

"Com Rang is fried rice and you'll find it many places all over Hanoi. The best, the ultimate Com Rang, can be found in a small food stall near the south entrance of Bach Khoa university. If you leave the campus, cross the sewer and go on for some 150 metres. On the right side, you'll see an Aretha-Franklin-like looking woman who is enthroned on a chair, preparing food for the guests of this small food stall. Don't be too shocked by the hygienic conditions - the rice is fried in very hot fat, so all bacteria will be killed! By the way, the piece of paper on the wall, that is almost unreadable, is the health certificate.
Order "Mot Kerm Saang" and you'll get what you want. To prove that the rice is good: I've eaten there almost every day! Com Rang costs 5000 VND, other dishes are available, too and also quite good."

Favorite Dish: Com Rang, Pho Bo, Bun Bo, Nem Chua Ran, Pho Cuon...

Note: My sincere thanks to Globe_Trekker who recommended that I should try Banh Cuon while I was here.

Banh cuon is a popular breakfast dish for Vietnamese and it's not difficult to see why. The translucent silvers of rice flour rolled around grilled meat,shrimp, mushroom and lightly sauteed garlic and onion are delicious. Complement it with a special fish sauce flavoured with the perfume glands from a beetle and voila! You're looking at the best dish in Hanoi.

Cost
20,000D for two plates of Banh Cuon
Important Note : The price has since doubled/tripled/quadrupled since I put up this recommendation for God knows what reason. It shocked me to think there are actually idiots out there who printed my little recommendation and showed it to the stall owner for proof that the price should stay the same! For crying out, pls don't do that, it's a known fact that blogs are only accurate from the time of the entry.

Favorite Dish: This dish is a northern specialty so it's better to try it when you're in Hanoi. If you're thinking it's the Hanoian equivilent to the Chinese rice roll (Chee Chong Fun ) , you're sadly mistaken, this rice roll is softer, more fragrant and more delicious.

Where to find this: This shop is located on the same street as Cha Ca Va Long, the famous fish hotpot shop. Give the fish a miss and eat this instead.

If you are a big fan of Mr Extreme Cuisine aka Jerry Hopkins, you would eaten a lot of things you wouldn't dream of eating in Vietnam.

Now, take a good look at the bug, would you eat him? Probably not .

But I am quite sure you would eaten juice squeezed from this particular fella. And unknowingly too. Most Vietnamese are fond of nýớc_mắm cà_cuống which means fish sauce seasoned with belostomatid essence. Yes, they take this little fella, squeeze its perfume gland for the said essence to perfume the sauce to be served to you.

Favorite Dish: You're probably dying to know whether I have taken the sauce. I did and unknowingly too! But reader, it is the most fragrant sauce I've ever tasted in my life! When I first tasted it, I couldn't quite place it, it was a cross between saffron and cinammon but a hundred times more fragrant.

Sauce is commonly found in Bun Thang, a noodle dish and Banh Cuon (Rice Flour Steamed Rolls)

Welcome to the eerie floating worlds of Hanoi. Earlier, you saw a floating gecko. Now you'll see a bear's paw floating in a mixture of wolfberries. Reputedly, drinking this paw wine will enhance a man's sexual powess and make him as powerful as a bear in bed.

Do you believe that crap? Well, here's some news for you if you buy that bull ****.

Asian Sun Bears are endangered creatures and in my opinion, the person who did this to him should suffer the same fate. Same goes for those idiots who force a bear into a tiny cage, and use the bear as a ketchup-bile dispensar.

Favorite Dish: Anything else that does not belong to a bear or any endangered creature.

Iif you're thinking that might be a gecko staring at you from the bottle, you're right. This is an honest-to-God true photograph and not a Jerry Hopkins infused nightmare. That small ginny in the bottle has been bottled for being an Aphrodisiac.
And I'll repeat what I mentioned in my HCMC instalment. Vietnamese men drink this for a little ooh-la-la and no, this reptilian Viagra is not patented by Pfizer yet.

This is a classic case of curiosity killing the cat. Ok, so my curiousity got the better of me! Here I was, in a busy Hanoi eatery , staring at a suspicious dish and trying to snare a waiter. And when I did, i just had to ask,

" THIT CHO?"

The answer threw me off balance.

Doggoneit, this was real thing! Fido roasted to a well-done crisp!

I can't explain it dear reader but I could feel my bile rising to my throat. Perhaps, it was because I had pet dogs all my life and the thought of roasting them was akin to bloody murder. I smiled weakly, told the waiter that I didn't want any a la carte doggie and left hurriedly . Somehow, the curious cat within me was feeling queasy and I went to the nearest drain to puke.

Note: I used to own 3 Pekingnese dogs at one time and trained them for competitions when I was younger.

Favorite Dish: How does one even start to eat this dish, i wonder, from the spiky tail end or the drumstick?

Where to eat this revolting thing:
I don't advocate eating this dish but if you have stronger stomach than me, you can look for this food court is at the side of the Museum of Vietnamese Revolution. It's not too far from Hilton Hanoi where I was staying.

1 more image

Dried squid comes in different sizes.When order is made, auntie will smoke the dried squid (actually heat it) for a while over a metal wok containing flaming charcoal, the squid will shrink when heated, then she'll hit it with an empty glass bottle (eg beer bottle), and smoke it again, until its fiber split apart. Finally she tears the squid into small slices and pack in old newspaper. The taste's not bad really, worth a try

For a size of 1/2 feet squid, it costs VND20,000

Try this local barbeque stick, or what malaysian call it 'satay'. It's soft and juicy inside, sweet and a little crunchy outside. It's perfect snack to chew while walking down Dong Xuan street at hanoi old quarters. Do ask what kind of meat on the stove before you buy.

It costs VND5,000 per stick