Hungry Binders - Hanoi Food Tour

If you know anything about us, its that we like food. Particularly sharing and trying new food. So, when we read that a food tour in Hanoi was one of the best things that some other travelers had done, it was a no brainer to book it. As we wandered the streets the first few days and saw dozens of people on endless corners huddled on plastic stools around steaming/smoking pots and grills, we could only wonder "can I eat that". Anxious for someone to tell us if it was safe/good, we were stoked for Mark, our guide, to show us what was what. Mark is an Aussie living in Hanoi, and author of The Sticky Rice Food Blog, and Street Food Tour Blog.

Mark met us at our hotel at around 8:30, and we took a stroll for a somewhat typical breakfast of Bun Ca, or noodles with fried fish. We both were a little hesitant as the only fish we typically have for breakfast comes in the form of smoked salmon and is on a bagel. The Bun Ca was surprisingly un-fishy, and had a nice spice to it. Kind of weird, but I actually really liked it.

Bun Ca, fish for breakfast.

This is breakfast?

Our next stop was to a cafe for some coffee, that made me really thankful we hired Mark to show us around because never in a million years would we have picked this cafe or ordered what we did. We cut down a narrow alley, past an old lady cleaning her house and some kids running around, and emerged on another side street. We turned around and there was our spot, Ca Phe Duy Tri, which apparently has been around since 1936. I told Mark about my preference for Iced Coffee, so he ordered us "White" Iced Coffee (iced coffee with condensed milk you stir in) and Cafe Sua Chua, which was an espresso shot on top of some cold yogurt. Sounds weird, but again was awesome, kind of like an affogato.

The alley on the way for some coffee

Bri and Mark enjoying some coffee in the upstairs lounge, the ceiling was about 4 feet high.

Two types of iced coffee: Left is the White Iced Coffee with condensed milk, Right is the yogurt with coffee. Both awesome and strong!

Looks like your typical Starbucks back home.

Well caffeinated, we continued on our stroll, dodging motorbikes and asking Mark random questions about food and Vietnam. We stopped in for a snack of Banh Cuon, basically pork and mushroom dumpling pancake things. Without trying to sound repetitive, I probably never would have ordered this but it was quite good, like a gooey potsticker. It also involved making your own dipping sauce, always a plus in our book!

Dumplings and make your own sauce

The front of the dumpling snack stop. The guy makes the wrappers on the top of those big metal drum things.

To take a break from actually eating, we poked into a market. It started off innocent enough, looking at some nice vegetables, rice, tofu, and stuff we see at home, just not all packaged. Mark described how he shops at these markets almost everyday, and how its very different than how we go to the store once a week and buy everything at once. We then saw some weird stuff, like basically every internal organ, some not-fully-developed-eggs, and crabs that they mash up live into a paste. Yum!

 

Weird stuff at the market. Meal worms, undeveloped eggs, chicken hearts, parts of things and stuff.

Fresh water snails, no we didnt have any and that was just fine with both of us.

I was getting excited for lunch, hoping for some Banh Mi (sandwiches like they sell in the tenderloin for $3, on a baguette with awesome meat, and cilantro, jalapenos) but then learned that they are pretty much a southern Vietnamese thing, much like a lot of the Vietnamese food we eat in California. Because those are the Vietnamese that actually left Vietnam. The northern food is much more influenced by the Chinese. All of this made sense, with my new understanding of Vietnamese history.

Anyway, with that lesson learned, we stopped off for a lunch of Bun Cha, or grilled pork over rice noodles. I got pretty excited when I saw the industrial sized fan blowing smoke off a red hot grill into the street. Not only good marketing, but also a sign of good Bun Cha having a good char on the pork. The blackened pork pieces come in a patty, and kind of pork belly type pieces, in a vinaigrette-y broth which you can put over the noodles, or dump the noodles in your bowl while adding the variety of fresh herbs. It. Was. Glorious. If you ever come to Hanoi and don't eat this, I don't want to be your friend.

Bun Cha meaty smoke cannon.

Meat, noodles, herbs, and fresh spring rolls. Boom!

Check out that meaty goodness!

There's no behind the scenes, this is the sidewalk kitchen.

View from the outside, plastic stools lining the street for 50 feet on each side of the joint. Motorbikes pulling up, every 10 seconds.

Strolling Hanoi with our guide. More motorbikes!!!

Lots of fresh veggies

Fun day, happy Binders. Thanks Mark!

Mark dropped us off at our hotel, full and happy, and with a much better understanding of what exactly all those people are doing on the plastic stools all over Hanoi. He even gave a recommendation for a BBQ chicken place for dinner, which we tried and was awesome as well. It was a little tough ordering on our own, but we did it and completed an entire day of eating nothing but Hanoi street food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Three days later as I write this, no, neither of us even got a little sick!

*We just got back from 3 days and two nights on a boat in Halong Bay, which was great. We're heading south tomorrow to the town of Hoi An, so we should have a few more posts coming as soon as we can catch up!

 

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