We’re on a street-food-tasting walking tour in Hanoi’s Old Quarter. The dishes at our first two stops were incredible. Given how high the bar had been set, I figured it’d be downhill from here. But I was wrong.
Our tour guide and fearless leader, Lemon, has been telling us what Hanoi street food is all about, showing us what to do, and explaining what we’ve been tasting. She’s even managed to get us across a few Old Quarter streets with no casualties. (Admittedly, traffic where we’ve been so far has been light. That would change soon enough).
At our first stop, we had a dish that was so good, I’m sure that even if I’m never able to have it again, I won’t forget it. It was called “bún chả.” Just thinking of it now makes the glands in my cheeks spring into action. Our second stop was a place that specializes in Dry Beef Salad. It was fantastic, too. Both of these dishes are said to be Hanoi originals.
Did Someone Say “Pancakes”?
Our next stop was at a place that serves pancakes. That’s right – pancakes. We weren’t on our way to I-HOP, though. The “pancakes” we were going to have are called “bánh cuốn.”
“Bánh cuốn turned out to be more like crepes than pancakes. In fact, when we saw them being made, it reminded me of the way I’ve seen crepes made in Paris at those street-side crepes-to-go windows.
The lady making crepes for bánh cuốn starts by pouring a layer of batter onto a round cooking surface She spreads it out until it’s paper-thin. Then, after a minute or two, using nothing but a long, skinny wooden stick, she pulls the “pancake” off the cooking surface and lays it out flat.
The filling is some kind of seasoned, ground meat — pork, maybe — mushrooms, and shallots. Something along those lines, anyway. The crepe is wrapped around the filling, creating something that looks like a miniature enchilada.
When it’s served, a few bánh cuốn are put on a plate, then sprinkled with crispy onions and cilantro. They come with a little bowl of dipping sauce. When you’re ready, grab one with your deftly-held chopsticks, being careful to get some crispy onions and cilantro at the same time. Dip it into the sauce, and take a bite. As was the case with the bún chả, be prepared for the floating up off the chair sensation, because it’s so good.
Snack Time
This has been a great tasting tour so far. Better than great, actually. I’m starting to get the idea that people here are serious foodies. Everything has been so good, but at the same time, so darn healthy. I wonder if there’s any Vietnamese food that isn’t so healthy? Maybe something they eat here when they want a snack.
It hasn’t been very hot today, but the humidity is fairly high. Maybe there’s a place we could go where we could have an ice-cold beer. If there was such a place, maybe they’d serve snacks that are just perfect to have while sipping an ice-cold beer. It turns out that there are such places here, and our fearless leader, Lemon, is taking us to one of them next.
From the street, our next stop looked like it was just a window opening onto the sidewalk where people can walk up and order something to go. That’s probably what most people do, but I guess Lemon has connections, because we got to go inside. And by “inside,” I mean through a nondescript door, up some narrow stairs, and into a small room where some tables had been set up.
Pillow cakes, Donuts, and Crab Cakes, Oh My!
Before leading us inside, Lemon ordered snacks and for those who wanted it, beer. We’d be having an assortment of what this little place had to offer: pillow cakes, sweet donuts, crab cakes, and pork rolls. Everything would be deep-fried. So it’s true: there IS some unhealthy food available here.
The snacks arrived, and to no one’s surprise, they looked impossibly tasty. “Pillow cakes” are fried pork dumplings. (They’re similar to Japanese gyoza, if that helps). They look like little pillows of fried goodness.
The “donuts” resemble what we’d call donut holes, Vietnamese style. The “crab cakes” and pork rolls are both little fried rolls. The pork rolls, to me, were like a miniature sausage wrapped in thin dough and then deep-fried. I probably don’t need to rave too much about how good they were. Seems like I’ve been raving a lot lately.
But talk about “beer food.” Oh man. The beer, by the way, came in a can. Hanoi is famous for it’s draft beer, (we’ll get to that eventually), but the canned brew we had tasted great. It was ice-cold. Everything was so good. I wasn’t sure how much more goodness I could take!
To be continued…
Note: The walking tour we’re on is “Hanoi Street Food Tour — See and eat like a Hanoian.”
