A food tour is a great way to learn about a country’s food and drink. And if you’re vegetarian or have other dietary restrictions, it’s the perfect way to make sure you don’t accidentally eat something you shouldn’t! On our first night in Vietnam, we did the Hanoi Street Food Tour. Here’s what we tasted and learned from our fabulous tour guide, Apple.
1. Happy Water
We met Apple at the Hanoi Street Food Tour office and discovered we were the only people booked on it that evening, so it was a private tour. Excellent result! Before leaving the office we tried Happy Water, which is alcohol distilled from different fruit. It’s 40% proof and very similar to Japanese sake. We had the apricot version and it was strong but very good!
2. Banh Cuon
Our first stop was to try Banh Cuon, a steamed rice pancake. The lady making them sat outside the shop (the Vietnamese call restaurants shops) making the pancakes on top of large steel pots, filled with water. Inside they were served with fried onion and vegetables and Apple showed us how to make the dipping sauce. It was all delicious. We learnt during the Hanoi street food tour and later on our trip that Vietnamese food is all about the amazing flavours.
3. Banh Ran
Next was a tiny place where Apple bought some Banh Ran, a Vietnamese doughnut. This is a Hanoi street food that is seen on lots of stalls. But Apple thought this shop did the best ones. Banh ran isn’t like the doughnuts we eat in the UK as it’s actually a deep-fried rice ball filled with sweetened mung bean paste. Very tasty!
4. Mien Tron
There are noodles a plenty in Vietnam, but the first ones we tasted on the Hanoi street food tour were Mien. In English, they are known as glass or vermicelli noodles. Mien Tron is mixed glass noodles and includes fried onion and peanuts. It’s often served with crab or meat but the veggie version was tofu which I’m not the biggest fan of! So I’d say this was my least favourite dish but the noodles were good.
5. Bun Cha & Bia Hà Nội
Continuing the noodle theme, the next shop we visited on the Hanoi street food tour was to taste Bun Cha. This dish is rice noodles served with spring rolls and a side of rice. I should also mention that each shop is invariably called after the name of the dish it specialises in. So this one was Bun Cha Ta. It was a popular place so we were glad we had Apple to secure our table.
Bun Cha Ta was also where we had our first taste of the local beer. Of course, there are lots of beers available in Vietnam. But appropriately enough the Hanoi street food tour included Bia Hà Nội, which tasted pretty good for a non-beer drinker like myself!
6. Ca Phe Trung
We’d already seen plenty of places selling Ca Phe Trung earlier in the day and were unsure about something called egg coffee. But when in Vietnam it has to be done! Apple took us to the Hanoi Egg Coffee shop and while my friend went with the coffee I decided on egg chocolate as I’m not a coffee drinker. I’d say it was ok but very thick and creamy. We didn’t fancy having it again but we heard other travellers rave about it!
7. Nom Thit Bi Kho
We were getting pretty full by now but there were still three more stops on the Hanoi street food tour! First was to try a nice light dish, Nom Thit Bi Kho, which is papaya salad. It’s usually served with dried beef which we didn’t have as we’re vegetarian. But as I said it’s all about the flavours in Vietnam and the sauce was delicious. A definite favourite Hanoi street food for me!
8. Banh My Trung
As mentioned we were already quite full up so we were a bit daunted when our next Hanoi street food was essentially a sandwich! A Banh My or Mi is the Vietnamese version. This one had tofu and the bread tasted a little bit sweet. To be honest, we had much nicer veggie banh my in Hoi An, but that information was yet to come so we happily ate this one!
9. Kem Xoi
Our final stop on the Hanoi Street Food Tour was a sweet one. We went down a small alley into the back of the shop and had Kem Xoi which is ice cream with green sticky rice and flakes of coconut on the top. Delicious!
And that was where we said goodbye to our lovely tour guide Apple. It had been almost three hours, but had whizzed by as we tasted all these dishes and chatted about her life and family along the way. So we learned a lot about Vietnamese culture as well as food and I’d highly recommend the Hanoi Street Food Tour as a brilliant introduction to North Vietnamese food. There are definite regional variations so we didn’t see all of these dishes further south.
After we waved Apple on her way we headed towards Beer Street which was a bit too full on for our taste. But we found an incongruously named bar called The Pub that was a great spot just around the corner from Beer Street. The perfect place to have a decent glass of wine while watching the action from afar!
To read future posts about my trip, visit the Vietnam section of my blog. The Asia section is where you’ll find posts I write about Laos which we also visited on this trip, as well as a range of other Asian destinations.