We had two options for our last evening – a water puppet show or foodie tour. Faithful blog readers, if you’re confused about which one I choose, it’s clear you don’t even know me!
Five of us went on the foodie tour, six went to the water puppet show, and Carol camped out in the room, trying avoid a quintuple bout of barfing, as she had already landed the always difficult quad the previous day.
(Neither of us could figure out what went wrong. She ended up having issues for nearly a week – going on the Southeast Asia diet by barely eating. While not quite similar, Becky was having stomach troubles too. After Carol’s perfect SE Asia food record in Myanmar in 2017, her iron stomach was defeated somewhere between Laos and Hanoi.)
Anyhow, I’m not going to write about something I didn’t go to (the water puppet show), but the reviews from those who went were that they enjoyed it. Sample comments from those who went include, “Better than ‘Cats,’” and “The best water puppet show I’ve seen in Hanoi.”
(Editor: Anything is better than ‘Cats.’ Writer: Preaching to the choir! Editor: Isn’t it the ONLY water puppet show they’ve seen in Hanoi? Writer: You catch on quickly.)
No, seriously the folks who went to the water puppet show enjoyed it, except for one woman who didn’t like it and who I shall not name. Coincidentally, Becky made her dislike for puppets known well in advance of the show, but since she couldn’t really eat, she went along to have something to do. Don’t make any assumptions that the first sentence and second sentence of this paragraph are about the same person.
So our tour guide for the food tour, a young, outgoing woman named Scarlett, took us to five places. It’s very intoxicating to be popping into five different micro-restaurants, a juice cart, and a bar during three hours and having fabulous food and, well, rice beer.
The nice thing I can say about rice beer is that you probably acquire a taste for it if you drink it regularly. The second nicest thing is that, even if it doesn’t taste like beer, at least it looks like beer. The third nicest thing is that: (checks list) nope, those two things are it, there’s nothing more positive to say. The IPA Snobs won’t be ditching their beloved high alcohol IPAs for rice beer anytime soon. Or later.
But enough about the rice beer. The food was the star of the show, with the wandering through the various crowded streets added wonderment to our glorious time. I carefully made a list of everything we ate, but of course now can’t find it.
But here goes from memory (and my bloggers trick of looking back at my photos). Our first stop was a small Bun Cha restaurant, where we sat on low plastic chairs and slurped down pork Bun Cha. The meal is wonderful, and is grilled pork, noodles, and lettuce/herbs. To make it spicy, you can easily add red hot chili peppers (or listen to them, either way).
From there we went to an even smaller pancake micro-restaurant (that’s my name for any restaurant that is essentially a small storefront with very few indoor tables, and some space on the sidewalk). The Vietnamese call the food Bahn Xeo.
The cook was right out in front, kitchen spilling onto the sidewalk. She had four beat-up, beautiful old woks set up for cooking fine thin pancakes – more like crepes (which, given the French colonial history running Vietnam, is probably a better word to describe the pancakes/crepes.
She got started on our crepes with us watching before we sat inside because the sidewalk “tables” were already taken. The crepes included small slices of beef and tiny shrimps (heads and shells fully off) and some noodles. There were bowls of greens on the table to add on top of the crepes. First you wrap the pancakes in rice paper, which is paper made from rice.
(Editor: Rice paper is made from rice? Who would have thunk it? Writer: Everybody. Everybody would. . .have. . .thunk. . .it.)
Our third and final “main course” stop was at a Baguette sandwich place, or Banh Mi Bami. Another holdover adapted from French cuisine, it’s a small tasty baguette with meats, lettuce, sauce, and cheese inside. Bun loves Banh Mi, and after having had a few during our time in Vietnam, it’s easy to taste why.
Dessert was coconut ice cream with coconut shavings on green sticky rice. The Vietnamese call it Kem Xoi, and I was surprised how much I liked it.
Lastly, we ended up at an egg coffee shop, which gave off serious American non-chain coffee shop vibes, such as Misha’s in Old Town. It was also the largest, by far, of any place we stopped.
Four of us had egg hot chocolate, with only Terri quaffing the egg coffee. They showed us how they made egg coffee (same process for chocolate, except no coffee). Surprisingly, only two of the five (not me) had shots of rum added to their drink. The egg chocolate was plenty tasty and made for a good wrap for the evening.
After returning to the hotel, Scarlett helped me get Pho with Chicken so Carol did not go without dinner. Going out on the streets of Hanoi is a good time. Carol was able to down the Pho without it turning into a foe.
Man, that dish was satisfying!
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