Pho Hanoi
Pho Hanoi.
Pho
Hanoi which made number 20 on the list 50 best foods according to CNN readers,
is basically a bowl of soft rice noodles in a broth carefully prepared with
different herbs and served with beef or chicken, shallots, and chili and lemon
to taste. “But it’s greater than the sum of its parts - fragrant, tasty and
balanced
Cha ca La Vong
Cha ca La Vong.
"Cha ca" is a favourite dish of Hanoians.
Located in Cha Ca street, Cha ca La Vong ("cha
ca" means grilled fish) is the famous restaurant to many Hanoian as
well as visitors from all over the world.
The
grilled fish must be made from a kind of fresh water fish called hemibagrus
because it has very few bones and the flesh is very tasty. If hemibagrus is not
available, we could make do with mudfish or snake-head fish.
Some
connoiseurs may request for a special kind of fish called Anh Vu, which is
available only in Viet Tri city at the turning point of the Bach Hac river.
Bun Cha
Bun cha.
“Pho” might be Vietnam's most famous
dish, but “Bun cha” is the top choice
when it comes to lunchtime in Hanoi the capital of Vietnam. Just look for the
clouds of meaty smoke after 11 a.m. when street-side restaurants in Hanoi start
grilling up small patties of seasoned pork and slices of marinated pork belly
over a charcoal fire.
Once
they're charred and crispy, the morsels are served with a bowl of a fish
sauce-heavy broth, a basket of herbs and a helping of rice noodles. Bun cha sets often come with the delicious
nem cua be - fried crab spring rolls.
Still not convinced? It's what Obama ate during his night out with Bourdain.
Bun thang
Bun thang.
Bun thang originally from North, but already
found a new home in many places in South, Vietnam. in Saigon where has been
considered as the largest food hub. Easy to find bun thang around the city.
Today,
bun thang seems simplified a lot,
from the ingredients to the cooking process. in South, where is far away from
the origin place. Bun thang requires
long preparation. How to keep the soup clear, how to make thin omelette, to cut
it and Vietnamese pork ham into super thin shreds. Otherwise our color picture
would look nicer with red shrimp floss, yellow egg shreds, pink pork ham
strips, green Vietnamese mint and ivory chicken floss.
Banh cuon Thanh Tri
Banh cuon.
Banh cuon looks like a soft spring roll,
filled with a mixture of pork, onions, wood ear mushrooms, and fish sauce. It
tastes delicious and the ingredients are actually common foods. For those are
familiar with Banh cuon, it become
favourite breakfast food. For those have not yet ever try the dish, once taste
it, you soon fall in love with its flavor.
Com Vong
Com.
Com of Vong village is perhaps the
most special snack in Hanoi cuisine. Dishes from “com” are always loved by Vietnamese and foreign diners and
contribute to diversifying Vietnamese cuisine.
“Com” is found not only in Vong village (Lang Vong green sticky rice), Hanoi.
However, perhaps the elegant taste of this kind of snack can be found nowhere
else. “Com” of Vong village is
considered a cultural feature of the millennial capital city. And “Com Vong” has become a familiar
specialty of Hanoi whenever autumn comes.
Sau
Sau.
When
the winds of the autumn come is the time dracontomelon fruit is ripening on the
streets of Hanoi. Small, round, yellow-ripen fruits are packed with so many
memories of those who grew up or lived in the capital.
Seeing
ripening dracontomelon fruits, many people immediately think of the fall of
Hanoi. The dracontomelon fruits are peeled then sugared or salted are the
favorite junk food of many people. In Hanoi, there are many streets with rows
of dracontomelon trees, such as Phan Dinh Phung, Tran Phu, Tran Hung Dao... The
trees are very high so few people noticed the ripe fruit on the trees.
Banh tom West Lake
Banh tom.
From
a kind of snacks, shrimp cake now becomes a specialty in Hanoi. There is a road
in Hanoi city that called Thanh Nien Road. People when crossing this road want
to try some shrimp cakes because this cake became the most famous food in this
street.
Bun oc
Bun oc.
Bun oc is a dish of Hanoi, Vietnam.
Roasted snails, oc luoc, may be eaten
first as an appetizer. Snail congee is called chao oc, and canh oc chuoi dau,
is a thin snail soup with green banana, fried tofu.
The
method of making bun oc is rather
simple like bun oc in other places
where makers have to boil the snail first then take out the snail meat and fry
it with oil, fish sauce and sugar. The soup will be boiled with pig bone to
increase the sweetness and added with tomato and main spices.
Xoi che
Xoi che.
A
special feature of this type of sticky rice is that the sticky rice particles
are separated away yet they are still very limber. Almost similar to Xoi xeo which has the glutinous mixed
with cooked, milled green bean, but to make Xoi
vo, people need to steam glutinous rice with pineapple leaves for special
aroma (maybe you can use a little Gardenia jasminoides powder or turmeric for
more eye-catching color).
Cooked
glutinous rice will be taken out and put on a flatter and mix with a half of
cooked pureed green bean in order to let the green bean cover the glutinous
rice and become disjointed. Then, put the ingredients into the autoclave once
again and steamed until the sticky rice becomes really limber (you can use a
little coconut milk to make the dish more delicious and fragrant.
Finally,
take the sticky rice out and mix with the rest of the cooked, milled green bean
to make the glutinous rice particles disjointed. Xoi vo can be made with lotus seeds to get a special, delicious
dish, being served as one of the important and featured dishes on the feasts in
holidays, Tet, or weddings.
By Hanoitimes