Bun Cha food

Hanoi - I was woken up the 2nd day by the din of cars honking.   It was really annoying.   For brunch, Lesley and I walked over the shopping mall next building - Hanoi Tower.   Sat down at Papa Joe cafe -

Bun Cha is a Vietnamese dish, thought to be originated from Hanoi - Grilled Pork Noodle Soup.  I dip the white rice noodle (bún) in the broth and eat it with the gilled pork and vegetables. 

I wanted a Vietnamese coffee but Papa Joe ran out of Vietnamese coffee - unbeliveable - lunch time and they ran out of Vietnamese coffee but no choice choose a cup of cappuccino.

Lesley order a Vietnamese baguette (french loaf) with chicken terriyaki.  After our lunch, we packed and ready to go to the Airport.   Coincidentally, both out flights on MH and SQ were delayed by 1 hr.

Bun Bo Nam Bon restaurant

Hanoi - We went to Hoan Kien Lake, which has an extraordinary and calming presence amidst the heavy Hanoi traffic.   Locals and foreigners alike stroll along the perimeter of the Lake.  For me, I wanted a good Pho - and Pho 24.   

We walked to Hanoi Old Quarter a short 10 minutes walk - a very densely and crowded area with many old shops selling shoes, bags, and other tinkets.  Many foreigners roam the alley and streets of this Old Quarters.   The weather was humid and hot, a good cuppa of coffee would be good.  So we poped into one of many Vietnamese coffee shop for a good ca phe sua da or Vietnamese iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk.

The left ice coffee is stirred up but not enough to dilute the thick sweet condensed milk.  The right ice coffee is what was served to me.

For dinner, we went to a popular restaurant frequent by locals - Bun Bo Nam Bo located @ 67 Hang Dieu.    This local restaurant served only one dish - Bun Bo Hue from the locality Hue city.    Eating here is an eye opener as there are many long tables and you just sit where there are vacant seats, eating next to many locals.   Without even ordering your food, a big bowl of hot Bun Bo Hue will arrive within 5 minutes.   Of course, drinks are ordered separtately.  

Hygiene should not be a consideration when you eat here as the floor is littered with debris and left overs from previous diners, even when there is a large waste basket underneath the table.

This is Bun Bo Hue - white thin noodles served in rich beef broth, with bean sprouts, carrots, slices of beef and peanuts. 

Sen Tay Ho Restaurant

Hanoi - After our meeting together with our channel partners we went to dinner @ a famous Hanoi buffet restaurant called Sen Tay Ho (West Lake Lotus) located @ 614 Lac Long Quan.   The restaurant is huge and wildly popular with local and foreigners alike because of the wide variety of Vietnamese cuisine at an affordable price.  For the 4 of us with 4 bottle of beer cost us VND 1,080,000 (S$ 67).

The garden in front of the restaurant.

The entrance to the restaurant....

This is the area for fresh sea food to be picked and the cooks will BBQ or broiled the seafood for you.  There was a long queue at this station waiting for the big prawns - I just skipped this station.   This restaurant was crowded with both foreigners and local alike.  There are so many stations to choose from.

Can you guess what this is?

It's a decoration arrangement of Ginger stems...

Back in Hanoi - Wild Lotus restaurant

Hanoi - arrived on SQ at around 12:20pm.  The flight into Hanoi was smooth but the landing on the Hanoi airport tarmac was far from smooth.   Did not catch any movie or TV series as the sound system only worked on one side of the headphones - it's the seat jack that was spoiled.  As it was a short flight and I was also tired, I did not make a fuss about it.   Lesley flight arrived shortly and we took the same taxi to our serviced apartment.  

This time I booked a servied apartment instead of a Hotel - in fact it's much cheaper.   Somerset Grand Hanoi (next to Hanoi Tower).  Many taxi drivers will not know this serviced apartment but they know Hanoi Tower.    The 2 room apartment is big about 883 sq ft.

Before our meeting, we had lunch @ Wild Lotus restaurant located @ 55A Nguyen Du.   This is an upmarket Vietnamese restaurant.

In the foreground, the soup is sea cucumber soup and background, prawn fresh spring rolls.

This is a delicious dish - grilled eggplant with prawn and pork.

I asked the waitress for her recommendations but I did not select her recommendations except this dish (above picture) - Grilled beef on lemongrass stick.    All my dish which I chose tasted good except this grilled beef - it was very tough like eating rubber.

Quan An Ngon - # 1 restaurant in Hanoi

Hanoi - I planned to have an early dinner with good fresh spring roll before leaving for home tommorrow.  So, I headed downstairs and asked the concierge where the best fresh spring roll are - he was not sure but directed me to Quan An Ngon.  A popular restaurant for both local Hanoi and tourist.

The taxi fare cost 28,000 dong and the restaurant is located @ 18 Phan Boi Chau.  It was crowded when I when at about 6pm, waited for a while and was given a seat with 2 joint tables.   After a while, a group of 3 Japanese came and the waiters split it into 2 tables.  A while later whilst I was eating my fresh spring roll, the waiters gave the seats in front of me to 2 local vietnamese - how rude I thought these waiters are?

Even in Singapore, we asked permission whether anyone is seating before taking the seat.  
I was very uncomfortable throughout my seat - it is like paying for restaurant food but in a glorified hawker centre.   In actual fact, it was there were many Hawkers all around the restaurant in an open concept.

It is a once a visit experience and never to visit again.

Nha Hang Ngon in Hanoi

Hanoi - This is the sister restaurant of the one I tried in HCMC.  This time for lunch, I was a bit adventurous and tried their fried spring roll wrapped in cabbage and bamboo shoot noodle.  I really do not like the Bamboo shoot noodle the extremely strong smell of the bamboo shoot was a turn off.

Located @ 26 Tran Hung Dao Road a short walk from Hilton Opera Hotel

Arrival Hanoi City- Capital of Vietnam

Hanoi - Our flight to Hanoi was @ 6:05am and so we had to wake up at 3am.    The night before we packed our bags so it would not be a rush early in the morning.  The boys were good as they woke up so early and helped us to get ready.   We gave a last check of the hotel room and walk our way down the Hotel and it was pitch dark.  The guard was sleeping at the front door with a mosquito net covering him.

The Hotel Guard sleeping bed

The taxi arrived on schedule and the journey to the airport was smooth.  Upon arrival to Hanoi, we checked into Hanoi Hilton Opera Hotel - 5 star and a beautiful Hotel.   The weather in Hanoi is very cold about 15 degrees outside.  It definitely takes some skill to cross the roads in Hanoi, teeming with motorcycles.  The motorcyclist have little patience for traffic rules and a fondness for honking.   We had to be brave when crossing the roads in Hanoi and the trick is to stay clam and let the bikes simply weave around you.  

The best time to visit Hanoi is during the cool season (November - April) with temperatures falling to 15 degrees C.   The Hanoi city is roughly divided into the Old Quarter, the Church Quarter and the French Quarter.  We stayed around the Old Quarter and this is where most of the tourist establishment arec concentrated.  

Hanoi Hilton Opera Hotel back entrance

Boys entering the swing door of the Hotel

We took a taxi to have lunch recommended by the Hotel but it was too expensive and no customers.  So we decided to try local Vietnamese food next door.   It was really good - Vietnamese Chicken noodle. 

Pho Ga @ Mai Hac De Road

Fried fritters

Dip the fritters into the noodle

Enjoyed the delicious Pho Ga

We decided to walk back to the Hotel and walk past a wet market - Hom market - tucked into a small lane.

Pork Seller

Vietnam sells their pork out in the open but Singapore has outlaw this and you have to chill all pork sold.

Walking around the wet market

At night - we walked around Hanoi and it's very safe.  The only danger are the numerous motorcycle that does not seem to stop for pedestrian. 

Hilton Opera Hotel at Night

Hanoi Opera House - situated next to Hilton Hotel

We walked around the Hoen Kiem Lake (Lake of the Restored Sword) in the historical centre of Hanoi - a short walking distance from our hotel.   This is one of the city's most scenic spots, it is also the focal point for local activities.  According to legend, the lake got its name from the Emperor Le Loi returning a magic sword called Heaven's Will to the Golden Turtle God in the lake after using it to defeat the Chinese Ming invaders.     We had to weave through the motorcycles to cross the road to  the Hanoi Old Quarters looking for dinner.  We settled for one side road hawker selling seafood and sat on small stoods.

Eating our seafood

Our plate of Escargoes

Pax removing the Escargo meat with skill

Escargoes (Snails)

Seafood tang hoon (glass noodles)

It was cooked so delicious.  We ordered 4 plates of this noodle and 3 plates of escargoes.  This is also another cheat by the Vietnamese - we negotiated the price but when we are about to pay up - instead of 30,000 dong per kilo it became 300,000 dong per kilo for the escargoes, showing us on the calculator.  The hawker was adamant that we heard wrongly.   We just paid up and not to argue any further.

Boys in front of Hilton fountain