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Vietnam
A neat place overlooking the lake. By night it's a cool place to sit and watch the mayhem below. Fantastic fruit juices!
73 Cầu Gỗ, Hoan Kiem District Hanoi, Vietnam
+84 4 3926 0801
Google map: bit.ly/10ucjBd
Dried bamboo and cassava noodles make up some of northern Vietnam’s most important dishes
Mang kho and mien make up the two most important soups of the traditional Tet feast in the North Vietnam.
Mang kho (dried bamboo shoots) and mien (cassava noodles) are both dried naturally and the drying process preserves them beautifully; you don’t have to worry that your bamboo or cassava will go bad for a long time.
Canh mang kho (dried bamboo shoot soup) and soups made with mien (often chicken noodle soup) both combine dry textures with fresh ingredients and herbs for their unique flavors.
Because mang kho and mien are light and somewhat soft and porous in texture, they absorb the flavors of the other ingredients in the soup: chicken or duck and/or pork, spring onions and moc nhi (black, or “cat ear” mushrooms).
After the war when food and money were scarce as Vietnam struggled to recover from the worst bombing campaign in history and then a suffocating American embargo, busy working mothers bought bundles of mang kho and mien in advance before Tet (Lunar New Year Festival) while prices were still cheap before holiday inflation. A northern Vietnamese Tet feast is not complete without these two dishes.
Mang kho and mien can absorb a lot of water and they become about three times larger in volume during the cooking process, another plus for cooks struggling to make ends meet.
Mien is made of cassava powder. Besides various mien-based soups, then noodle is also an important ingredient in nem ran (fried spring roll).
The most traditional mien dish is mien ga (cassava noodle with chicken broth and shredded chicken). The dish is set at the family altar during Tet, and in various arrangements at funerals, death anniversaries and other special occasions.
During Tet, northerners keep the water they boil their chickens in to use for mien ga. Boiled chicken meat, as well as boiled chicken heart, stomach and liver, are shredded and cut into small pieces before being placed in the bowl.
After soaking the dried mien in water until it becomes softer, northern cooks then cut it into shorter pieces and add it to the hot water pot. Moc nhi and spring onion are cut into small pieces and also added to the pot to help bring out the flavor of the chicken.
Mien is very fragile and soft and it takes only a few minutes to cook it. The cook needs to make sure the noodles don’t boil too long in order to maintain the right softness.
After arranging mien in a bowl, my mom would add shredded chicken meat and chicken liver on top together with coriander. The soup looked almost as delicious as it tasted.
Nowadays, people also cook mien with duck and it is served all day long at some Hanoi restaurants. The subtle taste of mien also goes well with crab meat. Mien cua (stir-fried mien with crab meat) is a new dish served across Hanoi.
Fried tofu, and spring onions often accompany mien cua in Hanoi.
During protein-rich meals chock full of pork pie, beef pie, boiled chicken and sticky square cake, mien is a light and delicate dish for people avoiding heavier foods, or those trying to save room for later during daylong Tet feasts. At Tet, mien is often served alone but some people like to have it with a side of steamed rice.
With its ingredients usually cut into very slim and small pieces, mien remains subtle in flavor. But mang kho offers a combination of rawness and softness that is a bit sharper. The shredded dried bamboo shoots are cooked in chicken water for hours, or even boiled in a pot with pork legs and pork ribs.
If you have the chicken water already, it takes only a few minutes to cook mien (which is normally the last dish cooked just before the Tet feast). But it takes hours to cook canh mang kho (dried bamboo sprout soup).
The mang kho is first soaked in water and boiled for hours until it becomes soft. Then it is shredded into smaller pieces by hand before cooking
Similar to mien, mang kho can be cooked with chicken water or pork chops. But it takes many hours to cook, and my mom would always start preparing to cook a big pot of canh mang three days before the Tet feast. Then, with each meal throughout the festival, we’d have a portion of the re-heated soup invigorated with fresh chicken water.
For more information about Vietnam Culinary or travel tips and advices, please visit www.touroperatorvietnam.com or www.tourtohalongbay.com
Ly Quoc Su is a street on the western edge of the old quarter and is full of interesting and good cafes (Joma), pho restaurants and tourist shops, it has less hawkers than the other streets and is popular with locals as well.
Ly Quoc Su
Google map: bit.ly/OCy2qf
Great home baking plus Italian coffee. Also baguettes, cakes, juices, pies and pasties. Plus they do soup which is brilliant in Hanoi's cold winter.
www.thecartfood.com
18 Au Trieu, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi
+84 (0)4 3928 7715
Google map: bit.ly/uQQlSg
8B, Lane 1, Au Co, Nghi Tam Village, Tay Ho, Hanoi
+84 (0)437186967
You'd think there's nothing new in puppetry, but that's until you go to the Thang Long water puppet show in a theatre near the lake in the centre of old town Hanoi. Fighting dragons, jumping fish and dancing warriors are all part of the legends and tales which unfold on water on the stage, accompanied by haunting traditional music. The denoument is when they show you how they do it ...shhhhh. Unique and great for all ages.
www.thanglongwaterpuppet.org/homepage.asp
57 B Dinh Tien Hoang Hanoi
+84 43 8 245117
Google map: bit.ly/nCijtL
Many Vietnamese banks won’t allow you to withdraw more than two million dong (just under £60) in one transaction. This is bad if you’re getting charged a set fee by your UK bank for each withdrawal you make.
In Hanoi, the main branch of ANZ Bank allows larger withdrawals. I got out out 10 million (around £295) and was told by another traveller that you can get up to 12 million.
From the large Highlands Coffee next to Hoan Kiem Lake (south-west of the old quarter), take Le Thai To Street with the lake on your left and walk for about five minutes. You will see AZM’s blue sign on the right after about five minutes.
ANZ Bank
14 Le Thai To, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi, Vietnam
+84(0)4 825 8190
Google map: bit.ly/iketTp
From the large Highlands Coffee next to Hoan Kiem Lake (south-west of the old quarter), take Le Thai To Street with the lake on your left and walk for about five minutes. You will see AZM’s blue sign on the right after about five minutes.
We all know Skype is the cheapest way to ring home from abroad, but if like me you're stuck without access and need to make an important call, you won't find better value than this call centre in Hanoi's old quarter.
Calls to most countries cost an incredible 1,500 dong a minute (compared with about 5,000 from Vietnamese SIM cards and 20,000 from travel agencies), and to ring the US or Canada it's even cheaper.
Be warned though, the owner doesn't keep too strictly to the advertised 8am-10pm opening hours. I was caught out as early as 6.30pm as he'd obviously decided to knock off early.
But if you catch it open, you'll be able to natter to your heart's content without your call costing the earth.
3 Ta Hien, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi's old quarter
Down a smallish alley between Hang Buom and Hang Bac.
Google map: bit.ly/gnarE3
This attractive café on Hanoi’s famous Food Street (Tong Duy Tan) is an ideal place to enjoy a few beers after sampling some Vietnamese cuisine in one of the many eateries nearby.
Puku is advertised as ‘Western owned and operated’. While this might be the main appeal for some, for me its principal attraction is the fact it’s open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It’s spacious and stylish, and the dim lighting and chilled ambiance make Puku a very pleasant place to forget the time and relax in this sometimes chaotic city. The other day I accidently stayed till sunrise after failing to notice the clock was ticking.
The crowd is mostly Western (both expats and backpackers) with a few trendy young Vietnamese folk too.
Large bottled beers go for 25.000 dong (less than £1). The food is also reasonably priced.
16-18 Tống Duy Tân, Hanoi, Vietnam
+84(0)91457 2952
Google map: bit.ly/h1zT2f
An opticians.
I bought glasses here which have served me well for almost a year (and still counting). It took them half a day to make them up for me and they cost around £15 including the lenses (to my prescription).
You need to have your prescription with you of course!
Its a complete mish-mash of frames, some of which are in bad shape. However, you can find some really different styles here and quite 'retro' looking things which haven't been touched in years!
I also bought glasses at a smarter looking place around the corner from here - these have been brilliant too but they are more generic and the kind of thing you could buy in the UK. The glasses I bought from Tiem Kinh Thuoc are unique as well as functional.
65 Dinh Tien Hoang, Hanoi
+84 (0)4.38241587
It's right on the north-east corner of Ho Hoan Kiem lake.
Google map: bit.ly/gTncIL
A visit to Tho Ha Village is a real touch of a typical traditional Vietnamese village in the Red River Delta. A half day tour I did was absolutely beyond my expectations as what I learned and experienced was so much for such a little time and money. I joined one family for making clay roofing tiles; another showed me how to make votive paper ritual products; a lovely lady taught me to make rice paper (this rice paper is for the delicious spring rolls, not Japanese rice paper as I initially thought!); A generous man offered me rice wine and sang his traditional Quan Ho song to me!
The village itself is so beautiful. Little alleys, brick walls, small houses, a little ferry (which is made from concrete!) took us across the river. Lively life in the village and on a dry day you can see villagers drying their fresh rice paper everywhere in the village, which makes stunning photo opportunities! Don't miss this village!
Indochina Pioneer Travel
1 Dang Dung street, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Tel: +84 37153627
www.indochinapioneer.com
Possibly the most amazing restaurant I've ever been to, anywhere. Evocative and uber-cool, the French-influenced food and wine is superb, as is the service. I vowed when I left with my business colleagues that I would one day return with my wife and kids ... and one day I will!
greentangerinehanoi.com/en.html
48 Hang Be Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi, Vietnam
Tel: +84(0)4 3825 1286
Google map: bit.ly/9lLlJM
You have a choice of two great routes, either a NW loop taking in Dien Bien Phu and Sa Pa or a NE loop taking in Lang Son and Cao Bang, or you can just do your own thing! Minsks are as simple a machine as you can get and help for the mechanically-challenged is never far away in this very populous and friendly country. When you turn up on a 'local' bike caked in dust you get a great welcome.
Starting point is still the Minsk Club in Ha Noi - www.minskclubvietnam.com/index.htm.
1. A Vietnamese place opposite Cafe 69 on Ma May. Staff wear pink shirts and it's full of locals. Really great food and very cheap. Spanish people we met in Halong Bay had been there too, and they loved it as well.
2. I couldn't find Baguette and Chocolat. I think it may be closed and replaced by a clothes retail outlet. But Golden Land (No. 15 Cha Ca) was a good afternoon coffee stop on the same street.
3. Apsara in Danang (recommended in LP) was very disappointing! It's expensive and food was average at best.
4. However, Cafe 43 on Van Cam in HoiAn (also in LP) was the best food we had in Vietnam. Absolutely excellent. Can't rave enough about it - we even took photos of the food and went there for dinner and lunch, despite only being in Hoian for two days.
Other tips:
1. In Hue, Mr. Pho from Pho's Cafe, one of the little shops and cafe's opposite the train station exit was a God-send. He sorted out taxis and tours for us despite the heavy rain. He speaks good English and was reasonable in his price. (USD$25 for a private car to take us to Hue's main tombs and pagodas - Tu Duc, Thien Mu, the Purple Citadel...etc) for an entire afternoon.
2. HoiAn - If you are planning on visiting My Son, stop off at the Cham Museum in Danang first. Many of the best sculptures and statues from My Son are now kept here, and visiting both will give you a much better understanding of the Cham culture.
3. Go to My Son early (leave before 7am). You'll need an hour to get there and 2 hours to soak up everything, and the tour buses arrive at 9.30am. It's worth the effort! (USD$16-$20 return by private car).
travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-6916783-vietnam_restaurants-i - restaurant reviews
www.vietnamtravelguide.com/ - food and drink guide
www.vietnam-hotels.net/ - restaurant list
KOTO helps disadvantaged young people in Vietnam by teaching them cookery and beverage skills and English.
The food is delicious and safe and they serve both European and Vietnamese traditional dishes.
There is also bar on the 2nd floor. The restaurant is near the Temple of Literature.
The staff is all KOTO trainees with good skills and a friendly manner. I am sure you will feel pleased with them, and happy as you are indirectly helping street children brighten their lives.
address: 59 Van Mieu street, Hanoi, Vietnam
url: koto.com.au
nearest station: Hanoi station
explore more about Vietnamese food and drinks: vietnam-beauty.com/food-a-drink.html
Get a different perspective on this enigmatic, colourful country and its charming people with a train journey from Hanoi, perhaps to Dong Hoi, Danang, or even for those with stamina, the 1000 miles to Ho Chi Minh City. This is a great chance to talk to local travellers, have a drink with your carriage guard,and reflect on the passing rural scene.
The name Reunification Express is about as dated as the train itself, as most people in this vibrant country are younger than the unified state. Only the 'express' bit remains purely a longer term ambition with a possible Shinkansen style train designed by Japanese rail engineers.
Right from the experience of trying to buy a ticket as a foreigner to the moment you get off, this is a true journey. You'll be bombarded by sellers, so won't be short of food or drink, but you might like to take a few blue cheese baguettes and a bottle of wine from a stall in Hanoi if you think you'll tire of rice, beer and fruit.
Buy the soft sleeper for overnights for some comfort, and expect to share with a local or soldier if you are less than four. Let life unfold at a leisurely pace for a day or two, and avoid the typical, could be anywhere airport frustrations.
Hanoi Station, monument to the French past.
Lots of info at seat61,
www.seat61.com/Vietnam.htm
I was going to book my holiday with an agent in the UK but then a friend told me about Buffalo Tours. They are based in Vietnam and western managed and so much cheaper than going through an agent that would probably use all their services anyway. We booked direct with them, got exactly the same service but paid much less. They put together our own trip - everything from planning, guides, hotels was perfect.
Best bet is their website
www.buffalotours.com
We joined a tour with Hanoi Street Foods which was a great introduction to the local grub and took us places we wouldn't have dared go ourselves.
When we got more confident we sampled the local 'bia hois' where a glass of beer is available for less than 10p!
Also recommended is Highway4 restaurant where we were either ultra-confident or drunk on their rice wine and tucked into local scorpions, bugs, ostrich and crocodile!
I love Vietnamese food but after three months on the road in south east Asia, this place was a dream come true!
The most delicious ice cream, and the biggest variety of flavours I've ever had!
There is one near the lake in Hanoi, and also one in Ho Chi Minh City.
Need a break from restaurants? Simply stroll around, look for a street vendor selling a noodle dish or two, pull up a child-size plastic chair and enjoy a quick meal with the locals, cheaply.
Find by accident when hungry
A much-appreciated break from the busy streets of Hanoi, the Temple of Literature, Vietnam's first university, is one of the best examples of traditional architecture left in Vietnam.
Founded in 1070 and dedicated to Confucius, the temple is a great place to while away a couple of hours strolling through beautiful courtyards and grand halls.
Who knows, you might catch a traditional music recital and get inexplicably involved in a silly hat wearing photo opportunity as I was.
Pho Quoc Tu Giam, about 2km west of Hoan Kiem Lake.
Is this your business?Search Been there
