July 13

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Snacking, Slurping, and Slithering Hanoi Street Food

Posted by on July 13, 2013 in Food, Photography | 4 Comments

When we visited Hanoi we looked forward to wandering the streets of the Old Town, and visiting the museums and parks, but more than that, we were there for the street food.

First day in Hanoi and first things first – Food
Vietnam is known for its delicious street food, but knowing where to go isn’t that easy when there is so much to choose from.
On practically every street corner sit food stalls of all sort.
To help sort through all that is available, we joined up with Tu, a local street food guide.
He started us off with Bu Ca.
Bu Ca is a seafood dish that surprised us by how spectacularly delicious it was.
Next we head off to the market where restaurant owners visit multiple times a day. Fresh vegetables and herbs.
Fresh seafood.
And fresh meats. Ask a vendor how to prepare a specific meal, and they’ll sort out all of the ingredients for you and send you on your way.
When not selling food, the market sellers either exercise, sleep, or catch up on the latest television programs.
We skipped the silk worms.
And we skipped the snake because it was a bit pricey.
But when Tu heard we had eaten crickets the day before…
Tu knew we had to try this shop.
And we had to try this dish – of seaworms.
The seaworm dish starts off looking like this. (This is a photo we received from Tu so that we knew what we had actually eaten).
We continued on our tour with a belly stuffing amount of food including, the famous Vietnamese dish, Beef Pho. Delicious.
We later made friends with a Hanoi local, Phúc, who took us off for fresh seafood and another Vietnamese specialty, snails.
Snails.
The next night, inspired by our previous seafood excursion, we went back to the streets and filled up on more seafood.
Clams.
Shrimp.
One of our favorite street food snacks is still the grilled pork sandwiches.
Tasty and delicious, these succulent pork sandwiches with chili sauce make for a great snack.
The grilled pork found in many street market stalls is also the basis for a Hanoi favorite, bun cha.
Bun cha is made up of grilled pork, pork cutlets, bun noodles, zesty sauce, and plenty of fresh vegetables.
Kaire prepares her bun cha.
Bun cha ready for eating.
Back on the streets, you never know what you may find. We weren’t quite sure what what was on sale here until we approached.
Upon closer inspection, it was obvious that we would pass on the dog meat and dog sausage stall.
After so much eating and a few surprises, we decided Hanoi’s famous bia hoi, or fresh beer, was in order.
Straight from the tap, bia hoi is poured fresh and cold.
Like all street food stalls you either stand or sit on plastic chairs. After so much food and walking, these plastic chairs and the bia hoi, were a welcome respite. What’s your favorite Vietnamese dish?

What’s your favorite Vietnamese dish?

If you’d like to take a food tour with Tu, and we highly recommend that you do, you can contact him here:

http://streetfoodtourshanoi.blogspot.ae/

Be sure to tell him we say, “hello.”