HIDDEN SPOT FOR SUPER AMAZING HA NOI CUISINE IN THE OLD QUARTER
Right in the heart of The Old Quarter, there is also a ‘food alley’ which is known by just a trivial percentage of citizens.
Hanoi cuisine always has a lot of things that you need to discover. Maybe, you thought that you had been to every corner of Hanoi, tried a range of delicious food in different restaurants, however, one lane suddenly appears with so many kinds of food and beverage that you have never been to before.
Alleys in Hanoi are typical in some ways. Sometimes it is really good at misleading people. Despite the narrow width of the path, there are plenty of interesting things that not everyone knows. Many people thought that they are acquainted with everything about this place. Just hundreds of meter away from Dong Xuan market, however, located a food lane where no one can ensure that he or she had tried everything in there.
Tasty street food
It is not exaggerated when labelling it the name ‘superfood alley’. This lane is just more or less 200 metre, that’s why it takes you a very short time to go to the end, but with a long list of restaurants and food.
Stopping at the gateway, it gives you a chance to see those abundant amounts of shrimp in the batter (shrimp in batter in profusion), enjoy the fragrance of the broth whirling up and also some plates of snails formed into the pyramid shape. Especially, the small and antiquated billboards are things that create peculiarities for each spot in here.
If you require me to name all the name of the dishes, certainly I can not, in spite of many times going to this place and tried some signature dishes each time.
If we consider this lane as the whole workart, each restaurant is like an indispensable mosaic. This place characterized by the images of many tables full of spices, herbs, cilantro and so on. It seems that the pathway has been repeating the scenarios of the old time with yellow bulbs, temporary awnings and the scene of being crowded with people.
Nutritious Noodle soup
According to my short-term memory, in terms of what I had seen and eaten, there must be almost 20 dishes such as shrimp in batter, noodles with grilled pork, noodles with fried tofu and shrimp paste, Tiu noodles, pork rib porridge, snail rice noodles, Vietnamese crepe, clear rice noodle soup, Vietnamese tapioca dumplings, all kinds of gruel and so forth. Some food stalls just sell one dish, some have several similar dishes, but some are popular with various sorts of distinct dishes.
If this is the first time you come here and it brings you the confused feeling that you don’t know which one would you choose to eat, I would like to recommend these ‘unkown’ dishes!
Shrimp in the batter at the gateway is evaluated as appetizing as this one in West Lake where shrimp in batter acquires the most reputation. The recipe for this dish must be fresh shrimp, fine-cut potatoes, mix with batter, yeast fried with oil without absorption. Starting with a couple of shrimp in batter sounds enough for snacks and then continues trying the others.
Kebab rice noodles located opposite the former is also worth trying. Particularly, this stall is one of some bún chả que tre stalls that still remains operating up till now. The spectacular thing makes this dish special definitely lies in bacon covered with betel leaves and sandwiched between two bamboo sticks so that we can smell the austere bamboo scent and flavour percolated through pork meat slices.
Tiu noodles stall, which is renowned for many years, is positioned right in the middle along the road. This distinctive dish is known as phở trộn sweet sour mixed with non-greasy char siu, herbs, roasted peanuts, odorous dried union, which is a proper choice for some sweltering days. Having a seat in this stall, sometimes you may notice a number of groups of foreigners coming to eat, it seems that they also really enjoy it.
Rice soup variations
Snail rice noodles appear in several stalls along the roadsides. Coming to these spots, you have two choices which are snail rice noodles with crab paste or banana and tofu. The greatest of the former is fragrant and slightly sour broth mixed with the greasy and crunchy snail. Meanwhile, what make the latter outstanding lies in medium cooked banana, fried tofu yellow colour from turmeric. There is also a certain amount of cakes in here where you can find pyramidal rice dumpling, plain rice flan, mango cakes, etc.
Gruel at Dong Xuan market, according to oral tradition, is known as ‘colorful xuka’ gruel with a wide range of toppings like caramel, black jolley, longan, red pomegranate jolley, coconut milk and so on. If still hungry after trying those previous dishes, let’s give it a shot with gruel to make your voice sweetier and smoothier.
An interesting adventure for foodie
Because it is not like the other spacious markets, we can not expect the beautiful space, attractive decoration. Sometimes you may experience sweating while eating a bowl of noodles. Likewise, some days you may encounter the situation that you have to shun teardrop while eating. Despite these drawbacks, the road is rarely deserted. The reason to explain it might be the cuisine culture that has existed for many years.
What about you, have you ever been to this ‘super amazing food alley’? If you are in Vietnam and interested in discovering more about Hanoi – the capital and its significance, we invite you to join us at Free Walking Tours Hanoi. We’ll take you across the building, and provide you with a unique perspective of the city. Book now and don’t miss out on this amazing experience.