Hanoians are famous for being hospitable and also very... curious! Whenever our friends come to the capital, we generously invite them to try the best dishes, the specialties that are unique to Hanoi, and then curiously wait to see what their "reaction" will be after enjoying the dishes.
On the occasion of the arrival of US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi to attend the US-North Korea Summit in February this year, the capital's people, in addition to enthusiastically welcoming them on all central streets, have also been wondering in recent days: what Hanoian dishes will these two esteemed leaders choose to enjoy during their working days here?
Fried spring rolls, soup... are always familiar Vietnamese dishes that have appeared many times at receptions for heads of state.
This afternoon, February 27, 2019, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc treated the White House owner Donald Trump to traditional Vietnamese specialties such as mango salad, fried spring rolls, fish cakes, shrimp sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves... and dessert with lotus seed and longan sweet soup. But that was a state banquet.
"If you were to invite Chairman Kim/President Trump to a traditional dish of Hanoi, what would you invite?" - That was the content of the online poll initiated by a Facebook fanpage named Hanoi. This content received thousands of likes, shares and thousands of enthusiastic comments.
Travellive has selected and compiled 12 most "recommended" dishes to introduce below.
1. Egg coffee
According to Tinn, more than 300 cups of egg coffee were served free of charge at the International Media Center for the US-North Korea Summit. Notably, only 3 people from the famous Giang coffee brand in Hanoi were invited to attend this special international event.
Egg coffee is served in many places, but nowhere can it be prepared as original as Giang. It is not mixed with any compounds or flavors, it is purely the bitter aroma of coffee, the rich taste of whipped egg yolks and a little sweet cream flavor that makes Giang egg coffee have its own unique characteristics. The cup of coffee is always served hot with a strong aroma that is hard to refuse.
2. Bun cha
Bun cha is a dish consisting of vermicelli, pork patties (pieces of patties - grilled on charcoal, or balls - fried in oil), sweet and sour fish sauce with pickled papaya, raw vegetables and some spices (chopped garlic/chili). This dish originating from Northern Vietnam is the most enduring gift of Hanoi, so it can be considered one of the typical specialties of the capital.
This is also the dish that the 44th President of the United States Obama chose to enjoy when he visited Vietnam 3 years ago.
Bun cha is usually eaten at noon - this seems to be an art form with a very unique Hanoi culinary style, and the appropriate time to enjoy each dish is also carefully "calculated" by gourmets.
3. Crab noodle soup
Bun rieu is a traditional Vietnamese rice noodle dish. There are many types of bun rieu, including bun rieu cua, bun rieu ca, and bun rieu oc bo... This special dish is famous not only domestically but also internationally, especially in places with large Vietnamese communities.
Bun rieu has a fresh sour taste, so Vietnamese people like to enjoy it in the summer.
Bun rieu cua includes pureed freshwater crab soup, fried tofu, tomato broth with vinegar, shrimp paste and onions, banana flowers with various raw vegetables. This dish is very nutritious because it contains calcium from ground crab shells, iron from pork broth, vitamins and fiber from vegetables.
4. Bread with pate, sausage, egg and pork floss
Pate bread is toasted bread with one or more slices of pate (usually made from pig liver), accompanied by vegetables such as coriander, cucumber, radish, carrot, sausage, butter, shredded pork, sometimes even a slice of fried egg or char siu. The accompanying condiment is usually spicy chili sauce. Pate bread is often used for breakfast because it is convenient, quick, suitable and easy to eat for all ages from students, to workers or office workers.
5. Mixed rice paper
Mixed rice paper is a snack that is very popular with young people in Hanoi and has gradually become popular in the world of street food in the capital for many years. With the sour taste of mango, the spicy taste of satay, the sweet and chewy taste of rice paper, squid, beef and quail eggs, mixed rice paper is very popular with many tourists when coming to Hanoi. However, this is a dish originating from the South of Vietnam.
6. Grilled chicken feet
Grilled chicken feet is a dish made from chicken feet by grilling. They are usually marinated before grilling to absorb the spices, grilled until slightly charred, golden brown and served with raw vegetables or stewed cucumbers. This is one of the specialties in Vietnamese cuisine, a popular street food that is enjoyed by most drinkers.
7. Vermicelli with tofu and shrimp paste
Bun dau mam tom is a simple, rustic dish in Northern Vietnamese cuisine. This dish is often eaten as a light meal, a snack at noon or an afternoon snack. The main ingredients include fresh vermicelli, fried tofu, green rice sausage, sour sausage, boiled pork, shrimp paste mixed with lemon, chili and served with herbs such as perilla, Vietnamese balm, basil, lettuce, eggplant...
This dish is usually beautifully arranged on a bamboo tray.
8. Beef Pho
Pho is a traditional Vietnamese dish, and can also be considered one of the typical dishes of Vietnamese cuisine. The main ingredients of pho are pho noodles and broth (or broth in the South) along with thinly sliced beef (or chicken). In addition, it is accompanied by spices such as soy sauce, pepper, lemon, fish sauce, chili... depending on the taste of the user. Pho is usually used as a morning snack or a late-night meal, but in big cities this dish is enjoyed all day long.
Pho is always enjoyed while it is still hot. To have a delicious bowl of pho depends a lot on the experience and traditional secrets of the cook, in which the most important is the pot of broth.
9. Porridge
Porridge is a porridge dish cooked in the usual way, in combination with sweet broth made from pork bones or boiled pork intestines, and the main ingredients for the bowl of porridge are boiled pork organs and sausages. Porridge is relatively common, even quite popular in Vietnamese cuisine, widely sold at pork intestine shops throughout the country, creating a trio of products eaten in order in a meal: blood pudding, pork intestines, porridge, and often combined with rice wine.
10. Shrimp paste + ham
Cha ruoi is one of the special fried dishes of Vietnamese people. While the dish is relatively uncommon in some regions, even where there are rươi, it is quite popular in Hanoi cuisine. Its popularity is probably due to the main ingredient being rươi, which is easiest to make when mixed with eggs. This dish is served with hot rice or vermicelli.
Gio is a dish that uses the main ingredient of meat (livestock, poultry) pounded, mixed with some other ingredients, tightly wrapped into a round cylinder and usually cooked by boiling or steaming, popular in Vietnamese cuisine from North to South with many variations. In particular, a plate with ham cut into many regular pieces is always present in Tet meals.
11. Banh Khuc
Banh khuc is a type of cake originating from the Northern Delta region, made from rau khuc leaves (there are two types: rau khuc te and rau khuc nep), sticky rice, green bean paste, and fatty pork. The cake is usually made during rau khuc season - February and March of the lunar calendar and is often eaten with sesame salt.
In Hanoi, the cake is often sold in the evenings because it is warm and filling.
12. Tea
Sweet soup is a dish used as a dessert in Asian cuisine in general. In Vietnam, sweet soup is a popular dessert or afternoon snack to cool down. This is a drink, in which the most important ingredient is sugar. All types of sweet soup have a sweet taste. There are many types of sweet soup such as white jelly sweet soup, longan sweet soup, mango sweet soup, sweet potato sweet soup, etc.
