Vietnam Part 2: Hanoi

We were in Hanoi for 5 nights. I highly recommend our hotel: La Belle Vie. It was by far the nicest one we had on the trip. All the hotel staff were super nice, their roof top pool was awesome, and the daily breakfast buffet spread was top notch!

Our first night in Hanoi, we wanted to get BBH (Bun Bo Hue). So the hotel recommended a place. They said it's where the locals go. Driving up in the taxi, we saw a row of people sitting outside on tiny little stools and low tables, very local! We thought we were going to have to sit out front like everyone else, but luckily they had an inside, upstairs, with AC!

Bun Bo Hue O Xuan.
Bun Bo Hue. We all got the same thing. 

They had a very small menu. But this is what they're known for so of course we had to get it. I did not know that BBH does not come spicy by default. I've only had it in Dallas and everywhere serves it spicy. I actually liked that it was not spicy. They give you a jar of chili sauce to add on your own. And that was SPICY!! A little scoop is more than enough. LOVE LOVE LOVED the BBH. I think it was one of my favorite meals of the trip. The noodles were perfect cooked. There was plenty of meat and it was filling. The broth had great flavor too. A great recommendation!

Of course we stopped by a boba place by our hotel. :P
Ding Tea
Classic Matcha 32,000 VND. Pretty good!

We went looking for pho one day cuz the only pho we've technically had was the hotel breakfast. haha. But we couldn't find the place we were looking for. But we found one that only served chicken pho. Why not?

Pho Ga 42
Chicken Pho (with or without gizzards). 

Although I eat most organ meats, I don't like liver. So I wasn't sure what all they put in the loaded one... I opted for just the meat. I liked it. It was light, but still flavorful. There was lots of chicken. The portion size was more than enough. I actually like the pho in Vietnam. I've heard many stories from people saying the pho in Vietnam is not great. I think because it's not like the US where we get a ton of meat. And the flavors are quite a bit lighter. Which is better for me. I don't like things that are too salty. The only thing I don't really care for is the actual noodles. It seems to be a thinner noodle and feels overcooked.

Mr. Bay Mien Tay. 
My friend wanted to come here specifically for a certain dish. But once we got there, they told us it was sold out. haha. Oh well. They had a pretty big menu.
Nem Nuong Lui (grilled mint pork in stick).

Bun Bo Nam Bo 60,000 VND. This is their signature dish. It was sooooo good. My favorite dish of the trip, I think. Sooo much texture with the peanut and crispy garlic chips and bean sprouts.

Banh Khot (dragon eggs pancake) 65,000 VND. Cute little bites. It's almost like a mini Banh Xeo in texture.

Jolibee. 
My friends wanted to try this place cuz it was there, and they've never been. haha. It's a fast food place... and they have fried chicken. Wasn't cheap either..
Spicy Fried Chicken. Their spicy fried chicken was damn good. Way better than the KFC we went the day before. haha. (Just to try KFC in Vietnam, you know? Wasn't worth it.)

Vanilla Soft Serve (with chocolate hard shell). Meh.

Royal Tea. 
The Royal Tea here isn't as good as Ho Chi Minh City, and the selections were different. Boo..
Guava Passion Green Tea 43,000 VND. The drinks were still good tho. But why didn't I get the cool cups?!?

Peach Orange Strawberry Oolong Tea 49,000 VND

Cari Truong. 
We came here because my friends wanted broken rice plates. Only to find that broken rice is not popular in the north and so they don't have it anymore. So we just got regular rice plates. haha.
Com Suon (rice barbecue) 65,000 VND

Beef with Yellow Rice

Trung Nguyen Legend. 
Have you heard of weasel poop coffee? Or the more popular one globally is the luwak poop coffee. But in Vietnam, it's the weasel. My friends wanted to buy the beans but couldn't find a place that wasn't going to rip them off. So they found this cafe that served it.
Legend Coffee 150,000 VND - mimics the "weasel" coffee. 

The process copies what the beans go through in a weasels digestive system or something like that. So it's not REAL poop coffee, but that makes me feel better. haha. It's super rich and hella strong. But really good with condensed milk. I can see why people would pay a premium for this.

We did 2 tours while in Hanoi. Lunch is typically included and catered to more Western palates. Not really the greatest food.. haha.

Bike and Boat Tour

Halong Bay Tour. We had this lunch on the boat. It was cool.

Cucumber Salad

Steamed Prawns

Stir Fried Squid with Celery

Fried Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Fried Chicken

Fish with Tomato Sauce

Steamed Rice
Fresh Seasonal Fruit
Afternoon Tea Time - Green Bean Dessert, Tea, Pineapple

Hanoi Food & Drink. 
After the tour we found this place just across from our hotel. Their food turned out pretty good. So I had them 3 times on our trip. haha.
Beef Sauteed with Mustard Greens

Crispy Roast Pork. They only serve this from noon-8pm or until they sell out. So we missed out the first night. But we got it to go and ate it by the pool the next day. It was awesome!

Beef Sauteed with Ramen. This is the dish I had 3 days in a row. haha. Got it to go to eat at the hotel room while I watched a movie. Total relaxation!

We wanted to do another afternoon tea since we had so much fun in Ho Chi Minh City. But this time we wanted to do an actual High Tea with the tiered carriers and stuff. We decided on the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hotel. It was highly rated for Afternoon Tea and the hotel is really nice.

High Tea 460,000 VND (per 2 people). This was by far the most expensive meal we had on this trip. And honestly, it wasn't even that expensive... but seemed really high since we've been paying so little for food. haha.

Pastry Stand:
Homemade Scones, Financiers, Madeleines
Finger Sandwiches,
Seasonal Fresh Fruits

It was not good. The display was meh. And the food was meh. I think they copped out with the fruit tier. And the pastries were lackluster too. Bleh.

Selection of Metropole fine teas
- Darjeeling de Printemps
- Mint Green Tea, Earl Grey pointed Blanch. This was my favorite one of the bunch. The mint was very mild.
- Quatre Fruit Rouge, The des Vieux Gancon

Fresh Coconut Juice 130,000 VND. The most expensive coconut ever!

Metropole Egg Coffee 120,000 VND. We've kinda been wanting to try this egg coffee thing, but gave up looking for it cuz none of the locals we talked to have heard about it. haha. But they had it on the menu so we got it. It's quite good. Super rich. And the candle underneath kept it hot. But we left it on the fire too long and it cooked!! Turned into coffee custard. hahaha.

Bun Cha Huong Lien. 
My friend wanted to come here cuz apparently Obama came here? There are pictures to prove it! (This is supposedly a Northern cuisine? I don't know much about the regional cuisines in Vietnam, but this is typically found in the north. Just like the north doesn't do much broken rice, but we found it in Ho Chi Minh City.)

Bun Cha (grilled pork, rice vermicelli, herbs with broths of sugar vinegar fish sauce) 40,000 VND. You basically take a chopstick full of noodles and dip it into the broth. You don't dump the whole thing of noodles in there. Quite interesting. And the broth is cold. I was full so I only sampled. It was ok. Wasn't my favorite.

Fried Seafood Roll (prawn, crab, pork, vegetable) 30,000 VND. Way too big. Felt like it was very greasy.

Fried Crab Roll (crab, pork, vegetable) 7,000 VND

Overall, the food in Vietnam was good. I wouldn't fly here just for it though. haha. I DID enjoy the price point enormously. :P

~~ CHOMP CHOMP~~

Taiwan Trip #2 - 2013: Casual Dining

Ming Yue. This is also a must visit on every trip. Just around the corner from my grandma's place. I think it beats Ding Tai Fong... less hype, less wait, cheaper, and just as delicious!
Rice Cake

Xiao Long Bao (Pork Soup Dumplings)

Stirfried Water Spinach

Pot Stickers

Green Onion Pancakes

Modern Toilet. I've been to both locations in Taipei. My cousin wanted to go so we took her to the one in Ximen Ding.
Shaved Ice (with various cookie toppings, raisins, chocolate sauce, vanilla ice cream, sprinkles) NT$120 The waiter told us this was shareable for 2 people. Um... Are these 2 people ginormous?! It was HUGE!! Set on a giant squatting toilet dish, this was bigger than my head. And it looked pretty nasty. hahaha. Which is the point here. A mountain of shaved ice with chocolate sauce and condensed milk. And all sorts of toppings to look like.. well you get the idea. haha. I don't want to get super gross. There were 3 of us. We made it through most of the toppings and maybe 1/3 of the ice. Not the greatest shaved ice, but it was fun and definitely photo worthy. 

 

 

Royal Honey Milk Tea (cold) NT$150. My sister also got this. It comes in a "urinal" hehehe. Their drinks are pretty good. 

My parents told us of this beef noodle soup place that was supposedly the best in Taipei. It's won awards or something. They hand make the noodles and also the pancakes for the beef rolls.

Beef Rolls. These were yummy. The pancakes were nicely pan fried and slightly crispy. The sauce inside was kinda sweet which I liked. 

Zha Jiang Mien (dry noodles with meat/tofu sauce, cucumbers, carrots) Small. I love Zha Jiang Mien. It's probably my favorite. So I got it since I can try the beef noodles from other people. It was ok, definitely not the best I've had. I'm all for thick noodles but these were a tad too doughy. Still tasty though. 

 

Beef Noodle Soup (half meat, half tendons) Small. Same type of noodles. The broth flavor was really good though. I'm assuming they won an award based on that. The beef tendons were awesome... great texture and huge pieces! The beef was really dry so that brought it down a little. 

 

Yong Kang Beef Noodle Soup. One of my cousins took my sister and I for more beef noodle soup. This place is well known in Taipei. We've been before, years ago. There was a line outside at 2pm! We got seated pretty quickly though. We had to share a table with 2 other groups.
Beef Noodle Soup (half meat, half tendons) Small NT$210. I think the broth flavor ranks just a smidge under the previous noodle place. But this place had better noodles and beef. So I say they win!

Spicy Steamed Pig Intestines NT$100. We like pig intestines cooked any way. haha. This was tender and slightly spicy. 

Spicy Wontons NT$100. It had a peanut sauce which was very tasty. Yum!

Man Tan Hung Hot Pot - All You Can Eat. 

Some people have left already but all the remaining relatives joined us on our last night for some hot pot! All you can eat hot pot in Taipei is the way to go. Food, drinks, and Haagen Dazs ice cream included! Unlimited Haagen Dazs!!!! Did you hear me?? haha :D
Spicy Hot Pot

 

 

 

Unlimited Soda

Unlimited Ice Cream

 

 

Last but not least... Can't pass through Narita Airport and not visit the JAL Lounge! The best lounge I've ever been to and they have the BEST beef curry ever!! I got to take my sister for her first time and she loved it!

 

~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~