CHOMP!: Travel

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~~

Last month, my husband and I went to Iceland 5 days. It's always been on my bucket list and we both wanted to see the Northern Lights. Iceland is beautiful... you can literally point your camera in any direction and take a great picture.

We booked a 3 day tour through Guide to Iceland. The package included transportation, 2 hotel stays, free breakfast, and all the equipment needed for any hikes and excursions. You can also rent hiking boots from them for an extra fee. It was a great deal. We had a designated shuttle bus with the best driver, Kristjan! He drove us through a snow storm on the 2nd day with no problems, while we saw a bunch of stranded cars on the side of the road. And our tour guide, Helgi, was the best. He was funny, knowledgeable, and easy going. We saw lots of other tour guides who basically just gave history lessons to their groups, how drab. We were even ahead of schedule some days, so he took us on detours like his family farm where we got to see Icelandic horses, and go to a milking farm where we saw live cows and got the freshest ice cream ever. I highly recommend booking a tour with them.

But since this is a FOOD blog, I'm going to focus more on the food we had in Iceland. The food in Iceland was overall really good, but you have to prepare yourself when you go there. Everything is insanely expensive! You can certainly try to go to the grocery stores and prep your own food, but after a certain point, we gave up trying to save money and just enjoyed ourselves. Cuz when will we be in Iceland again, you know? They import almost everything there, plus most of the economy is based on tourism, so I think that factors into the cost a lot. The good thing though... pretty much everywhere in Iceland takes credit cards (with the chip), so you don't need to exchange any cash at all! That was super convenient.

For our nights staying in the city, Reykjavik, we stayed at Fosshotel Lind. It was still pricey for the type of hotel, but it was definitely one of the more "affordable" options that isn't a hostel. But the hotel was clean and the staff was nice so we enjoyed it. Plus the breakfasts were complimentary.

We had a day in the city before our tour so we went around exploring. The downtown area of Reykjavik is really cute, lots of restaurants, shops, and cafes. We stopped by a cafe called C is for Cookie for a late lunch and tea time. We got one Cheese Toast with Egg, a cookie, a cup of tea, and a cappuccino for a little over $30~.

For dinner we hit up Noodle Station, one of the more "affordable" eateries in town. I did a bunch of Google searches for cheap eats in Iceland and this place keeps popping up. It was packed, as expected since it's slightly cheaper, but it's still $15 for a bowl of noodles. They only have 3 options on the menu... beef, chicken, or vegetarian. We got one of the beef and one of the chicken. Walking in, it brought back so many memories of my childhood because it smells just like Taiwanese beef noodle soup. But it certainly didn't taste like it... Sigh. It was decently good but the broth was quite sweet which caught me off guard. The beef was definitely better than the chicken. The portion was enough to satiate hunger, but not enough to make you full. Good thing we had such a late lunch, so the portion size was enough.

Day 1 of Tour:
We got picked up from the hotel at 8:30AM and we were on our way! The bus ride was long since we had a lot of distance to cover. If you are prone to car sickness, these guided tours may not be a good idea... During the day we just stopped at rest stops and got pre-made sandwiches and snacks to get us through. We saw several waterfalls and did the glacier hike. The glacier hike was 3 hours and awesome. One of my favorite excursions on the whole trip. After a packed day, we got to our hotel really late but our guide had sent our dinner orders in early so we didn't have to wait long to eat. How nice of him! :) We stayed at Hotel Hofn, known for their lobster. We were told these were small lobsters, not the typical ones you get at a restaurant in Dallas. It was 9PM by the time we got in... so tired! The food was pretty awesome. But it was definitely really heavy for eating so late at night. I got the Lobster Pizza. And my husband got the Lobster Ravioli. The ravioli was divine! The 2 dishes together was about $65~.

Day 2 of Tour:
We went to the Glacier Lagoon on the 2nd day. It is breathtaking. One of my favorite sights of the tour... but damn it was coldddddd that day. High winds and snow, real feel was about 20 degrees. Brrrr! After about 20 minutes in the cold, I couldn't take it anymore, so I went to the little shop by the parking lot and we got some snacks... which was basically lunch. A bottle of water, a yogurt, and a sloppily made (but surprisingly tasty) sandwich. $16. Yikes.

And bottled Icelandic water is so good, y'all! Super refreshing and crisp. Then it was off to explore an ice cave!

We had a really late lunch at another rest stop. They served hot foods cafeteria style. We totally splurged cuz my husband saw Lamb Shanks. So he got the Lamb Shank platter, with potato au gratin and salad for $26~. I just got a plain Cheeseburger sans fries... and it was still $9. My husband loved the lamb though, so it was worth it.... I guess. :P

Dinner was also really late since there's just so much driving from location to location. Our guide recommended a great restaurant by the hotel for dinner so the entire tour group went! Eldsto Art Cafe. Since it was such a big group, the food took forever to come out. Finally we were too hungry, so I went to the front display case and got a slice of cake. haha. Chocolate Caramel Cake $9~.

I ordered the Veggie Panini but added Bacon. It was yummy and a lot of food. $18~

My husband got the Countryside Sandwich (dark baguette, BBQ pork, marinated red onion, pepper cheese, BBQ sauce, side salad) $25~ His sandwich was delicious!!!! But quite heavy, especially at 9:30 at night. XP

My friend, who happened to be in Iceland at the same time, joined the tour too... she got the Fish and Chips (fresh cod, deep fried in homemade orly batter; Served with fresh salad, french fries, and sweet and sour sauce) $30~ What an amazing looking dish! It was so yummy! Can't go wrong when you order cod in Iceland. It's one of the only things they source themselves. It's always so flaky and fresh!

Day 3 of Tour:
It's Golden Circle day! We started with the Golden Waterfall (Gullfoss), which was another one of my favorite sights of the tour. What a grand waterfall! Then we hit up the Geysir hot spring area. Did you know that the word Geysir actually means "erupting hot springs"? We learned that Icelandic names are all very literal, and they combine descriptive words together, that's why the names are all so long! Strokkur is the main geyser that still erupts every 5 minutes or so and it's pretty cool.

They had a large rest area with lots of shops and restaurants by the geysers, so we had a pretty good lunch there. I got the Pork Belly plate.. cuz I mean.. just look at that crispy skin!!! Wowzers! I HAD to get it. $28~ That skin did not disappoint!

My husband got a Chicken and Bacon Sandwich. And a slice of Apple Pie. I don't remember how much those cost, but I think we spent close to $50-55 for lunch. Geez.

Our guide told us after lunch that we've been so good on time that we have time for a detour to get some ice cream! He took us to this milk farm, Efstidalur II, where you can see the cows, and inside the store, there's an ice cream shop. I mean... can't get any fresher than that, right? I got a scoop of Rhubarb Coconut and my husband got the Oreo Biscuits. Yum! $4.60 each scoop with waffle cone (which is made in house). We made such good time! We were back in the city and checked into the hotel by dinner time.

We (including my friend) decided to go check out a restaurant in Reykjavik that our guide had recommended where we can get some Icelandic delicacies... Puffin, Whale, and the infamous Fermented Shark. So we walked in the snow flurries into downtown to Icelandic Bar (Islenski Barinn). I'm glad we had 3 of us there so we can share these dishes cuz they were pretty expensive. We decided to get all 3 delicacies... cuz why not? (Even though I was really against the fermented shark from the beginning... it just sounds horrible.)

Fin Whale (in a jar, citrus dressing, pickled chili, herbs) $15~

Grilled Puffin (in a jar, blueberries, skyr, pickled red onion, herbs) $15~ I liked both the whale and puffin. Surprisingly they were both red meat. Whale was basically like beef and not that blubbery like some people have mentioned.

Fermented Shark (6 pieces in a jar; dried haddock with butter) $14~ Plus a glass of Brennivin $8~ The Bennivin is a vodka chaser, and I really think you need this to tolerate the shark. Single most disgusting bite I've had in my life! No joke. (I hope you are not eating when reading this...) But it tastes like puke. Literally. XP I also made the mistake of smelling it first before eating it. It smells about 10x worse than it tastes, and it tastes gross! I managed to swallow half a piece. My friend had to spit it out. My husband, however, tolerated it. But after he ran out of the vodka, he said the flavor definitely got more pungent. I would advise you to save your money and taste buds to just skip this one when you're in Iceland. Don't say I didn't warn you! I can smell/taste it when I think of it.... UGH.

So we had to order some regular food to get this taste out of our mouths!
My husband got the Reindeer Burger (camembert, lettuce, sweet pepper, wild berry jam, garlic mayo, sweet potato fries) $34~ Slightly gamey but not bad. But definitely not worth $34 in my opinion. Ha!

Sigga's Burger (beef, cheese, pepper cheese sauce, lettuce, sweet pepper, Icelandic pancake filled with bacon and cheese on top; waffle fries) $23~ My friend got this. It's interesting because the top "bun" is actually a pancake. I thought this was better than the reindeer burger. And those waffle fries were yum.

Fish of the Day (served over pasta, topped with arugula) $26~ I don't remember what fish this was... either Salmon or Arctic Char, both of which I love. It was a great dish. I loved the creamy pasta, and also the pile of veggies on top.

Our last day in Iceland, we had the morning free so we went for a walk into the city. My husband wanted to go find the famous hotdog stand. Baejarins Beztu Pylsur. It also comes up as affordable eating in Reykjavik. I found out that the hotdogs were made of lamb so my interest immediately disappeared. So we went to go find it for him. We finally found it and there was no line! Woot. I noticed the price had gone up a dollar since the article I found online. It is now $4 a hotdog. And... it doesn't look all that appetizing. Not sure what that sauce is on top, and my husband couldn't quite figure it out either. But he liked it. That's all that matters.

For lunch we went to The Laundromat Cafe. I had seen it online and it looked so cute! And it really does have a laundromat downstairs.
Baileys Latte $18~ So $$$ but deeeelicious! It's our last day so whatevs.

Icelandic Cod (Icelandic cod in breadcrumbs with roasted potatoes, lemon pepper and sea salt; served with chili mayonnaise, beet-slaw, rucola, and a lemon) $27~ Expensive lunch but OMG Icelandic cod is fantastic. Just perfectly tender and fluffy and the breading was perfect. It was a fantastic dish. The beet slaw was quite interesting too, paired with the fish well.

That afternoon we were picked up from our hotel for our Blue Lagoon visit! We booked a tour through Viator.com and it included roundtrip transportation from our hotel to the Blue Lagoon, plus the Standard entry (entry and silica mask) into the Lagoon. Once we got there, we upgraded to the Comfort package which includes a towel, a drink at the bar, and the algae mask in addition to the silica mask. I'd say the upgrade was worth it. The free drink pretty much pays for the upgrade anyways.

I got the Blueberry Skyr Smoothie $9~ and my husband got the Green is Good smoothie (banana, mango, spinach, ginger, orange juice) $9~

After getting back to the city from the Blue Lagoon, we were starving! So we went to a Thai place that was just around the corner from our hotel. Banthai. They had a pretty big menu so it was hard to decide what to get, but I also tried to pick something that wasn't ridiculously priced. This restaurant was actually the one bad experience we had in Iceland. Everyone in Iceland is so nice and even though the food is expensive, it's always been really good. The service at Banthai was terrible!! Our waitress looked like she didn't want to be there. The service was really slow and it took forever to get our food. But get this... when you order the curry, it doesn't come with rice. It's an additional $3. WTF! How do you eat curry WITHOUT rice? And the curry dish was already like $20. Geez. So none of us ordered it. I saw the table next to us had ordered it and it was a very small portion. Then our food came and they were all pretty small too.

Kao Pad Panang (fried rice with choice of meat, stir-fried in panang curry sauce with string beans, bell pepper, and egg) $18~

Pad Mee Luang (pan fried egg noodles with choice of meat, carrots, mixed vegetables) $18~

The Keflavik airport is great... when you are flying domestic (meaning anywhere in Europe). There's a great area with cafes, food vendors, and shops. It's like hanging out at a mall. Our flight was super early in the morning but good thing all the stores were open. So we hung out at Joe & The Juice until it was time to go to our gate.
Sex Me Up (passion fruit, apple, ginger) $8~ That ginger was spicyyyyy!
Avo Shake (avocado, banana, vanilla milk) $8~ Yum. Loved this.

We also got some sandwiches for the flight since they don't provide food.

Peace out Iceland, it's been great! Now onward to Amsterdam!!! Stay tuned for my Amsterdam post. :)

~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

Here are some of our scenic pictures for your viewing pleasure. :)