5 street foods to check out in Hanoi (Trung Hoa)

Hanoi is a city full to the brim of delicious street food, and has its own identity when it comes to it. When you first come to Vietnam, you may think its going to be like Thai food or Chinese food. In truth, its its own thing, with French and Chinese elements on top of its own spin on what was seen elsewhere. In other words, its worth having a look at some examples of whats eaten today.
Trung Hoa was full of tasty meals available to eat for lunch or later after afternoon classes. So I thought I would recommend 5 street vendors to check out if you ever happen to be around Trung Hoa…

Bún Chả

I freaking love Bún Chả. It is the northern cuisine perfected, with authentic flavours, relatively simple ingredients but given the upmost amount of time to prepare. I would go so far as to say its the greatest soup dish of all the Vietnamese soup dishes if Cao lầu didn’t exist. At the very least its among best representative dishes of the North.

Pork meatballs, pork belly slices, in a warm broth with vermicelli noodles, carrot and kohlrabi, served with a tonne of salad leaves, garlic and chilli, and ready to mix everything together. It is a wonderful dish that is hard to replicate abroad compared to the simpler phở bò or bún bò Huế. If there is a Vietnamese restaurant near you, then see if they have this item on the menu. You won’t regret it. A solid alternative if you can’t find it is Bún thịt nướng, which is similar but more common around the south of Vietnam and lacks the main broth.

Recipe: http://www.ricenflour.com/recipe/how-to-make-bun-cha-recipe-vietnamese-grilled-pork-rice-vermicelli/

Bánh mì

Something needs to be said about the greatness of something as simple as an egg sandwich. Ireland has an anthem dedicated to it after all! But using a demi baguette as the base, adding any ingredients they have, topping with a few sauces and coriander, and that’s it. No Irish jumbo sausages, no Subway bread bases. Just what needs to be there to taste great.

There were quite a few bánh mì stalls around house 5. Sometimes a woman would set up shop next to the front door at the mobile phone store. Others would be at more stable places like in the laneways, or in their house. Wherever they were. these were great meals to get you through the afternoon or to satisfy you for the evenings. A simple roll with a fried egg was my choice (bánh mì trung), but there were other options included pate, grilled meat (likely pork), vegetables or even a doner kebab variant. I would meet up with Sarah quite a bit to get bánh mì’s.

My personal favourite of the internship was here.
https://goo.gl/maps/jkQNbeHhHD5p98uL8

Phở Ga

One of the more well known Vietnamese dishes, this dish can be found pretty much all over the country, and no matter where you move, chances are you won’t be too far from one. While I personally prefer the chicken variant over the more common phở bò, it is still tasty and a guaranteed hangover cure. Hanoi does phở different to other regions, focusing more on the broth and making sure its so good as is that phở needs no other sides (limes, beansprouts phở sauce, sriracha and more). Personally, I prefer the southern variant, but you are not going to complain when the dish is served to you. Hot sauces are still likely around, and tend to be homemade so it really adds to the dish.

As stated, this was around Nguyen Thi Dinh street but other places were around. It remains the most common Vietnamese dish I have made in Ireland, so try and make some yourself if you can.

Location:
https://goo.gl/maps/ugtr54AkFR3t8KvA9

Nem rán

Of all the street food places to meet up after morning classes, this one was probably the most frequently visited. I would be here at least twice a week during afternoons eating (no exaggeration here) the best spring rolls in the world. Not even Tony in the Thai House could work up a rice paper version quite like this (and his are masterpieces!), with just the right blend of vegetables and fish sauce side. Tiny lime like fruits. chillies, a plethora of salad leaves and cold vermicelli noodles are presented on a large blue bowl, and it all made up to a hearty, but healthy meal. If you are reading from abroad, try Vietnamese style spring rolls if you haven’t already. I feel they take the gold, with Thai and Chinese getting silver and bronze.

Location:
https://goo.gl/maps/3XZg1fJDYnLJGzkU9

Cơm chiên/cơm rang

Both are names for the fried rice vendors and shacks, and there were a few different places to find them. This is a fairly standard fried rice, often served with a broth, vegetables or meat, but oddly these main ingredients were served to the side of the rice itself rather than integrated in the dish. It is served on a flat, oval plate, piled on like a small hill, and tends to have soy sauce or sriracha sauce handy. It could get quite salty if you didn’t get a can of coke or a bia Hanoi but it was definitely a filling meal that could keep you going for a while.

I really enjoyed the rice made for takeaway at Nguyễn Ngọc Vũ street, but many others enjoyed the rice by the Eurowindow building (Cơm Bình Dân). Odhran especially considered this to be the best rice in Hanoi, and its hard to disagree with him. The meat is cooked perfectly, and served at a reasonable price. Either way, you will be spoiled for choice if you look through the laneways.

Odhrans favourite:
https://goo.gl/maps/c1vBm76JBNL5JZLy8

So there you have it, 5 foods eaten regularly around House 5 and the Trung Hoa area. These were all delicious, but can also be found anywhere around Hanoi, and Vietnam. All of these meals can be made at home. Some like banh mi are straightforward, while others like bun cha require more preparation. Special mention for making Vietnamese meals at home goes to Huy and his website on recipes (https://www.hungryhuy.com/) , All recipes (https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/228443/authentic-pho/) for more recipes I couldn’t find, and lastly the Asian Home Gourmet, who make great spice mixes if you feel like the recipes are too much work.