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Since the mid 90s, Vietnamese cuisine has grown in quality and variation, and is now very diverse

and most delicious. Most famous remains 'Pho Ga' (chicken noodle soup) or 'Pho Bo'(Beef noodle soup). There are various dishes including chicken, beef, fish and seafood, and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of restaurants nowadays in Hanoi catering to everyone's taste. Hanoi street food become a cuisine culture of Hanoi. In Hanoi, there are hundreds of street stalls in small kiosks on the sidewalk, with plastic tables and chairs on the pavement. Grabbing a bite at these eateries is a great way to experience the local food and culture. It is worth mentioning that food quality, freshness, and hygiene can vary greatly. A bowl of noodle soup goes for as little as 30,000 dong (Jan 2011, under 1 USD). Market food stalls also offer an assortment of other snacks: fruit portions, sausages, donuts, and other eats for 10,000 to 20,000 dong (Jan 2011, 0.5-1 USD). Be sure to get your change as a few vendors seem to 'forget' to return it to you, and learn a little Vietnamese because vendors often will not speak any or much English. Want to experience Hanoi street food, so the tours here The rule of thumb is if the price is expensive, hygiene quality may or may not be OK, but if the price is cheap, definitely hygiene quality is compromised. There seemed to be no regular food Health Department inspector working regularly in the city. Another rule of thumb is that Vietnamese have no qualms charging double or more for tourists, as prices are seldom listed on stalls or within shops. Either learn to speak Vietnamese or prepare to pay up to 50,000 dong for that bowl of pho which locals next to you are paying 25,000 dong (as of Dec 2012). For groceries, there is a large supermarket east of Hoan Kiem Lake (Finimart, 27A Ly Thai To, at Tran Nguyen Han). [edit]Exotic

treats

Next to Beijing, Hanoi is probably the second in the running to the world's exotic food paradise. The suburb of Le Mat (aka the Snake Village) has numerous restaurants specializing in cobra foodstuffs. Live cobras are stored on the premises much the same way one would find live lobsters at a Western seafood restaurant. If one orders cobra blood wine from the menu, the waiter will take a live cobra, kill it on the spot, drain the blood into a shot glass of rice wine, and top it off with the cobra's still beating heart for you to gulp down! Not for the faint hearted (excuse the pun). Le Mat is about ten minutes across the river from downtown, take bus 10, 15 or 17 and get off at the large "mega-mall" just beyond Gia Lam station, and walk 500 metres down the road at the right of the mall. Cobras are not cheap at around 400,000-1,000,000 dong (USD$50-) but it gets turned into a dozen unique dishes, enough to share between three or four people. A local delicacy in the Hanoi area is dog meat (tht ch), which is especially popular in the winter. There are a number of restaurants in the Tay Ho district. Another exotic regional taste is ca cuong, an extract from thebelostomatid, or giant water bug. Just a few drops are added to noodles for the unique aroma. Be sure to check out the boiled duck fetus eggs (same as the filipino balut) sold by peddlers almost everywhere priced at 5,000 dong. This delightful experience consists of the vendor cracking the egg in front of you, and peeling the shell and dropping the contents in a plastic micro bowl, then garnished with juliened ginger, basil leaf, and sprinkled with chili sauce. You can see the severed head and beak of your chick that fell off if you are lucky enough to have your first bite from a different spot - Bon Appetit!

Some of must-try street foods in Hanoi Its true to say that Vietnamese people always keen on having street foods every time they are free. You can come across several people gather around in pavement and enjoy their snack with families or friends. Actually, the habit is not merely as intake food or eating out, it shows some of the unique convention of the citizens.
The snack is made to order, streetside. First, two very thin and small pancakes are laid flat, then a sheet of honeycomb is placed on top, and sprinkled with desiccated coconut and sesame seeds. Its then rolled up an d handed over itsreally that simple. You wont even need (or get) a tissue with which to wipe your fingers.

While it may seem like this is just an excuse to put two sweet substances together, th ought has clearly gone into the compilation of this snack. The combination of soft, slightly moist pancake with crunchy honeycomb and chewy coconut deliver an enticing textural sensation and the flavours work perfectly together.

Some of the bikes also advertise keo keo, another sweet treat of pulled sugar formed into a crispy stick. Traditionally the dish was just sugar, but nowadays its often filled with peanuts. Another option, keo nha, is like a hard caramel with peanuts and sesame seeds. Health conscious, just in case we need to point it out, these are not! One portion of bo bia ngot, keo keo or keo nha costs 5,000 VND. If you have a sweet tooth but this isnt doing it for you, Kem Tay Ho is also along Thanh Nien Street; other sweet snacks to be found around the city include popcorn and banh ran, deep-fried balls of green bean and sticky rice coated in sugar, honey or sesame seeds. Popcorn runs to around 10,000 VND a bag and banh ran are about 2,000 each and youll want more than one. Bo bia ngot is not confined to Thanh Nien Street and you may see and hear the vendors calling from their bikes as they cycle around Hanoi. Make sure you stop one of the vendors and try their specialty! Street food in Vietnam is not just about breakfast, lunch and dinner; its also very much about snacking. And the Vietnamese like to snack. Pho mai que (cheese sticks) is a new craze to hit the streets of Hanoi and while maybe not contributing to a balanced or gourmet diet, its a cheap snack option Pho mai que comprises a stick of cheese, coated in breadcrumbs, deep-fried and served with chilli and tomato dips. The cheese sadly is of the processed variety and consequently doesnt really taste of anything a nice camembert would make all the difference but once dipped in the sauce its edible and fills a hole. Variants include pho mai com wrapped in green sticky rice and pho mai hun khoi, a smoked version. Ta Hien is the place to be in Old Quarter for pho mai que at the moment. During the day (its an afternoon thing) many of the shops at the Luong Ngoc Quyen end turn into pho mai que joints and fill up with young Vietnamese catching up over an afternoon snack. As y ou tend to share off one plate, its also very communal. Order by the piece, which costs 6,000 VND for one, and youll need at least a couple to make it worth stopping -off. Wash it down with a drink like tra chanh, which seems to be the drink of choice, or grab a few before heading to nearby bia hoi international corner for a session. If the idea of a plastic cheese coated in breadcrumbs doesnt appeal, stop off a nyway for a break and some people watching, snacking instead on nem chua ran (pork spring rolls) or potato fries, which are also available. Ngo Trang Tien is a narrow street running between Nguyen Khac Can and Phan Chu Trinh, to the south of Trang Tien Street. Its western end opens out across the road from the Opera House and the other end faces the back

of Hotel de lOpera . At lunchtime it fills with plastic tables and chairs to cater to the hordes of students and office workers that descend for their fill of rice and noodles. But to say rice and noodles is to undermine the array of dishes on offer. While some stalls specialise in one dish, as is often the case with street food, I never cease to be amazed by quite how many things can be conjured up out of just a few ingredients. My new favourite spot is number 15, at the eastern end. Not only has the food Ive tried there bun ca and mien tron been delicious but its been well priced and the staff (or owners) have been very welcoming: today I was offered an elastic band to tie my hair up as it was being blown around by the fan. Its the small things that count, right? Anyway, back to the food and lets talk about mien tron. Mien is vermicelli or glass noodle and fast becoming my favourite noodle variety, despite seeing them made at Cu Da village and in Bac Kan province (not under the most hygienic conditions). Mien tron is a dry noodle dish with flavourful mien topped with fried morning glory, fresh beansprouts, deep fried tofu, beef and peanuts. Its served with a side of simple but tasty broth. Eat with chopsticks and a spoon and wash down with cha da or another beverage from the drink stall next door. Today I paid 25,000 VND for one serving. Other stalls along the street offer similar dishes, but pho is also available as is very tasty looking fried rice and, at the Opera House end, bun dau phu. If you have a sweet tooth then you must try the che stand next to number 7: for 15,000 VND youll get a cup brimming with sticky, chewy, creamy delights. Even if street food isnt to your liking, Ngo Trang Tien is worth walking down during the busy lunchtime rush as the atmosphere is quite intoxicating and, youll be pleased to hear, has its very own foreigner -orientated restaurant in the shape of the four-storey Exchange Cafe, which serves good quality, reasonably priced, Vietnamese and Western food. The staff are great and the roof terrace is a fantastic place to sit out on a warm afternoon or before a show at the Opera House.

http://www.travelfish.org/blogs/vietnam/2012/10/19/hanoi-street-food-banh-mykebab/

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