Lifeblood of a city - Hanoi Street Food

Having been cast in the role of domestic god (for at least the first few months) here in Vietnam; Jo’s cunning Christmas present plan was to give me some Vietnamese cooking lessons – in the hope that at least some of the knowledge gained will transfer to the offerings coming out of my kitchen over the next few months!!
Seriously though, I am keen to learn more about the local cuisine and having survived the initial couple months of relocating to Hanoi, celebrated our first Christmas and a family birthday in our new home it seemed an opportune time to hit the streets of Hanoi and make some sense of the infinite food sellers and abundance of different gastronomical delights that are on offer wherever you turn in this city – even if it was from the relative safety of a guided tour led by a chef from one of the local cooking schools.

As with most foreign eating experiences we have heard many stories and been given a variety of advice on trying food from street stalls in the Red River City– ranging from never eat food in the street to absolutely having to experience the tastes and atmosphere of this quintessential part of Vietnamese life. Playing things safe has resulted in our dining experiences over the first couple of months generally involving:
1) restaurants - that we have judged safe to our health and budgets. After the price and lack of variety in Rarotonga we have been a bit like kids in a sweet shop working our way through Vietnamese, Italian, Indian, Mexican, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Chinese, Turkish, Singaporean, French menus which generally cost between 400 and 600,000 Vietnamese Dong (VND) for a substantial meal for all five of us (about NZD $20 - $30)!!
2) fast food joints – no McDonalds in Vietnam, but KFC is long established (although menu adapted to local tastes with many rice variants – including rice cake burger), BK has just arrived, Pizza Hutt and some Vietnamese equivalents Lotteria, BBQ Chicken, Pepperonis Pizza etc
3) home delivery – pretty much anything from 1) or 2) delivered to our door; the selection is awesome and a real lifesaver when we lived in the Hotel for first two weeks or now when nobody feels like cooking but we don’t want to go out. see www.eat.vn
4) home cooking – after our initial 2 weeks in a hotel relying on 1), 2) and 3) being thrown into a kitchen with no utensils and an empty pantry in a food environment that was completely foreign to us certainly had its challenges! As a result the meals coming out of my kitchen were limited to some stock standard pasta, chicken and minced beef dishes – this may have had an influence on my wife’s choice of Christmas present!

5) big splurge – On Christmas day we indulged in a fabulous smorgasbord lunch at the Luxury 5 Star Movenpick Hotel, all for about $50 per head
http://www.moevenpick-hotels.com/en/asia/vietnam/hanoi/hotel-hanoi/overview/
...So now it is time to branch out and discover the delights of Vietnamese streetfood. I don’t know whether the Vietnamese have always eaten and lived their lives on the street, but obviously with the pressure on space in a heavily populated urban area it is now inevitable that life spills out onto the footpaths, parks and any other free spaces. This isn’t limited to the countless plastic stools surrounding the endless different street food options but includes a multitude of activities that are part of Hanoians daily life. It is not unusual to see games of badminton or exercise classes on the footpath or any other vaguely suitable space or a mechanic stripping a scooter on the footpath next to somebody having their haircut,

polishing some shoes, washing eating utensils, selling all types of goods (including the kitchen sink) or sharing a lunch with their work colleagues or family.



My street food tour started with the a bowl of the iconic dish Pho Ga (Chicken Noodle Soup)
Next stop was a tour of a local market – for the uninitiated, the sounds, smells and sights of a first visit here may be a bit overwhelming but this is a chef’s paradise of fresh (read “often still twitching”) meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables and more. Nothing is wasted around here so be wary of everything from exotic fruits to animal brains and various other organs. While steering clear of the dogmeat, watch for the inevitable motorbike and don’t stand on the live frogs or slip on live fish jumping out of a tank as you give the chicken or quails eggs with chicks inside a wide berth! Despite the absence of refrigeration I'm assured that the throughput and twice daily delivery of fresh meat makes this a safe purchasing option, even in the high temperatures of mid-summer.I guess if the animal is sourced from a safe environment you can definitely be assured of the previous storage if you watch your chicken or fish being slaughtered before you take it home for dinner!


The rest of the tour was a full on dining experience tasting such things as rice pancakes (seasoned with a bit of cricket essence!), street lollies, Bun Cha (BBQ pork with noodles - another Vietnamese classic), Bia Hoi (famous Vietnamese fresh beer served straight from metal kegs) and a Coffee with egg in it to finish. All in all a thoroughly entertaining and educating experience which was shared with our chef Y and Constantine and Marcus (from Berlin) and that I would recommend to anyone visiting Hanoi.

A week later I was back at the Hanoi cooking centre to learn from the experts how to prepare and serve some street food dishes. Our morning started by preparing and eating some Pho Bo (Beef noodle soup) and a local omelette for breakfast and then a feast of Westlake Prawn Cakes, fresh rice noodle spring rolls, pickled vegetables, green pawpaw salad and banana Che dessert for lunch.
Another really enjoyable and informative class, sees me armed with a bit more knowledge on the five components (sweet, sour, salty, spicy and bitter) that are key to most Vietnamese cooking. The morning was superbly finished off with a sit down lunch sampling the fruits of our labour, over some local beer and wine with the 3 Aussies and 2 Brits who were also on the course. Great food (if I say so myself) and really interesting people and conversations.

And yes, some of these have already been tried and enjoyed at home...so everybody happy until I try and figure out how to cook my latest discovery at the supermarket!!!

See more about Hanoi Cooking Centre here: www.hanoicookingcentre.com

See the cool story of fellow cooking class chefs Caitin and John’s tandem cycle adventure from London to Sydney: www.talesfromthetandem.wordpress.com

Escape from the “Big Smoke” to Cuc Phuong National Park

After 8 weeks of living in Hanoi, our first adventure out of the city was timed to celebrate Elliot’s 12th Birthday – Elliot’s goal in life is to become a wildlife photographer/ videographer so the obvious choice for him to mark the occasion and christen his new video camera and for us as a family to get away for a couple of days R & R was a 3 day tour of Vietnam’s first National Park.

Cuc Phuong was established in 1962 and is about 120 kms (2½ hours drive) South West of Hanoi. The 25,000 hectares of tropical rainforest are set in limestone “Karst” mountains that rise impressively from the flat river plains that surround the greater metropolis of Hanoi.
Leaving Hanoi on a dingy misty winter’s morning any hopes of getting away from the relentless car and motor bike honking were dashed by a driver who had an overdeveloped propensity to honk at anything that moved, looked like it may have ever once moved or will do so sometime in the future! Despite this it was exciting to embark on our first exploration outside of Hanoi and before long the monolithic office and apartment blocks and congested roading system give way to a more rural landscape and eventually green rice terraces – often punctuated by towns, cities and industrial plants and factories of various sizes and aesthetic merit.

Upon arrival at the National Park there was the obligatory registration formalities and form completion (luckily we packed our passports – on the off chance that these may be needed for some reason) followed by a warm welcome from our guide Huyen. Huyen belongs to one of the 54 minority people groups in Vietnam. His Muong ancestors traditionally lived in this area and to this day there are a few scattered villages around the periphery of the park where you can still see their stilt houses, water wheels and bamboo rafts. His knowledge, passion for nature, warm smile and contagious laugh keep us well entertained throughout our trip.

After checking into our accommodation for the night on the edge of Mac Lake, we feasted on a lunch of local food ranging from the now favourite Vietnamese spring rolls to stir fried chicken, pork and a variety of fresh vegetable dishes – the standard and quantity of the food continued throughout our visit, one of the real highlights.
Following a much needed nap we then toured the Endangered Primates Rescue Centre and a Turtle Conservation Centre. These two informative and important initiatives are playing a key role in two critically threatened wildlife areas. Unfortunately poor protection, lack of education and the financial rewards offered by the illegal trafficking of primates and turtles leaves many of these species (some of which can only be found in the surrounding areas) facing extinction. And here was I thinking turtles only lived in the sea!
Elliot's first filming in the footsteps of David Attenborough


The ancient forest is home to over 2000 species of trees, 110 species of reptiles and amphibians, and 125 mammals, including the Clouded Leopard, Delacour's Langur, Owston's Civet and Asian Black Bear. There is also a wide range of birds and evidently the park is an incredible melting pot of colour as millions of butterflies dance to the warmth of summer in May.

Dinner for the Primates


Other highlights of the weekend

Silence – after the continual noise of Hanoi, the silence of the jungle at times was “deafening”.
Trekking through tropical Jungle

The local wildlife

Flying Lizard

Flying tourists

Blonde white girl

Laughing at local Vietnamese walking through National Park in high heels and suits!

Our Guide Huyen

The Food

Cave of Prehistoric Man – where a significant archaeological find in the 1960’s was later confirmed to date back to prehistoric people more than 7,500 years ago.


Challenge
Having spent our previous four winters in the mild temperatures of Rarotonga we have had to invest in whatever clothing we can find that fits and seems as though it will offer some assistance to our battles against the sub 10 degree temperatures – hence the stylish outfits in some of the attached photos.