Hanoi: Banh Cuon, Bia Hoi, and what to do in Hanoi at 430am......

We were still pretty full after our wall to wall multi-course snake meal, and pretty wiped out as well. We had been running on adrenaline since arriving in Hanoi, and it was starting to catch up, we were tired, and needed to slow things up a bit. Luckily, making a decision for dinner wasn't very hard, on the previous evening we had seen a lady making Banh Cuon right around the corner on Hang Bac....and it looked pretty darn good. So we walked on over and had a seat on the little plastic stools, and decided to share an order of Banh Cuon. It was fun watching our sheets of rice flour being turned into, nice elastic noodles.

Speed and economy of motion were in full display.....

While the noodle was cooking, a full complement of side dishes and garnishes were set out,  including some fresh herbs, a hot soupy nuoc mam based dipping broth with Chả Quế(cinnamon pork sausage), limes, and sliced orange chilies, which, in addition to being mildly spicy, had a nice sweet flavor.

Several times during the process, the Missus made a play for the Banh Cuon.

But the Woman would shake her head and make the international sign to stop......I guess no Banh Cuon was to be eaten until it's time!

These noodles(almost like Cheong Fun - but more delicate), though not the best we had on the trip, had a generous amount of minced pork and cloud ear filling, and the fried shallot topping was quite tasty.  It is also deceivingly filling......total cost 20,000VND(about $1.25 US - I'm pretty sure we were charged "tourist price" on this, but that's fine).

Bia (A)Hoi........

Sufficiently satiated, we decided that we just needed to try Bia Hoi, aka fresh beer, brewed daily without preservatives, and low in alcohol content, we thought this would make a nice little night cap. We stopped at a little stand, full of plastic kiddie seat and tables, and had a seat, knees tucked almost to our chins, on a little corner of Hang Buom.

This light, highly carbonated beverage is a microbrew in name only.....the fragrance is that of beer, but the taste is very close to that of non-alcoholic beer. It is very cold and refreshing, and best of all, a glass costs about 20 cents US! In spite of what we read, all of the Bia Hoi places we passed were full of tourists. We chose this one because, even though it was full, it didn't look as packed as others....and there were a few locals having a brew. We sat next to a table fo 4 Asians, 3 guys and a woman, and wouldn't you know...they start talking in Chinese! Turns out they're from Guangzhou..... The Missus was having a nice conversation with them, when the young man to our right starts talking in Chinese as well. He's from Taiwan......what are the odds????

As the Missus's conversation passed from one topic to another....I managed to sneak in 3 more glasses of Bia Hoi, and finished off the remainder of Hers. 5 glasses of Bia Hoi - 15,000VND(less than a buck!). You know....maybe I can get really used to this......

What to do in Hanoi at 430 AM.......

Yes, jet lag was rearing its ugly head....it was 330am and the Missus and I were wide awake. So what to do? Well, Hanoi seemed a very safe city...we decided to take a walk at 430 in the morning...there's no way I'd do this in most places, even at home in San Diego, but there were people out and about...many of them Women. The great thing was how few motorbikes there were on the road. But what the heck was going on at 430 in the morning? Well, after walking all the way up past Dong Xuan Market, we noticed some activity on one of the streets just East of the market....taking a left on Pho Nguyen Thien Thuat we stumbled onto a street live with activity....

So you've heard of all those early morning wholesale markets, that sell to the various restaurants..... Welcome to Hanoi's much smaller version of Tsukiji Market. Except instead of fish....

It was full on, wall to wall beef.....

The street was full of hacking, haggling, and hurrying, as beef and pork was divided up, bought, and driven off on the backs of motorbikes. Bones were cracked and chopped right on the asphalt.

And purchased for what could possibly be todays or tomorrows Pho.

And since we need to give pork equal time. This little piggy went to market....

And never made it back home.....I saw one of the ladies divide this guy up in less than 5 minutes! I wouldn't want to get on Her "bad side".

Around the corner is the produce section.

All headed for a food stall, and possibly a small plastic table near you......

It was quite a sight, the chilies were beautiful, and the veggies fresh. What else would you expect from a wholesale food market anywhere? All while the rest of Hanoi slept.....

I hope you'll excuse the photos....we took all of them without the use of the flash......

Fish sauce or hot sauce anyone?

We felt so lucky to have stumbled onto this lively impromptu market...a few hours later, you'd never have known this place even existed.

As we walked back toward our spot for Banh Gio we noticed these ladies hard at work dividing up, and bagging charcoal.

Talk about hard, dirty work!

We were on our way......to breakfast, and later to Halong Bay.....but the memory of the women bagging charcoal somehow remained on my mind for a while.

Comments

[Beach]

Kirk,
You did not get charge for tourist price for "Banh Cuon". 20,000 VND is the going price for 3 of those rolls in Saigon as well. 2 rolls are slightly cheaper at at 15,000 VND.That looks really good. I missed walking to Dong Xuan market early in the morning to have " Bun Rieu Oc" at 8000 VND a bowl. Inflation might have raised the price a little more since summer of 2006.

[sharon]

Oh, how I miss bia hoi. I am a fan of Bud Light, so water-beer is just fine with me :)

Looks like you had quite the adventure- I certainly didn't find the asphalt slaughterhouse!

[Kirk]

Hi Beach - That's good to know....these were good, lot's of filling. Walking around without all the traffic allowed us to notice things we usually wouldn't.

Hi Sharon - We just stumbled upon that street....we had inkling it even existed. For once, jet lag paid off! BTW, we used to drink "Bud-light, bucket ice" all the time back home in Hawaii.

[janfrederick]

Pardon the photos? Come on! I have baskets of chilis on my desktop now thanks to you. ;)

[ed (from Yuma)]

Totally amazing. Wow thanks for sharing. Loved the pics too!

[Kirk]

Hi Jan - he-he-he, better a baskets of chilies, than a gutted pig laying over a motorbike! It was pretty hard to photograph with our dinky little cameras....

Hi Ed - We felt so lucky....like we had hit the lottery....I must admit, that does sound a bit odd. But that's how we felt!

[nhbilly]

That was very cool. My wife has been back to Vietnam but I have yet to or felt the need to sit on a plane for more than 18hours+. But the beer on the other hand I might be able to manage. ;-)

[nhbilly]

Forgot to ask what is floating in the fish sauce? Is it fried tofu or fried cha lua?

[Candice]

Hi Kirk - Welcome back! Ladies with Cleavers is the name of my new band. Your photos are great - can't wait to maybe hear some stories in person after you've recuperated.

[kat]

what a great find in the wee hours!

[Kirk]

Hi Billy - That was Cha Que - cinnamon sausage, good stuff! Flying Elite class was not bad.....

Hi Candice - LOL! Sounds like you all are abunai!!!!

Hi Kat - We felt really lucky.....

[Rachel]

Those photos are pretty good even without flash! Wow another new vietnamese dish to try :) That banh cuon sure looks yum. Its amazing what you can catch at all hours of the day in SEA ! glad that your jet lag helped you on this adventure. I hope you caught up on sleep later though.

[[eatingclub] vancouver]

Great post!

It's so exciting to see a wet market! So different from the sanitized, plastic-packaged meats we get from the supermarkets.

Thank you for sharing the experience.

[Kirk]

Hi Rachel - Yes, the jet lag was a blessing in disguise, at least this time!

Hi ECV - It was a different experience if you're used to getting your meat in styrofoam trays covered with shrink wrap....