At the end of September, I went to Hong Kong and Vietnam. One was orderly, one was chaos; both were hot as hell. The best meals invovled eating hot brothy soups while perched on a tiny plastic stool, sweat trickling down my back.

Favorite things about hong kong? The Upper House hotel. The PMQ, a series of shops, restaurants, and pop-up exhibits in what used to be the Police Married Headquarters building. The restaurants Ronin, Yardbird, Sohofama, and Ho Lee Fook. Air conditioning. The breakfast buffet at the JW Marriott. The mid-levels escalators. Trying to find things inside of malls. (Everything is inside a mall).

Favorite things in Vietnam? The entire city of Hanoi. The Metropole Hotel. The street food tour given by Hanoi Cooking Centre. Crossing the street. Babies on motorbikes. Iced vietnamese coffee with sweetened condensed milk. The Nam Hai resort near Hoi An, with their infinity pool and Bloody Mary bar at breakfast. Noodle soups. Three showers a day. It was hot.

I have so, so many more photos to share but decided to save pictures from the town of Hoi An and nearby Nam Hai resort for later. They were so photogenic I may have gotten carried away…

If you’d like a little Hanoi food intel, here’s what I can tell you:

Bún riêu cua is the best thing I ate on this trip. It’s a rice noodle soup with a tomato and crab based broth. The crab is pounded into “paste” form, so it appears sort of brown and foamy, which I admit sounds a little strange. But I didn’t think too hard, I just ate. There are chunks of tofu and tomato, and loads of greens to put on top. Heaven.

Bún cha. Another rice noodle dish with thin, charcoal-grilled slices of pork and the occasional pork meatball type thing. The brothy dipping sauce is flavored with thinly sliced green papaya and it’s served cool… well, anywhere from cool to room temp, let’s say. Like pho or the bún riêu cua, it’s served with a plate of herbs and lettuces on the side. I’m in love with it. Bún thit nuóng is a similar dish without broth, just pork and rice noodles, with pickled carrots, cucumber, peanuts, a fish sauce, and a plate of herbs and lettuces.

Bánh xèo. These are like a Vietnamese crepe, only made of rice flour. I loved watching it made fresh in front of me. They’re topped with shrimp, pork bits, and bean sprouts, then fresh herbs. The lady who made mine folded it in half, cut it in half with kitchen shears, and then rolled each half in a rice paper wrapper. The heat and grease from the crepe “cooks” the wrapper, and they’re served with a tangy fish sauce. Perfect lunch.

Bánh cuôn. Look for these at breakfast time. The wrappers are made from a fermented rice batter that’s steamed into sheets, then filled with ground pork, wood ear mushrooms (which I saw a lot of in Vietnam in the markets – didn’t realize it was so popular there!) and fried shallots. Served with fish sauce and fresh herbs, of course. I had the tiniest bit of a hard time with the texture of the wrappers, but I seemed to be the only one at the table having an issue. It’s easy to find street side, and the filling was delicious.

Bún bò Hue. It’s essentially pho bo, or beef pho, just done in the way they make it in Hue. The broth was spicy and red, and infused with lemongrass. I had this in Ho Chi Minh City, during the 36 hours or so that I was there. I never came across it in Hanoi. It’s truly great.

 

top row, left to right: bún riêu cua, bún cha.

bottom row, left to right: vendors at Dông Xuân market