Chuc Suc Khoe (To Good Health)
Hanoi, Vietnam
May 09, 2009
We woke up and showered before heading down our five flights to the reception. We asked the girl at the front desk to book our Halong Bay tour for $90 USD each. We also asked her to call Hidden Hanoi and find out where they are located and if we can take a cooking class today. It is $40 USD each, so we asked her to reserve a spot for us. We also asked her to book the train from Hanoi to Nanning, China for the evening of the 12th. The train is going to cost 1.4 million dong each! WOW, we are spending some money today! Once everything was in order, we went to Golden Sun II for breakfast.
I had pho with chicken for breakfast (noodle soup) with tea and Bill had banana pancakes with tea. We also were given yogurt and watermelon. The soup and pancakes were both very good.
We walked to Au Trieu street, near St Joe's, to drop off our laundry. The prices are very expensive here - from 20,000 to 40,000 dong/kg. We are not going to be able to pick up our clothes before we go to Halong Bay. There was an internet/gaming place nearby, so we used the internet for 40 minutes.
At 10:45 we hailed a cab to Hidden Hanoi at 137 Nghi Tam Street. We arrived first and were waiting for another couple. The other couple did not show, so we had a private cooking lesson from Ling and her two assistants.
We were taken upstairs and Ling explained Vietnamese cuisine to us while sipping our lime water. Quite simply "no rice, no meal". Ling asked us about what our experiences and observations have been. We have had very little authentic Vietnamese cuisine so far. We have been in touristy areas and we also had a hard time recalling our meals (it is all starting to blur).
She explained that each meal consists of rice, soup, a vegetable and a meat. She explained that most meals are light, so you will not see overweight Vietnamese people (although children these days eat Fast Food and are becoming bigger) and that Vietnamese people will snack a few hours after a meal. Everything is prepared and eaten together, there is no appetizer, salad, main dish and then dessert. If there is a heavy dish, then it is balanced with two light dishes (yin and yang). She explained that her mother is very strict about what she eats, the type of food is very important seasonally and she will not eat certain combination of foods.
Ling's mother goes to the market twice a day and only eats food that is very fresh. Ling explained that there are several types of markets. The large markets like Dong Xuan in Hanoi and Ben Tranh in HCMC are government owned - useful when throwing a party, you can get everything you need there (like Walmart). The smaller markets are owned by municipalities. There are also farmers markets and street sellers that are illegal and often change locations. These are good for your everyday shopping needs.
We also learned from Ling that Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) has heavier foods (darker broth and more oil in pho, she does not like it), spicier in the middle of the country (Hue and Hoi An) and lighter in Hanoi (her favourite).
She showed us a brief clip from a French film. The film is about a young Vietnamese maid (10 yrs old) learning how to cook for the masters. It was a good way to show a Vietnamese kitchen. They had the rice and soup already prepared and fried the vegetables and meat in a wok over the coal fire. They used long chop sticks and sat on low seats to cook.
Ling and ladies have 4 dishes prepared around the square prep counter. She began by explaining the dishes and the ingredients. There are recipes at each station. It is all very well organized!
I began preparing for the fresh spring rolls (nem tuoi cuon). Ling taught me how to cut a pineapple so that it looks very beautiful. I have it on video, so I should be able to do it again! We steamed the prawns and pork, I sliced the prawns in half and sliced the pork. They have peanuts, herbs, lettuce and bean sprouts all ready to go.
Bill began preparing the stock for the sour fish soup (canh chua ca). He placed (and peeled, his fingers are yellow) turmeric, tamarind and the head and bones of the snake fish into a pot of water to boil. He chopped up the remaining fish, some pineapple, okra, taro stem and herbs to be added once the stock is ready.
I then chopped onion and chili, and minced ginger for the sweet and spicy prawns (tom sot chua ngot). Ling taught us how to remove the skin from a tomato and make it into a beautiful flower. Bill's flower looked better than mine!
Bill peeled and grated carrots and green papaya for the salad (nom du du).
We then went to work on finishing the dishes. We began by straining the stock for the soup and adding the remaining ingredients. She let us taste the soup before and after adding the herbs. Immediately there was a very different flavour. We learned that by adding more turmeric it will make the broth more yellow and remove some of the fish flavour.
We sautéed the onions, garlic and prawns and then added the chopped tomato and herbs.
We made the dipping sauce (nuoc cham) for the spring rolls with garlic, chilli, water, fish sauce, carrot, papaya, vinegar, lime, salt and sugar. We added sesame oil to the papaya salad and made a dressing with chili sauce, fish sauce, lime, vinegar, salt and sugar.
We then rolled our thin rice paper (did not need to soak) with lettuce, herbs, peanuts, pork, shrimp, bean sprouts and a spring onion. We are now ready to eat!
We sat down to enjoy Halida Beer and did a toast to Good Health (chuc suc khoe) and Ling put some rice in our bowls. You are supposed to add everything to your bowl, including soup. We started with prawns and papaya salad with rice. Then we added soup to the bowl and ate rice with it. The spring rolls were great and were softened by the damp lettuce and dipping sauce. It was all very good. I really enjoyed the papaya salad, much better than in Vientiane. We both liked the sweet and spicy prawns more than we thought we would. Bill really enjoyed the fresh flavours of the sour fish soup.
We were then provided with dessert in the courtyard. We had pomello (like grapefruit) with chilli and sugar and pineapple with Vietnamese tea. Bill stuck to the tea and Halida Beer.
Ling recommended some places to eat for us. For Vietnamese food she recommends the street stalls and Quan An Ngon on Phan Boi Chau Street. For Western food she recommends Green Mango on Hang Quat Street (a bit pricier) and Chica Restaurant on Hang Be Street. She also recommends Fusion Bar at 25 Truc Bach for belly dancing on Saturday and Cuba Lounge on Le Duan Street near Hai Ba Trung Street (to have a drink before catching the train). She also recommends this website for expats: newhanion.com. We are going to check out Chica tonight!
Ling is a delightful person. She is a great chef and has great English. We really enjoyed our time with her. She presented us with a small handmade bamboo bag with a pair of chopsticks and the recipes rolled up like a scroll. What a nice little treat!
We walked back to burn off some of the food. We walked by Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum where he is cryogenically frozen (against his wishes, he wanted to be cremated and spread in Northern, Central and Southern Vietnam to symbolize unity). We are only able to enter early in the morning, so we did not go in. We did take a tour of the place where he lived and worked from 1954 until 1958, Mango Tree Street, Ho Chi Minh's modest stilt house where he lived from 1958 - 1969 (he did not want to live in the Presidential Palace), the pond and fruit trees.
We visited the One Pillar Pagoda nearby. It is a small wooden structure on a single stone pillar surrounded by a pond. It is one of the most prominent icons in Hanoi. It was originally constructed by Emperor Ly Thai Ton in 1049, but has been rebuilt since its' destruction in 1954. There is another temple nearby with many Buddhas (some Disco Buddhas) and a section of pictures of deceased people for memorial.
We did not go into the Ho Chi Minh Museum again because it was going to close at 4:00 and it was already after 3:00.
We went to a cafe near St Joe's and had water, Hanoi Beer, carrot cake (SO GOOD) and apple strudel.
We then walked back to our hotel to catch up on booking hotels (Bill) and blogs (me) while we enjoyed Halida Beer. Bill had to make a few trips back and forth to Pinky Bar to get the beer. The Aussies were making fun of him.
We went to Chica Restaurant. Bill ordered Aussie beef with mashed potatoes and veggies with peppercorn sauce. It came with a free glass of Cabernet Sauvignon from France. I ordered the Chica steak with Foie Gras, but they were out of Fois Gras, so I ordered Aussie Lamb with mashed potatoes and veggies with red wine sauce. It also came with a free glass of wine. We also ordered a bottle of Copper Creek Cabernet Sauvignon which was really nice.
The steak and lamb came with a garnish of oregano and something that I thought was peppercorns. Bill was bold enough to sample it, and yes, it was peppercorns!
While we were having dinner, Ling entered with her Aussie friend that she had mentioned to us! He was very tall and handsome, she looked gorgeous with her hair down! It was so nice to see her again.
For dessert, Bill had vanilla ice cream with mint and I had the ocean fruit crumble (mostly raisins) with strawberry ice cream.
Our fancy meal at the 8th story restaurant with the romantic view of the city came to $79 USD. Not bad for NA standards, but kinda pricey for Asia... But, the food and wine was very good, so we can not complain.
We then walked around the night market for a bit. I was able to buy some CK undies (since we will not have our laundry back for a bit :-)) for 15,000 dong ($1).
After that, we headed back to the hotel for some more internet and off to bed. We have to be ready to leave by 8:00, the tour company for Ha Long Bay is going to pick us up early.