That was delicious!

Street life in Hanoi

Tuesday, June 6

The beer drinkers

Today is our food tour.  After walking the streets for about 45 minutes, we finally locate the tour office.  Streets are a little confusing, with the numbering on buildings going in various directions.  Amy is our guide and we have five young Americans joining us.  The tour consists of going to various local restaurants and having a local specialty dish at each one, like a progressive dinner.  Amy explains how to eat the meal and what time of day one would usually each such meal.  The egg coffee that Cindy had and the egg hot chocolate that the boys and I opted for was delicious.  We had heard it was good, but it does sound weird.  Amy explained that it started after WWII when Vietnam was short on milk.  An American visitor wanted a cappuccino and the host improvised with an egg and condensed milk.  Been a hit ever since.  The boys were not so keen on the coriander tasting sandwich.  Some of the restaurants were tucked down narrow little hallways, and not sure if we ever would have found some of these little restaurants, even if told about them.  Over the 3 1/2 hour tour we visited eight restaurants and consumed enough food to last us the day. What was on the menu?

Egg Coffee

1. Dried Beef salad
2. Rice Vermicelli with grilled pork
3. Steamed rice pancake
4. Pho roll, Crab Emperior roll, sweet donut, and Hanoi beer
5. Southern beef noodle mixture
6. Fresh beer - good for only 24 hours before it goes bad
7. Vietnamese sandwiches and an egg coffee and egg cocoa for the boys
8. Sticky rice with ice cream and coconut
Shortly after returning to the hotel, then the rains came down.  This is the wet season.  When the rain finally subsided, we went for a walk around the lake and had an ice cream.  The place we got ice cream make these cool looking treats that we will try out tomorrow.  The walk was a bit treacherous as the paving stones are smooth and with a bit of rain are exceptionally slippery.  It is actually safer walking down the roads on the pavement.  As we return home, we have a quick snack of pork skewers at the little outdoor restaurant in the alley by our hotel.