Vietnam as Nammers Know It

The best Pork and Rice in Ha Noi: They baked the pork to a nice tenderness, pull out the ribs, and glaze it with a soy-sesame-spice concoction, then grill it. Add some fresh mints. They also pay very careful attention to the rice, which is of high quality and well-cooked. (R) Address: Quan 123 on Nguyen Du.

(L) The Bun Ngan Addict: this one is at the old quarters, another classic sidewalk shop with plastic chairs acting as tables - not as good as I’ve had at the end of Mai Hac De street though. (R) Hands and chestnuts: Waterchestnuts at the old quarters…$1 for a huge bag – it tastes crunchy and refreshing.

Lẩu thập cẩm: hot pot, Ha Noi style. Pick a place that’s reasonably clean and packed with locals. VND 100,000 for the whole thing, pig brain and all. Get extra clam – they are inexpensive and make that broth heavenly sweet. If you are skeptical about what they’d put in the hot pot’s broth, just ask for plain water (or bottle water) - season it yourself with satay, soy sauce, lemon grass etc…it’s shabu shabu! Oh, avoid the “cật heo”…it’s one of the most terrible tasting part of the pig if not cleaned right.  

(L) Crazy for Ốc Nóng: best ones I’ve had at 1A Đinh Liệt. They mix the smaller ốc with the bigger ones, boiling them with lots of leongrass. Eat just the meaty heads, dunk them in the nuoc mam-ginger-lemon leaves concoction. Ask for a hot bowl of the broth (nước ốc), and make sure you drink some rice wine or rượu thuốc. If you have a Ha Noi friends who can consume 4 bowls of ốc in one seating, you know they’ve taken you to the right place. (M) and (R) Xôi Xéo at “Xôi Yến” (thanks to the tip from Trang, a nammer visitor): it’s xôi on steroid, topped with anything from stewed pork (thit kho tau) to the more tradditional condiments like lap xuong or chả quế. Not sure where the “xéo” part comes from, but I notice they carve up a large helping of đậu xanh on your sticky rice. The green beans, deshelled, boiled, ground, and compacted…lay on bamboo mats like mountains of canon balls.

Roasted Rice Tea: Because one can not live on snails alone Nước Gạo Rang. Thick, piping hot and strangely comforting in the Ha Noi cold. It tastes of roasted hazelnut, pumpkin seeds, and a hint of cinamon or nutmeg. I’d take this .50 cents drink over Starbucks’ $4 chai tea any day!(R) That’s the address

In the morning, I’d like to take walk along Ho Guom, when I am likely to catch what I think is very “Ha Noi” moments. (L) Looking to ancestors: At Ly Thai To altar in front of Hồ Gươm. (R) Morning walk: typical Ha Noi attire for older women on cold mornings: black silk PJs pants, áo dạ sweater, black head scarf underneath nón lá.  

At Tan Son Nhat airport on Saturday afternoon, Flight 341 was delayed by 1 hour due to “supplementary engine maintenance”. People started to get worried. Some worried about the plane’s flight worthiness. Some worried that they won’t get to the beach before the sun went down (I was one of them). Most called their loved ones, asking them to pick them up one hour later. It didn’t help the situation that the AC did not work very well, and people were getting hot.

Well, there was one of them that didn’t seem to give a shit about the plane’s conditions: the man from Nghe Tinh. He got bigger worries.

This was his first time flying. He needed to see his son, now hospitalized in Da Nang hospital who’s been hit with some weird stomach problem that got him “partially paralyzed”. He was about to take the bus, but “it would take too long.” So he’d opt to flying, though he’s very skeptical about the whole concept of flying (with good reasons today).

Suddenly, my worry of missing the sunset in Da Nang seemed utterly trivial.

Just another day at the office…