spacemonkey is looking for the ugly.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Hung Dao Street Market

Hanoi

Vietnam

14-17 May 2011

______

Every Saturday evening,

Hung Dao

in the Old Quarters

becomes a crowded night market

all the way into the early hours of the morning.

Packed with locals and tourists,

we knew this was the best place

to find Hanoi's delicious street grub.

Hanoi's busy streets at the Old Quarters...

It is really more terrifying than other Asian cities I have been...

there isn't much order on the streets...

and honking somehow just adds to the festive mood at Hung Dao..

______

We passed several bric-a brac shops... and then headed straight for the food!

Strangely, we were attracted to the sweets first...

Clusters of locals stoop on low chairs, which are barely a foot high

And huddle around a table where a friendly woman mixes bowls of agar-agar and "tadpoles"...

After some seemingly confident hand gestures, we ordered this!!!

Pulut Hitam in a cup with crushed ice, sago and plain yogurt!

It was awesome...

and because it didn't have the usual coconut milk,

I managed to convince myself that this was the "healthier option"

almost worthy of the Healthy Pyramid symbol!

______

After weaving through the market...

we found ourselves drawn to an alley next to a rail bridge.

Here we found a stall and several young people

doing what I would describe to be similar to Seoul Garden....

just way better....

I think it is a family-run stall... this must be the grandma.

Obviously, she guards the food..

After more hand gestures (we were slowly getting a hang of things)

We were served this plate while we sat on our bright blue scaled-down plastic street-side furniture..

Fresh cuts of beef, piled with spring onion, cilantro, corn and some egg plant on the side...

Yes... BEAT THAT FARMER'S MARKET!!

So here's the instructions...

Oil the hot plate with butter and oil

Place sliced raw beef and vegetables onto the hot plate

Once the beef is cooked perfectly (not over done),

dip in sauce (as seen in small green bowls).

The sauce is made of a mixture of fish sauce, lime juice, pepper and cut red chilies.

Put meat and vegetables into a baguette as shown above.

Best enjoyed with a bottle of local beer!!!

______

Yum...

Writing this is really difficult without feeling HUNGRY!!!

______


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