Our second full day we did a food street food tour! It was a 3 hour journey around the center of town to the best street eats in town. I think in total we stopped at about 8 places and enjoyed a smorgasbord of dishes including “Chatting” lemon tea – a drink commonly consumed by students who cannot or don’t drink alcohol. Below are the dishes we consumed – if visiting Hanoi, I definitely recommend you do this. It was a fast, easy and delicious way to learn about Vietnamese food… and ya’ll know I love food (Disclaimer: I’m using an external keyboard so I can’t figure out how to add the accents and if the spelling is incorrect, it’s because I’m reading a handwritten note from our tour guide, Mango).

1. Bun Cho (Noodles with Barbecue Pork – my favorite!)

2. Kem Chanh (Lemon and Mint Ice Cream – refreshing & delicious)

3. Banh Won (rolled rice pancake stuffed with minced pork – delicious and the most efficient assembly line ever)

4. Bon Bia (sweet snack with shaved coconut and sesame seeds – pretty tasty to someone who hates coconut)

5. Tia Chanh (lemon and green tea with honey – uber refreshing. It was here that we learned it is illegal to sit on the street as Yemi got accosted by security)

6.

Banh Goi (pillow cake – cause it looks like a pillow)

Banh Ngot (sweet donut)

Nem iua be (crab spring rolls – THE BEST GET THEM IF YOU GO TO VIETNAM!!)

Banh Tom (shrimp cake – this was incredibly delicious too. Because the shrimp is “young” they make the cake with the shell, and we ate it. And it was great)

7. Bia Ho (Vietnamese Beer)

8.

Ruon Gao (Rice Wine – 60 proof)

Banh My (Vietnamese Sandwich – y’all already know)

Ca Phe Teung (egg coffee – a decadent, rich coffee with super pretty foam art)

I know what you’re probably thinking: how could you not have Pho on this tour?!?! The reason we didnt is because the portion sizes of Pho are large and would make it difficult to complete the food tour with the rest of the dishes. Clearly Mango does not know us as we had it for dinner at Pho 10 ;).

This would have to be my second favorite tourist activity to date (second to caring for elephants in Chiang Mai).