Street Food Thursdays

For the past month or so, we’ve been having weekly street food nights with a group of friends, where someone picks a new, delicious-looking dish to try and we all meet up to check it out. It’s turned into a nice way to sample Hanoi’s cuisine, which is really built around street food – and the tiny little stalls with child-sized plastic stools that sell it. Last night was Alison’s turn to choose, and she picked a place that specializes in cháo cá, or fish porridge. It’s basically creamy rice porridge with chunks of an unknown white fish, scallions and dill, and it’s surprisingly delicious. We had it for dinner, but it’s also a breakfast food (sort of like cream of wheat…except with fish…and MSG).

The first street food night was an outing to chicken street, which, like you’d expect, is a street that’s lined with giant charcoal grills that the vendors use to grill up skewers of chicken wings or feet (gà nướng), along with sweet potatoes (khoai) and baguettes (bánh mỳ). All the food is coated in this sugary glaze before it’s grilled, so it’s deliciously sweet – and then you dip it in a chili sauce that makes the whole thing taste like spicy barbeque. Mmm. Unfortunately, we recently learned that some of the chicken they use isn’t the freshest, and they scrub it down with laundry detergent to clean it up. So be it.

Some of the other things we’ve tried on street food Thursdays are: sticky rice (xôi) with various savory toppings, assorted fried dumpling-like things (bánh gôi, bánh rán mặn) and BBQ pork ribs (sườn nướng). Of course, this doesn’t include all of the street food we’ve had on our own: phở bò (beef noodle soup), bún riêu (sour tomato and crab noodle soup), bánh cuốn (rice flour pancakes rolled with mushroom and pork), bún chả (grilled pork with noodles and broth), phở xao (stir-fried noodles with beef and some vegetables), bánh chuôi (deep-fried banana) and bánh mỳ trứng (scrambled egg sandwich on a baguette), just to name a few. It’s absolutely amazing the variety of dishes that are available on the streets, and it’s been a great way to see the city and experience the culture. The deliciousness is a plus too.

If you’re curious about what some of these things look like or want more of a description, this website has a great street food section – just move your mouse over where it says “Street Food” at the top left, and you can click on any of the categories to see some examples. Careful though, it may make you extremely jealous. And hungry.