A marathon of eating for $20
Our first full day in Hanoi was a heaping main course of foodie heaven, with sides of tourism and custom suiting.
We started our day with a complimentary breakfast of fresh fruit and beef pho soup with all of the fixings. This hotel has really nailed personalization in a way that impressed the marketer in me—even our plate said good morning to each of us by name. Donavan learned a valuable lesson from this breakfast that he would like to share—don’t touch hot peppers with your fingers and then pee. Apparently, he had an uncomfortable morning due to this slight misstep.
Once recovered, we headed out, but didn’t make it far before a small restaurant front where a woman was frying something delicious smelling wrapped in rice paper beckoned us. We ordered two of these spring roll looking items and were brought a mound of fresh herbs and lettuce, and a bowl of vinegary dipping sauce. This excellent discovery cost us about $4.
We rounded the corner to find the tailoring district and when I saw a front that had dresses I liked, popped in to get some pricing. The fabrics and the prices were right, so I picked out a charcoal cashmere and sent the store owner pictures of my desired suit from Pinterest using What’s App. I knew those hours of pinning on my style boards would pay off eventually. Donavan, not about to be left out, also got measured for a suit and dress shirts.
Since it had been at least an hour since our last meal, we headed back to a restaurant that we had been eying next to our hotel for a noodle dish with peanuts, beef, all laid in a flavorful broth. Bun bo nam bo—seriously my favorite dish so far, just thinking about how close it is to my hotel room makes me what to head down there right now. Honestly, this dish was life changing. Salty, a little sweet, with crunch from the peanut and fat from the beef, the perfect blend of everything I want in a savory dish. Two dishes of this, a water and beer came to $6; this is what we came here for.
As we pushed off, terribly satisfied and with no specific direction, we came across the second cat of the trip, the tiniest seal point kitten. While I was entranced, Donavan was bullied into buying donuts from a street vendor. He tried to buy just $1 worth and she pointed to his pocket, indicating that he needed to pull out some more money, so he bought 6 donuts for $2. This was quickly followed with a sandwich filled with grilled pork and chili sauce for another $1.
Comfortably full, we figured that we should walk off some of what we had been ingesting by doing some true tourist sightseeing. We grabbed a taxi and wandered around a couple of pagodas, a lake, and Ho Chi Minh’s palace and grounds.
For our last meal of the day, we found a dish that looked like tacos filled with bean sprouts, meat, and shrimp. Copying the locals, we rolled the herbs and fried goodness in rice paper, dipped them in a watery sauce, and crunched away. Our most expensive meal of the day, we paid $7 for this feast. These were a little on the heavy side, and our feet were hurting, so we headed back to the hotel.
Our full stomachs, plus our tired feet and some remaining jet-lag were the undoing of our plans to go see a night market. Instead we passed out in a full food oblivion.