Vietnamese food is AMAZING

Hello and welcome back to another video, Dabby Diaries. Today we're in Hanoi and we're going to do a focus on food. So this is our first full day here and we have had some amazing food so far. We've had a Banh Mi and a coffee straight away. So we're going to focus this whole video just on food and we're going to start with some Banh Mi Chau. So we're in a place here in the old town of Hanoi called Banh Mi Chau and these dishes are, thank you, these dishes are, they've got some soy milk here as well just to start off with, some fresh soy milk, but these dishes are like a very famous breakfast. So it's kind of like an office worker's breakfast, it's nothing fancy. I think we paid for these, we paid about 70,000 Dong. Australian with the fresh soy milk, it's very different to what you get from a shop kind of like in a can or whatever. It's almost a little bit more savoury, it's very sweet but it's got a little bit of a savoury kind of almost protein-y tang to it, it's very nice. Banh Mi Chau is with the fresh bread as well. So you've got a sausage, a meatball, lovely fresh egg, a bit of Vietnamese pâté, it's a bit of tofu on there as well I think and a fresh big heap of coriander which is lovely. So I'm not really sure how to describe the flavour of this sauce, it's a little bit soy-y, very fresh and I haven't actually tried any of the cooked stuff yet but it's a really nice breakfast, it's well-rounded. We've got the pickled vegetables here as well which is really good. I am currently walking the streets of Hanoi, Abi's gone for a haircut so I'm just kind of left to wander alone. So let's do some exploring, we're in the old town at the moment and it's very very busy. It's just after a massive thunderstorm so it's nice and hot as well and humid but there's some lovely wares going. So as I've said this is our first day in Hanoi slash Vietnam and one thing that's characteristic we've noticed so far is these lovely fresh fruit and veg stalls all along the roads so you're never never short of a kind of a fresh vegetable. From countries like Laos and Thailand as well we've definitely seen an increase in the road difficulty, just kind of having to always look over your shoulder because you'll definitely get absolutely ploughed down by a moped if you're not careful. Of course saying that the road's gone quiet now, I've started to talk about this to see if I can't seek out a nice Vietnamese iced coffee and then I'll get back to you. And here we have the Vietnamese black iced coffee, this looks like absolute freaking rocket fuel. It's a lovely view as well, I'm in a place called Black and Brown Coffee overlooking a really busy intersection just I think just probably on the outskirts of Old Town in Hanoi. You'll have to excuse our sweaty hand but let's give it a go. It's really nice, it's quite bitter, it's almost fruity and floral but it's really tasty actually, very refreshing. One thing to know with Vietnamese coffee is that Robusta accounts for about 95 to 97 percent of their outputs of coffee so I've got a very rudimental understanding of coffee so if this is wrong you'll have to bear with me. But essentially Robusta is a much bitterer bean and Robusta is made mainly into kind of like instant coffees and stuff for the West so we're not really used to coffee being that bitter and that's why you have a lot of Vietnamese coffees that are very sugared because it's expats making those drinks that we see as quote unquote traditional. But I think the traditional Vietnamese coffee is kind of made with a special kind of floating kind of semen with condensed milk or something so but the coffee here is great, very fresh. I've just been for my haircut, I just had some like light layers put into it, obviously you can't see because I've got it tied back because it's really really hot outside but it's really good. I went to a place called Salon Blonde, a really good service. I literally had my hair washed and cut and I was in and out of there in literally like 25 minutes, it was crazy. It's a really good service and they're really nice in there so I would recommend. But we've come now to another cafe, I have got a salt coffee which is really interesting. It's like literally made with salt and coffee and that's what it tastes like as well, it tastes like salty coffee but it's actually really really nice. I know that sounds disgusting but it's really good, it's almost like a salted like caramel kind of flavour. So it's like you can taste the coffee and it's really sweet and it's nearly got like chocolatey notes in it as well and then just a little bit of saltiness to kind of cut through all the sweetness, it's really nice. And I've gone for the fin style coffee so it's like a really slow drip filter, it's apparently like a traditional way to drink Vietnamese coffee so I haven't tried it yet obviously because it's still dripping but we'll see. This fin coffee is absolutely the way to drink Vietnamese coffee, it really complements the flavours and really brings that rich kind of punch in the mouth essence that Vietnamese coffee really is. We've come for a quick sup now, we're at a place called Hanoi Local Craft Beer. If you want to pan around Abbey, it's a really beautiful little thing. It's on a nice busy crosswalk so it's great for people watching. We've got a nice little local brewed craft beer piece here. Now I've had about three or four coffees already today so this is nice just to level you out a little bit, I've got the shakes really. So yeah, Hanoi's really nice so far, it's very humid because we're just after a storm but Abbey was just saying something about the weather. Yeah there's a really nice little bit of a breeze today so like you'd be like really like sweaty walking around but kind of when you sit down and everything you cool off really quickly because of said breeze. And right over there as well, you obviously can't see on camera but like literally right where those trees are over there there's like a big like lake so that's probably where a lot of the breeze is coming from. It's really nice to walk around. So it is our second full day in Hanoi, we went out last night, had a few beers, really really nice, great atmosphere everything started closing up about 12, 1 o'clock which is really interesting to see all the police coming around and shutting everything up but we've come this morning, it's quite late, it's quarter past one, we didn't wake up until about 11 because I don't think we went to sleep until about 3am but we've decided to come for some bun cha because bun cha is traditionally eaten as a lunch food and the last couple of days we've just kept on missing it so we're determined today to get some bun cha. So we've ordered just two of the normal bun cha, we've just come to a place called Bun Cha, let me get it up, Bun Cha Dak Kim which is Michelin Guide recommended. It's chaotic, it's hectic, it's very busy, they've got like three big floors of tables and places to sit, it's just big long benches. So we've just gone for two bun cha and two bottles of water, we've already got the noodles, they're pre-made, they remind us of the string hoppers that we get in Sri Lanka but it smells amazing in here, it's very busy, I think we're definitely getting a traditional experience so looking forward to getting our food. This restaurant's absolutely hectic, it's three floors so that's probably the biggest restaurant we've been in yet, it looks really small from downstairs but you go in and it's like the same shop floor above and there's the same shop floor above again but these women are cleaning these tables and slinging stuff out before you're even asking for it which is amazing. I'm not that hungry at the moment but I still think I'm gonna like this, I can smell the garlic in the air, it smells absolutely amazing. See the recommendation just just above my head there. Here we go, they're coming out now. So there was an option to order like just the bun cha or the bun cha with spring rolls as well, thank you, and that looks absolutely gorgeous. We've just gotten our food, it looks and smells absolutely delicious, you can see like all like the char coming off into the So it's like pork, like dumpling kind of things, like patties, yeah the word's gone from what they actually called it in my head, and then like pork belly as well and then bits of like veg in there and then it comes on the side with the lettuce and there's Thai basil in there as well and a couple of other different types of herbs and greens but it all smells delicious. So yeah the way you eat it is that you get the noodle, dip it in, eat it like and then you can make like a wrap as well so you get the lettuce leaf and a bit of noodle and wrap it up as well and then you can adjust the taste of the soup with garlic and chilli and the lime. So I read up on this before we came out so I made sure I was eating it right, but let's dig in because it smells delicious. So what do you say, get some rice noodles and put it in? Yeah so you get the rice noodles, you don't need the rice noodles like with the broth because apparently it makes them mushy. You can't actually get them. So yeah you're just supposed to like lift them up, dip them in, get a bit of the broth and use it like that. Let's give that a go now. That flavour's amazing, such a strong broth, very very meaty, the depth of flavour's great as well. The rice noodles are almost a little bit tangy, I don't know if I'm making up in my head but it's very heavy and also like meaty and fulfilling without being too heavy, it's really good. If you actually look in these guys, they're just chock full of meat, there's so much meat. It's a lot of kind of, like Abi said, pork patties and then just kind of like pork belly as well, it's great. Well lads, now we're out of that restaurant. I will actually say, it's a little bit heretical to say, Bun Cha didn't do it for me. It was just too sweet, I don't know why. Abi was saying maybe there's, I think there's a vinegar they normally serve with it, I didn't have any of that because there wasn't any available, but yeah it just didn't do it for me. It was, that sweetness just really killed it. The meat was lovely but yeah, too sweet. So as for the Bun Cha, like Daniel said, it was very sweet. A lot of people say that though, like it is supposed to be quite sweet and then there's supposed to be like some kind of like acid to cut through it and that's like what the lime was. I've had Bun Cha before in Waterford, so take the authenticity of that as you will, but that came with like quite a lot of like vinegar stuff, which like cut through the sweetness and it worked really well together. So maybe like next time use more lime juice maybe, or they had bottles in there as well, like with all the napkins and stuff, but they were like pretty much mostly empty, so I don't know if they had like some sort of like vinegar in them or what the story was with that, but otherwise it was really really nice, like I would try it again. Now we're in a cafe called Loading Tea, we're getting some egg coffees and some water because we didn't get any water in the last place and I'm absolutely dying for it. So this is the hot egg coffee now, we've had a couple of these before but these are absolutely gorgeous, honestly. So the concept of it is, is they have a really nice whipped egg yolk, I've explained it before in this video, but it's so tasty, it's like custardy and you mix it in with a really bitter robusta espresso at the bottom, well not espresso but strong coffee and it's class. I really recommend trying one of these. This one smells, it smells quite like cinnamon-y as well doesn't it, I don't know if that's what they've like topped it with. I think it's like nutmeg as well, it's really nice, it kind of gives eggnog vibes if you live in America, it's really tasty. We've been given some pandan leaf tea as well which looks really nice, it's kind of like a palate cleanser to drink after your egg coffee and this was completely free which is very nice. Trying to explain egg coffee, I've got it absolutely correct by the way, it's kind of like the Vietnamese version of an affogato I think, it's just so nice, so thick and creamy and sweet. It's a few hours later now, we've had a bit of a rest and we're going out to get a banh mi. We're going to have to cross this bridge over the kind of eight lane motorway because we're staying just outside of Old Town and Abby says this banh mi place is really well recommended. It's a stall I think it is, so we're going to pick it up and take it back to the apartment, obviously via Circle K on the way to get some snacks and drinks and we'll give you a review when we're back at the apartment. Hanoi is absolutely busting again tonight, it's amazing, there's always people out eating no matter what time it is. It's great to see people kind of using their local businesses and you know supporting each other because I think that's just the way people work around here which is really nice. We've just arrived, it's called Banh Mi Pate Co, a massive menu to be honest, I think I'm fancying maybe just like the pate and pork I think, what are you thinking Abby? Yeah I was actually thinking the same, they do a pate and chicken one as well which is probably really nice. So that was 30k each, it is an actual shop, it's not just a stall but you can see they're making them in here now and they usually just consist of these small counters and they just kind of have all the ingredients on like a small grill and they can just chuck them together. It's great, 30k each as well. Bag secured, that actually just took about kind of five minutes maybe, dead fast service. The lady was really nice as well which always helps, always love a bit of nice customer service. This is smack bang in the middle of Old Town as well so we're not going out of our way at all for this. It is still hot, we found in Hanoi as well there's lots of mosquitoes in the evening times so just remember your bug spray and you should be fine. We've obviously not got any on today as you do. After this banh mi review we've just got the pho to do and then we've kind of completed the trifecta of Hanoi Vietnamese food and we will be trying more in the next video but please if you're enjoying this so far give us a like and subscribe, it really helps motivate us to make this content. We're all back in the flat now, let's get this cracked open and see how good it is. Abby's already eaten hers and she said it was great. I've left it like an hour or so so it's going to be cold but I think it'll still be absolutely amazing. So just to remind you what we got was the grilled pork and pate banh mi and Abby was saying she could have done with a bit more sauce in it so if you look you can kind of see the red sauce back there a little bit but the pate really does carry apparently so let's get tucking in. That's amazing yep, the pate gives it a real amazing flavour depth and the pork and just it's just a really well crafted thing um absolutely perfect I didn't get a lot of sauce in that but the pate almost you know provides the the I don't want to say moisture that you know what I mean and yeah I wouldn't there's absolutely nothing that I would change about that the flavour is just absolutely perfect no negative reviews here. The level of flavour it kind of reminds me like Chinese duck pancakes honestly it's just so So here we are it's a new day we're in a pho restaurant we're gonna hit the famous pho and it looks and smells absolutely amazing we've gone for like a rare beef flat pho with these fried rice sticks as well so kind of a famous thing you dip in it's a lot more of a nice atmosphere in this restaurant and this smells amazing so let's tuck in and we'll give you a review after. Yeah it's so nice we're about halfway through eating it it's absolutely delicious the little fried dough sticks are great they've got like a slight chewiness to them that's really really nice and a slight like doughnut-y flavour but it goes really well with like the really savouriness of the broth it's lovely the beef in it is absolutely delicious it's like a like a steak kind of um it's like a steak kind of beef so I think it was like like raw when they put it in and it's cooked in the broth um but yeah no it's delicious definitely recommend it's much a better dining experience than the bun cha place we went to yesterday as well we've got water and napkins which we didn't have yesterday which made it a bit of a treacherous experience but so definitely happier today. We've come into a restaurant now for our dinner um to try banh xeo it's spelled I'm not entirely sure if I'm pronouncing it correctly but we've come and what we didn't realize it's actually a vegan restaurant which is really interesting I wouldn't have thought that would be much of a thing in Vietnam but it must be or maybe it's just for the tourists I don't know but we've ordered um I'm not really sure thank you I'm not really sure what we've ordered to be honest but you'll see in a minute whatever it is but she's come and she's given us a load of stuff on the side like side dishes uh that I presume are for free so it's got rice and lettuce and bean sprouts and like a tofu as well and then a little dipping sauce which is really nice and you know she showed us how to eat it so you get the tofu you get rice in your bowl and you get tofu and you dip it in the sauce add it to your bowl and then you get some greens and dip it in the sauce and add it to your bowl and then kind of eat everything in one go and that's really nice so it'll be interesting to see what the restaurant food ends up like so this is going to be our last meal of this video but it's really great so the spring rolls have came now abby's little dish has come and it's really intense flavors it's so tasty the spring rolls are great the spring rolls are served with a really nice unique dipping sauce as well over here and yeah I can't fault this at all thank you yes please thank you and here's the pork as well thank you uh this looks really good so it's all vegan like abby said we weren't actually expecting that but it kind of works well because we know there's not gonna be any seafood in it which is good for me but yeah let's crack on so that was really fun to film and I hope you enjoyed watching it if you enjoyed the video please leave us a like and subscribe and any recommendations you have for vietnamese food in the comments because we'll be here for another couple of weeks catch in the next one