Tips for Vietnam

Hi all,

I'll be in north & central Vietnam for a few days later this month (basically Hanoi, Hoi An/Da Nang) and am wondering if anyone has any foodie advice?

If anyone has experience with these places, I'm wondering if there are any 'must sees' or 'must dos'? Also wondering if there's anything you might look to buy there (apart from coffee)? Any market to recommend, for example?

I've spent considerable time in SE Asia and been to Vietnam (HCMC/Saigon) before, but thought it would be interesting to check on other people's experiences.

Thanks for any info

I want to try and get as well there before I leave the region.

i love that place. they sell a "Breakfast beer" over there. super cold, super fresh, very little alchohol. i think it is more about hydration for them. people walk up, slug back a glass and go to work. you cant get drunk on the stuff..i guess it is sterile being beer and all. it is kinda good. i hope the glasses were clean

food? wife and i went full immersion. we just wandered and ate what they ate. we visited countless open air markets. super fun, most of our meals were eaten in a half squat sitting on some plastic stool that is too small for me..and big bowl of noodles on some precariously tippy plastic table. it was a super adventure.

beer yes!! beetlenut..no.

Breakfast beer - not uncommon in Spain too but, yes, I remember lots of people or most people putting ice in it, at any time, in V. Already watery to begin with, and impossible to get drunk on, except maybe for my 2.5 year-old daughter (who I'm sure will prefer the jackfruit juice or something instead).

Yeah, I'm looking forward to wandering, the markets, finding things as they come, and maybe an interesting pricier restaurant or two. If only the language wasn't so impossible.

I remember a trip back to Vietnam back in 2007. Enjoyed some of the "bia hoy" (fresh beer). I think it was something like two small glasses for a quarter. They circulate around with trays full of many glasses, and you can generally get two new ones quite quickly (kinda like dim sum). Yep, it's done at sidewalk places with cheap plastic tables and chairs.
Remember going to another place with all locals and having some beer and tasty fried meat. At one point, was worried that it might have been dog (remembered seeing some in the glass case as we walked in). Pulled out my Lonely Planet and looked up the word for dog and started asking people at the tables around us if we were eating dog. After it was confirmed no, I was able to finish it. (Turned out to be rabbit.)
I just moved to Cambodia in August--looking forward to getting over to Vietnam a few times in the next couple years. Keep us posted on what you end up doing and liking, and enjoy your trip there!

Cambodia is one of my favorite places!!!

how did you swing moving there?! what do you do for a living?

man, i met a 8 year old girl begging for money. she could beg in something like 8 languages. i joked with her saying if i could get her into a school thru college she would rule the world. she was a cute kid. fun.

i also met my first true albino girl there. i have pics somewhere. she was amazing, but the sun wiped her eyes out. we tried to go back to find her, with various sunglasses, but we never made it back.

boomchakabowwow said:

Cambodia is one of my favorite places!!!
how did you swing moving there?! what do you do for a living?
man, i met a 8 year old girl begging for money. she could beg in something like 8 languages. i joked with her saying if i could get her into a school thru college she would rule the world. she was a cute kid. fun.
i also met my first true albino girl there. i have pics somewhere. she was amazing, but the sun wiped her eyes out. we tried to go back to find her, with various sunglasses, but we never made it back.

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Yes, it's a cool place. Still learning a lot about it.
My wife works for the State Department, so we're here for two years. I was an ESL Teacher in the States, but now I'm a stay-at-home dad, at least for now.
There are some really cute and talented kids begging on the streets, but it's sad they don't educate them and go for the long run. Seems like most of the money they get goes to their handler.

Asteger said:

Hi all,

I'll be in north & central Vietnam for a few days later this month (basically Hanoi, Hoi An/Da Nang) and am wondering if anyone has any foodie advice?

If anyone has experience with these places, I'm wondering if there are any 'must sees' or 'must dos'? Also wondering if there's anything you might look to buy there (apart from coffee)? Any market to recommend, for example?

I've spent considerable time in SE Asia and been to Vietnam (HCMC/Saigon) before, but thought it would be interesting to check on other people's experiences.

Thanks for any info

Click to expand...

This being a kitchen knife forum, I can tell you down town Hanoi is split up into specific shopping districts. One street is women's shoes, the next watches, perfume, luggage, etc. etc. There is one street (and I would have to hunt up the name again) where there are a long line of cutlery shops. Also many large wet markets scattered around town with cutlery stalls.

As for Hoi An I'm sure you will find the wet market there as it is fairly famous. Tends to be a little more of a tourist version than the ones in Hanoi but still interesting. The Morning Glory restaurant comes highly recommended. And of course, you need to see "China Beach."

I don't know if you are a vet but if you are don't expect them to let you forget the war. I'm probably on some kind of list there after my last trip and my failure to play their "Long Live Uncle Ho" games.

Great stuff. Thanks very much. Will definitely look into the Morning Glory in Hoi An.

Cutlery - I wasn't sure if anyone would recommend any kind of purchase in this area. I was in Hong Kong last year and had a look around, but didn't buy and felt happy and lucky to return home to my (Japanese) Chinese cleaver. Still, always fun to have a look.

Noodle Soup said:

... There is one street (and I would have to hunt up the name again) where there are a long line of cutlery shops. Also many large wet markets scattered around town with cutlery stalls.

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If it's possible to do so, that would be very nice. Thanks.

I'll be over there, in fact, within the next day.

Nguyen Khuyen St. Don't expect to find any hidden masters unknown to the Western world hammering out samurai quality blades. It is more like what the central planning commission of the old Soviet Union would have authorized. Very poor quality but there are interesting local patterns.

You also mentioned coffee. Did you try the "weasel coffee" in HCMC? I brought some home for a friend but never heard back from him on it. I was also never sure I totally believed the story that went with it. Pretty yucky.