Hanoi - 12 Flower Seasons

Coming to Hanoi in different times, you are likely to admire a different image of Hanoi in its air and flowers. Hanoi – the capital city of Vietnam is endowed by the Nature with numerous featured flowers which you can only see in certain months.

1. January is covered by the peach blossoms

Peach blossoming in Spring

Upon arrival of spring, we will meet the image of bicycles bringing branches of peach blossoms along every street, from the big ones to the small lanes of Hanoi.

Peach blossoming in Spring

 It is the small beautiful blossoms that remind us about the arrival of another warmly Tet – the biggest holiday in Vietnam – a rare chance for family members who live far from each other to gather and enjoy cherry moments.

Flowers of dalbergia tonkinensis (Hoa sưa) covers Hanoi with pure white color in February

Sua flower

If you take a tour in Hanoi in the late February or early March of lunar calendar, you will see a Hanoi shining with the pure white color of Hoa sưa.

Hoa sưa is very beautiful but its time is rather short. Suddenly, when you wake up in the early morning, you will see a white color covering the sky like an unexpected gift. But the blossoms will soon be gone with the wind, leaving space for green leaves.

March is the month of bombax flowers

Mộc mien or Pơ Lang flowers 

Bombax flower which has also known as Mộc mien or Pơ Lang flowers is very popular in villages of Northern Vietnam in general and in Hanoi in particular. 

Mộc mien or Pơ Lang flowers 

This kind of flower is associated with the childhood of many generations. Its blooming remind us a nearly end of the spring and a sunny summer is coming.

The image of blazing red bombax flowers offers Hanoi a peaceful beauty.

Hanoi in April is filled with Lily flowers

 Lily flowers

Upon arrival of April in Hanoi, mixed together with the summer sounds is the image of bicycles of lily flowers reaching every corner of Hanoi. 

 Lily flowers

Seemingly, almost everyone want to spend some of their time stopping at the vendors and bring some branches of lily which owns a pure white and perfume.

May arrives with banaba and flamboyant –the flowers of students

Banaba and flamboyant flowers are those which are associated with the one of the most innocent moments of a person – the moment of being a student. 

banaba and flamboyant –the flowers of students

These two types of flowers go one by one create a long summer. When the violet color of banaba flowers becomes fainted, we start seeing blazing red flamboyant flowers along the streets.

Hanoi welcomes June with lotus

lotus flower

When you see June touching Hanoi is the time you also see its symbol – lotus. With its beauty and perfume, lotus is in the favorite list of every Hanoian. It is not for decoration, it is for taking photos also. To pick the best lotuses, the lotus picker must wake up in the very early morning, paddling their boats along maze of lotus leaves and pick the fresh lotuses.

July is time of sunflowers and aragonite flowers

sunflowers

Many Hanoians like sunflowers. Bikes covered by blazing yellow color attract the eyes of all people on the street.

Together with sunflowers, July in Hanoi is associated with the image of aragonite flowers – a gentle flower of summer in Hanoi which is not known by many people. Due to it very small size, people is unlikely to see the aragonite flowers if they do not pay their attention.

The flowers of Clausena excavata burm bring August to Hanoi

When the soil is wet by showers – typical of summer in Hanoi is the time we see image of thousands of thousands of tiny clausena excavate burm flowers blooming. And they will sway lightly in the wind of the summer.

September – month of milk flowers

milk flowers

When thinking of the autumn in Hanoi, people often think of the image of milk flowers. Bundles of lightly yellow flowers with fragrant perfume have entered into songs of Hanoi in a very natural way. With the fast pace of life, people can sometimes forget the date or month, but only an unexpected sweet scent of the milk flowers is enough to remind us about the arrival of another autumn.

October – month of various kinds of daisies

Daisy

Daisy is the featured flower in the transition of autumn and winter. Daisies are in various colors from yellow to white, all making an attractive Hanoi.

November comes together with forget-me-not flowers

forget-me-not flowers

November in Hanoi is associated with violet color of forget-me-not flowers. For many people, this kind of flower represent the faith in love.

forget-me-not flowers

December comes with yellow blumea flowers

yellow blumea flowers

Covering Hanoi when the December comes, the seemingly simple flowers is associated with the childhood of many generations

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Source: eleganthanoi

Bun oc –Snail noodle soup - Hanoi’s tasty winter and summer

Snail noodle soup in Hanoi

 1. Snail noodle soup - an unique dish in Hanoi

The humble snail has pride of place in Vietnamese cuisine, especially in Hanoi. A kind of snail living in ponds and lakes that grows to the size of a golf ball is used to make a uniquely delicious dish called bun oc (snail noodle soup).

Hanoians usually eat bun oc for breakfast or lunch, particularly in winter. When it gets cold, it is hard to imagine anything more delightful than slurping down a bowl of steaming hot and spicy soup with the chewy but tasty snail in it.

Bun oc is mostly loved for its broth, a blend of sweet, sour, and spicy flavors. Thach Lam, a famous writer, once wrote in his book, Hanoi 36 Old Quarters: “Sour and hot snail broth … makes one shed tears more earnestly than does love.”

The best snails for this dish are oc buou and oc nhoi, two large, rather rounded snails with streaks of color.

After boiling the mollusks, the cook pulls the meat out of the shell and fries it with onions, fish sauce, and MSG.

The broth is made from the water used to boil the snail and cooked with tomatoes to make it sour and pig bones to make it sweet. Tofu, vinegar, cooking oil, pepper, salt, sugar, and dried chili are then added to the consommé.

The snails are placed in a bowl of rice vermicelli and the broth is poured over them.

Bun oc is accompanied by a variety of fresh vegetables and herbs like lettuce, coriander, perilla, knotweed, and basil.

2. Where to eat Snail noodle soup in Hanoi

Snail noodle soup in Hanoi

Read more about 5 famous grilled fish pie ( Cha ca) restaurant in Hanoi

It is said in Hanoi that women frequent bun oc stalls more than men. It could be because the dish is not fatty and can be eaten as a snack between meals.

For Hanoians, the dish is the most sought-after food during the Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays when they are usually glutted with meat.

While a bowl of hot snail noodle soup is perfect for winter, bun oc nguoi (nguoi means cold) is the dish of choice in summer. When customers order for cold bun oc, the vendor will give them a plate of rice vermicelli, a bowl of boiled snails, and a small bowl of dipping sauce.

The snails are served with vermicelli dipped in the dipping sauce which is a mixture of fish sauce, vinegar, ginger, and chili.

Bun oc can be found in small shops along streets and alleys or on a pavement where a vendor has been plying his or her trade for years.

It is not clear why snail noodle soup is much more delicious at street stalls than at home, but street vendors keep their recipes secret.

In Hanoi the most famous streets for bun oc are Mai Hac De, Hoe Nhai, Hang Chieu, and Hang Khoai and the area near West Lake (Ho Tay).

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5 MOST FAMOUS GRILLED FISH PIE (CHẢ CÁ ) RESTAURANTS OF HANOI

5 famous cha ca restaurant in Hanoi

1. Chả cá Anh Vũ Restaurant - Hanoi 

In hundreds techniques to cook/ Semilabeo notabilis, a species off cyprinid in Vietnam, Chả cá is regarded the most complicated one of Hanoi  because of strict requirements from the very first process to the final step in order to maintain the unique taste of this special type of fish. Amongst which, seasoning is especially important and sensitive. Although the recipe is the same with all the required ingredients, only a very little change may result in imbalance and damage the whole dish.

Cha Ca Anh Vu does not only surprise you with its premium taste but also its shocking low price at around US$20 for 4 people. One or two glasses of red wine may make the taste of Cha Ca Anh Vu more charming.

Address:116 K1 Giang Vo, Ba Dinh, Hanoi.

2. Cha Ca La Vong Restaurant - Hanoi

5 famous cha ca restaurant in Hanoi

Cha Ca La Vong can be considered one of the symbols of the capital city. It was named after one street inside Hanoi Old Quarter. First served Hanoian gourmets since French colonial time by Đoàn family, this dish has been being one of the most favorite dishes and the pride of Hanoi citizens.

Cha Ca La Vong gives its best taste when it is still boiling in vegetable oil pan. Eating this special dish requires some techniques for the best enjoyment: grasp a piece of fish and then use spoon to draw some boiling oil in the pan to pour onto it and eat with rice vermicelli, peanuts, coriander, dill, spiced fresh onion and an indispensable ingredient – mắm tôm (fish sauce).

Address:14 Cha Ca Street, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi.

3. Chả Cá Kinh Kỳ Restaurant - Hanoi

5 famous cha ca restaurant in Hanoi

Read more about Hanoi gastronomy in a time of change

Cha Ca Kinh Ki is another standing out place which attracts a huge amount of both international and local gourmets. Every single piece of fishes is carefully filtered before being seasoned during hours then grilled on opened coal oven.

Getting customers order, the attentive staffs of the restaurant would immediately bring a small stove, put a pan on then pour in vegetable oil and wait until it is hot enough. Golden pieces of grilled fish and fresh green herbal leafs such as coriander, basil, pickled onions together with tiny bowl of peanuts, a dish of rice vermicelli and foaming bowl of Mắm tôm and a few drops of aromatic Cà cuống essence would bring about a truly taste of the capital city’s cuisine.

Address:

25 Duong Thanh, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi

621 Lac Long Quan, Tay Ho, Hanoi.

41 Huynh Thuc Khang, Ba Dinh, Hanoi.

172 Nguyen Son, Long Bien, Hanoi.

104 Hoa Ma, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi.

4. Chả cá Lão Ngư Restraurant - Hanoi

5 famous cha ca restaurant in Hanoi

Mentioning Chả cá, the best species of fish used to cook this dish is hermibagrus. However, due to the rareness and the high price of hermibagrus, snakehead fish is now the most popular ingredient to cook chả cá. However, Chả cá at Lão Ngư Restaurant is made from catfish, which is tender and greasier than snakehead fish.

Recommendation for ones seeking for a more diversified meal is one or two dishes of fired fish stomach, which maybe too strange to westerners. That one reason only is worth a try and the others can be found out by your adventure mind.

Address:171 Thai Ha, Dong Da, Hanoi.

5. Cha Ca Thang Long Restaurant - Hanoi

5 famous cha ca restaurant in Hanoi

Cha Ca Thang Long has a special taste that cannot be expressed by words that one can only feel by tasting it. From the ingredients, raw material to soup powder, they all exclusively appear at Cha Ca Thang Long.

When being asked the secret of making such delicious Cha Ca, the owner of the restaurant said that it is the love for cooking, the will to carry on a traditional food and an ambition to make Cha Ca becoming well-known to the world like Pho that create Cha Ca Thang Long.

Address:19-21-31 Duong Thanh, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi

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Source: Vietwindtravel

Hà Nội Gastronomy in a time of change

1.      Hanoi cuisine

Spring rolls- a famous Vietnamese dishes

 Hà Nội has always been famous for its traditional dishes, which, though often made from ordinary ingredients, are justly famous for their subtlety and delicious flavors.

In The Tale of Kiều, Nguyễn Du called them thói trần – the precious things and delicious dishes of each season, or more precisely, of every different weather pattern in each season.

Bun cha Hanoi

Among the many tasty delicacies of the city are Vòng’s young glutinous rice, Hàng Than bánh cốm (young green sticky rice),chả cá (Lã Vọng grilled fish), phở bò (flat rice noodle soup with beef), bún chả (round rice noodles with grilled pork), bún thang(hot round rice noodle soup with many ingredients), steamed sticky rice and sweet bean porridge. One must also mention the very simple round rice noodle soup with crab paste as well asbánh đúc (plain rice cake) with fresh water crab soup.

Some dishes and drinks are more often served at particular times of the year: glutinous rice liquor in the fifth month of the lunar calendar, trôi (small round sticky rice cake), chay (round sticky rice cake eaten with sweet porridge) in the third month, bánh nướng (baked pie), bánh dẻo (sticky rice cake with filling) in the eighth month, and sugar-coated lotus seeds during the Tết holiday. Most of these foods cost very little and taste wonderful, making them popular with rich and poor alike. 

2.      Hanoi Food – Unity in Diversity

a Vietnamese restaurant in Hanoi

During its 30-year war, Việt Nam had to face more than one period of grave difficulty and hunger. Many people conserved food in an effort to supply the front. Many of Hà Nội’s most famous dishes nearly fell into oblivion. This is also the time of the State subsidy system in North Việt Nam. Under this system, food was strictly rationed to insure that everyone ad enough to survive. Wartime conditions also posed great difficulties for Việt Nam’s agriculture and demand often outran supply. Cereal crops were especially hard hit and food like phở (soup with flat noodles) and bún (round rice noodles) and nem(spring rolls) sometimes disappeared from kitchens and markets.

Coffee was also in very short supply, domestic consumers having to make do with tiny amounts of broken and second-rate coffee beans. The best coffee, though also in short supply, had to be saved for export. When the war ended in 1975, some of the hardship was relieved, but conditions were still difficult and recovery from the effects of war slow. The year 1986 opened a new period known as đổi mới and during the past 15 years the Vietnamese economy has experienced strong growth and the living standard of the Vietnamese people has improved considerably. Tea shops and cafés are common in every street. Now, almost any kind of coffee or tea are available, from Arabian coffee, Trung Nguyên, Buôn Ma Thuột to Thái Nguyên as well as both English and French tea.

Vietnamese cake

Read more about Hanoi - a yellow mustard blossoming season.

Việt Nam, barely able to feed itself during the war, has become the second largest exporter of rice in the world. Food and cereal are now abundant. Some 3.5–4 million tons of rice are exported annually. As a matter of course, many kinds of food and drinks from local specialties to popular snacks, have recovered their former places on Vietnamese menus. Vòng young sticky rice, for one, has made its way back after almost disappearing during the dark days of the war. Indeed, many of the popular old dishes are being updated and given a modern twist. Given the many exchanges within the Southeast Asia region and the world, the wealth of Vietnamese gastronomy is being further enriched by imported ingredients and experience with foreign dishes. Many restaurants and hotels now have Russian, Indian or French chefs, serving almost every kind of dishes, from common to luxurious. In the five-star Métropole Sofitel Hotel, there is a corner of street gastronomy called “Spicy Garden”, resembling a culinary Hà Nội in miniature and serving many of the dishes available along Hà Nội’s streets and in its alleys. In any event, one can now eat snails from a street vendor on one street, turn a corner and, entering a trendy café, sit down to a chicken Ceasar salad wrapped in pita bread!

Vietnamese bread

But the real joys of Hà Nội cookery are to be found in the little restaurants owned by natives of the city, many of which specialize in one or two specific foods. Hà Nội’s phở and bún clearly show their vitality as well – from early in the morning till late at night, numerous kinds of bún, ranging from those served with bamboo shoots to those with ribs, crab paste or grilled meat can be easily found.

3.      Where to eat street food in Hanoi

Street food in Hanoi

Some entire streets limit themselves to a particular specialty. These streets of food and drink such as Hàng Bông, Lê Văn Hưu, Mai Hắc Đế, Nam Ngư, Tông Đản, Hàng Giấy and many others are becoming very common – people seem to enjoy eating amid the hustle and bustle of traffic and shopping. Hàng Than Street at present boasts over ten shops producing and selling bánh cốm (young sticky rice cake).

Vietnamese restaurant

Eating out is a good way to experience some of what is unique about Hà Nội. On a rainy and cold afternoon, one may come to Chả Cá Restaurant in the old quarter to eat chả cá and sip a cup of rice liquor, immersing one’s soul in the atmosphere of old Hà Nội. Or on a windy late summer afternoon, one may wish to go to Thanh Niên Road, the narrow causeway that divides Hồ Tây (West Lake) from Trúc Bạch Lake, to watch the moon rise and taste West Lake shrimp cake, a delicacy combining many flavors - sour, sweet and hot – which make it easy on one’s stomach. 

Hanoi street food

Those who like fast food or traditional dishes come to Hàng Hành Alley or Đinh Liệt Street. There, one has a wide range of choices, from bread with beef-steak, crisps to hot rice noodle soup. Huế Street and the far end of Mai Hắc Đế Street are home to sủi cảo, a kind of pasta. To taste a bowl ofphở bò (flat rice noodle soup with beef), go to Lý Quốc Sư, Lò Đúc, or Nguyễn Du Street.

Now that economic renovation is progressing it can be said with confidence that Hà Nội’s traditional foods have made a strong comeback, while being joined by new variations on old themes as well as completely new dishes imported from abroad. Though fancy and expensive dishes are again available in the capital city, many of the best and most characteristic foods remain downright cheap. Any time of the day, rich or poor, you can find a filling delicious meal in five hundred different places in Hà Nội. The problem is no longer scarcity, but abundance – where to begin? What to taste first?

By Son Pha

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