This morning we had breakfast at our hotel before starting our action-packed day of market tours and cooking classes…Northern Vietnamese style. Before leaving for our trip, we booked a cooking class through Duong Restaurant (pronounced Zuong) after reading rave reviews about their class compared to others in Hanoi. We were scheduled to be picked up from our hotel at around 8:15am, and Chef Jack walked in right on time! We took a taxi together to the cooking studio (which actually isn’t located at the restaurant), and on the way there, Chef Jack informed us that we were the only ones signed up for the class today…which meant that we had a private cooking class!
Once we arrived, Chef Jack took us upstairs to the cooking studio where we were welcomed by two other sous-chefs, one being a 16-year-old boy who was in training (but still way more skilled than either of us)! The ingredients and supplies were laid out on the tabletop and Chef Jack started by telling us what our morning and afternoon schedule looked like. We were to start off by prepping the pho broth, as it requires a minimum of 3 hours to cook (some are cooked for days!).
After we learned how to prepare the broth, we set off to the local food market to buy our fresh produce, seafood, and meats for the rest of the menu! We cooked a 3-course meal consisting of pho bo (beef noodle soup), green mango salad, and bun cha (BBQ pork with noodles). To get to the market, Chef Jack had cyclo rides waiting for us downstairs. We hopped into our own little cart and headed off. This was a very unique way to see the hustle and bustle of the city of Hanoi…especially the crazy traffic scene in the city! Cars and motorbikes were zipping around us as if we had our own little safe shields up.
Chef Jack walked us through the different parts of the market, which was really awesome to experience! We started off in the dried goods section where he showed us a variety of things from oversized cinnamon sticks, and other spices, all the to dried seahorses and dried goat penis (both of which the elderly ferment in their rice wine!).
We then moved to the seafood section of the market where we bought live black tiger prawn that we planned to use for the green mango salad. Joey was responsible for containing them and they were uncontrollable jumping all over the place! While we were getting the prawns, we saw soft shell turtles right next to the tubs filled with fresh seafood! Neither of us had ever seen a species like this, so we had to take some photos.
We continued walking around to the fresh vegetables and fruits area, where he got us all different kinds of local food like custard apple, green mango, rambutan, along with veggies for our dishes, such as green onion, white onion, tomato Vietnamese mint, purple mint, coriander, etc. We’ve had some of the items above before, but next was the cooked food section, and this is where things got interesting. We tried a sort of pork gyro that had been rubbed with cinnamon, bun cha and pork belly, rice doughnuts, and most interesting…river worm omelet!
As hesitant as we were, we couldn’t say no and had to trust Chef Jack! He made it a bit more enticing by saying it was a common beer snack and would go good with some local fresh beer. We watched the worm omelets get deep-fried and we brought it to a side street where locals go for fresh beer (as early as 7am!). Chef Jack explained to us that this was called “fresh beer” because the kegs are brought over to the market daily and directly from the brewery, so it’s as fresh as it gets!
After a very refreshing drink on this hot morning, we made our way back to the cooking studio to get started on our meals! Once we arrived back to the kitchen, Chef Jack taught us the proper way to cut the ingredients that we needed for our recipes. We began by prepping the green mango salad.
After we finished the salad, we moved onto slicing, marinating, and barbequing the different cuts of pork for the bun cha.
Chef Jack then taught us some really awesome presentation tricks with a tomato and also with a carrot.
By this time, the pho broth had finished cooking and it was time to slice the sirloin, which interestingly just cooks from the heat of the broth when plates!
After we enjoyed our pho, which is probably the most classic Northern Vietnamese food (as it is a very popular breakfast dish), we added the tiger prawn to the mago salad plate before serving.
The final dish we prepared was the bun cha, which was delicious, but we were stuffed at this point so we could barely finish it.
We ended with some rice wine fermented with blackberries and some fresh mango and custard apple, and best of all, good conversation about our professions, hobbies, and just life!
Once we were finished and could actually get up from the table, Chef Jack treated us to some Vietnamese egg coffee! We actually planned to stop by the famous Giang Café, as they were the true inventors in 1946 during Vietnam’s milk shortage. I ordered an iced egg coffee and Joey ordered an iced egg matcha. Both were so delicious and more unique than any drink we had tried! The known ingredients are…get ready for it…coffee powder (or any other flavor), whipped egg yolk, condensed milk (of course), butter, and cheese! It sounds crazy…and sickening…but it just taste like a frothy sweet treat that’s so thick you need assistance from a spoon, AND so delicious neither of us could put it down. What a treat!
By this time it was past 1pm, so we went back to our hotel to rest and digest before setting off for an evening of exploration. We’re staying right next to Ho Hoan Kiem Lake, and there’s a beautiful temple called Ngoc Son Temple right in the middle (and we also heard great things about the little ice cream shop on its edge that sells sticky rice ice cream!), so we knew wanted to check those out.
After seeing the nearby lake, we caught a cab towards the other, much larger, lake in Hanoi, Ho Tay. Here we stopped by Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, where the previous communist leader of Vietnam’s embalmed body remains on display for the general public to see. If you’ve ever been to the Red Square in Russia, I’ve heard that the granite structure mimics the design (and actually enlisted the same designer and embalmer) that was used for Lenin’s remains.
It was getting late and neither of us had any desire to see the actual body (pictures aren’t allowed inside), so we snapped some shots and headed over to the lake where the Tran Quoc Pagoda lies. This pagoda is the oldest pagoda in Hanoi and dates back to the 6th century! It was beautiful in and of itself, but the lake setting made it a magnificent sight.
After spending some time around the lake, we caught another cab back towards the night market, where we stopped at Cha Ca La Vong (#14). Here they are famous for only serving their title dish, cha ca. It looks like they added a few more menu items to please the tourists, but their main attraction is still front and center on their menu and walls. It is served by quantity of people (1 person, 2 person, etc.), but we had a HUGE lunch, so we ordered for one. After insisting with the young server that this would be plenty, he went back to the kitchen and brought out plenty of delicious food for the two of us.
Tomorrow morning we’re waking up early to catch a flight to Da Nang, which is in Central Vietnam. We plan to rent a scooter and ride around the beautiful Son Tra Peninsula (also known as Monkey Mountain for the numerous monkeys that inhabit the area), so stay posted!