{"id":1220,"date":"2023-10-27T06:36:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-27T05:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/?p=1220"},"modified":"2026-01-07T05:18:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T05:18:56","slug":"egg-coffee-water-puppets-and-street-karaoke-just-an-average-day-in-hanoi-vietnam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/27\/egg-coffee-water-puppets-and-street-karaoke-just-an-average-day-in-hanoi-vietnam\/","title":{"rendered":"An Egg-stra Ordinary Day in Hanoi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Activity level: \ud83c\udf36\ufe0f\ud83c\udf36\ufe0f\ud83c\udf36\ufe0f\ud83c\udf36\ufe0f\ud83c\udf36\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modes of transportation: \ud83d\udc5f<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the thing about being next to the lobby: we couldn\u2019t even be mad when we were awoken at 6:30 in the morning by kids playing. Because they were in the lobby of a hotel\u2014a notoriously busy place. Either way, we decided we wanted to check out and find somewhere else. So we packed up again and found a new hotel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hotel we picked ended up being very boutique and cute. The concierge, Brian, was so happy to see us and check us in. He had been living in Hanoi his whole life, so he had good recommendations for food and things to do. Unfortunately, we went 0\/3 on recs. One was closed for cleaning, one we couldn\u2019t find, and one we went to the wrong place (but ended up eating there later, and it was amazing).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We received the warmest service at MAISON de CHARME, which was also in the heart of the city.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He also helped us book a tour for Ha Long Bay for the next day (he was so nice and upfront about his commission\u2014and the tour ended up being incredible!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We originally planned to do the food tour for lunch, but that tour was booked\u2014so they put us onto the 2:30 instead. We had some time to kill, so we went to get a quick bite (that\u2019s when we couldn\u2019t find the right place). Well, first, we had to get money out of an ATM to pay for the tour and hotel (and Vietnamese banks have extremely low maximums per transaction, so we had to go back a couple times).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But anyway, with cash on hand, we stumbled into this old french-colonial style building (it reminded us of New Orleans) and decided to get a small lunch. Eric got broken rice with a pork chop (com tam, a very traditional farmer\u2019s dish), Sarah got a croissant with condensed milk, and we split a pumpkin soup. The food was amazing! We later looked the place up when we got internet, and found that it had amazing reviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Balocong was a nice oasis from the craziness outside and below in the Old Quarter of Hanoi.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Food was also top notch!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From there, we went to our coffee class that was apparently part of our ticket (we didn\u2019t read the fine print enough I suppose). Or what we thought what our coffee class, but the booking company gave us the address for the booking company office instead of the restaurant. Oops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They offered to call us a cab when we got there, but we told them we\u2019d walk since it was only 10 minutes away. We sped to the coffee shop and showed up about a minute late. The teacher was very surprised we were there. We don\u2019t think the booking company told them we were going to be attending since we changed times\u2014but we got that sorted out and sat down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The course was such an unexpected surprise. The lady running it showed us how to make coffee the traditional way, and then we used the coffee in four different classic Vietnamese coffee drinks: black, brown, white, and egg coffee. The color coffees are basically coffee with varying amounts of water and sweetness, but the egg coffee was the star of the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So many eggs and there were only 5 of us! (2 eggs per coffee)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Egg coffee sounds weird, but it\u2019s delicious. During the war (WWII, not\u2026 uh\u2026 the other prominent one), milk was hard to come by. So a shop owner, who wanted a creamy latte-type foam, beat eggs into a meringue-like texture to put on coffee. It still exists to this day, and we both loved it (and it\u2019s easy to make at home)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We\u2019re going to work on our latte art when we get back to our espresso machine in the States (thanks Dave!)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Instead of sugar, they generally use condensed milk (luckily Eric had a lot of lactaid)\u2014and the coffee is strong! They commonly use robusta instead of arabica (which isn\u2019t as common in the rest of the world). Robusta happens to have twice the caffeine content of arabica, so we were absolutely wired after the class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our tour guide, Phong, picked us up from the coffee shop and started to walk us to different food stops. It turned out that everyone must have booked the earlier tour, because it was just us and the guide. He was a university student who just happened to like food, and he knew all the good spots and culture behind many of the popular foods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our tour guide also taught us some cool iPhone camera tricks. Also, notice the bridge for the island museum in the background. It’s featured later.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We tried a great Banh Mi spot (usually a quick breakfast food; also, second note: this is the place the hotel owner tried to recommend us to that we couldn\u2019t find) and then went for Nem Nuong, which is sort of a fresh spring roll you make yourself with pork sausage. The students eat it as a snack to socialize before heading out for beer or dessert. So good!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The bread is exactly like a good New Orleans po-boy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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This was Sarah\u2019s favorite dish\u2014fresh and crunchy. This is also about when she wanted to throw in the towel for the remainder of the tour as it was a lot of food.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Next up was Phong\u2019s favorite breakfast: Ban Cuon: fresh rice paper filled with pork and mushroom, eaten with fish sauce and chilis. We even went to a place that showed us how to make the rice paper! It was pretty good, but definitely not something we\u2019d think of for breakfast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n