My adventure to Hanoi ( part 10 ) Hanoi's best kept HOLE IN THE WALL restaurant

CHAO MUNG DIEN HA NOI

( Welcome to Hanoi )

Vietnamese food has just voted the healthiest cuisine in the  world and it is also so tasty and cheap. A general rule is to eat only where locals are eating, of course if you are new in Asia your stomach might not be too happy to try new things and do not be afraid to point at a new dish that looks good and go for it.

The way restaurants are set up in Vietnam is that each reastaurant has plastic stools, minimal decorations, their menu written in Vietnamese and pasted on the wall. Some of these hole in the wall restaurants serves just a couple of dishes that they specialize in. To the Vietnamese people -- some of the best meals are eaten in these kitchens on plastic stools with disposable chopsticks.  In most tourist restaurants, they normally have a menu with everything under the sun and most the food is adapted to tourists.... in my opinion they are not as tasty as eating local style.

We asked our tour guide to take us to try out Vietnamese pancakes... Immediately he said.. we will have pancakes for lunch. I was a bit apprehensive on why should one have pancakes at lunch.

Pancakes are breakfast food. He was kind enough to explain that Vietnamese pancakes are not like those pancakes eaten for breakfast. These pancakes is a dish cooked in Southern Vietnam.. He said to just have an open mind and try the dish.... and that was what I did...

This dish is an all-time favorite in the Saigon's cooking tradition. It was very good!! BANH XEO ( that's the name of the dish ), is a deep fried crepe, with beansprouts, shrimps and bits of pork then you have to roll it in rice paper with lettuce leaf and mint then dip it in Nuoc Mam ( fish sauce).


I loved this dish so much and I asked our tour guide how to make it... I am going to try it out --- and post the recipe of this dish once I have tried it out for myself. The secret is in the flour... They use RICE FLOUR.

CHAO TAM BIET !!