once we arrived in hanoi, our first meal was dinner....but first our arrival....we got to the hotel and our guide took us for a tour of the neighborhood, so we could feel more comfortable getting around...especially crossing the streets....as we walked through the neighborhood, i noticed lots of things that were very different than what i would see in the u.s.....the first was there were chickens and roosters just wandering around....the next was there were lots of dogs around....i was worried that these dogs were what they ate....
we went to dinner at a restaurant called, "the bannana flower"....there were 8 courses....well, 4 courses, but the entrees had 5 different things....in viet nam you eat family style, so our very long table for 16 was divided into groups of 4, which shared each dish as it arrived....our meals always included water and tea, but you could order beer, soda, or other drinks for a little money....and i do mean little...a can of coca-cola light cost 15,000 vnd (vietnamese dong)....that is less than $1.00....i got a hanoi beer with this dinner, it cost me 20,000 vnd....now onto the food..
our first course was banana flower salad...
the salad was served in the banana flower and was delicious....it was a little sweet, was made from the inside of the flower...our next course was HaNoi fried spring rolls....we would eat alot of spring rolls over the next 19 days....once those two courses were over, the main meal started...there were three meat dishes, one vegetable, and rice...we had grilled skewer of pork, fried battered chicken with sweet and sour sauce, sauteed fish with five spices sauce, stir-fried vegetables, and steamed rice....there was not one thing that was put in front of me from this meal that i turned away.....even the fish....our dessert was a flambe banana...
now all our meals were many courses....all came with a variety of dipping sauces- most of which were fish sauce with different stuff in it....we were served alot of fish, most of which i ate...though anything that was too boney, i didn't eat....
one of our meals in Hoi An was a cooking class....our cook was very funny and really incorporated us alot....we first learned how to use banana leaves to cook meat, similar to how we would use tin foil...that night we cooked tuna in the leaves....then we learned to make spring rolls...each person in our group got up and got a chance to roll a roll...it was hysterical...
another thing i really enjoyed eating in viet nam was the fruit....everything was sooo fresh, but especially the fruit...i don't eat much fruit here, but i couldn't get enough of it there....the markets were full of fresh fruit, including these dragon fruit...
each morning for breakfast i would eat pho and fruit....it was like being in heaven for me....it is probably the meal i miss the most, the pho....one of our last meals was in the mekong delta...we ate elephant ear fish....it is called that because it looks like an elephant ear (an asian elephant, not african)....
in the end my fear of the food was unwarrented....there were some different things i did try, those are for another time....i miss the food....it was one thing i couldn't get enough of....
