This morning we woke up at 330am to get to the airport before 5am for our tour meet up at the airport.

When we got our tickets and security and everything, we each ate a banh bao that Chi Trang and I got the evening before at Minh Hao. We brought 4 banh bao for 4 people.

Even though it wasn’t fresh and hot, it was so good! There were two quail eggs and a salted egg yolk. The meat was also very flavorful and savory.

On the 1hr airplane ride, they served us breakfast! If we knew this, we would not have brought banh bao with us. They served us banh mi dac biet and yogurt with hot tea or coffee. I wasn’t going to eat much of it but it was pretty good! They put a generous amount of pate and the bread was freshly toasted. It was lightly crispy on the outside but soft and fluffy on the inside. I ate the whole thing.

After we landed in, we hopped on our tour bus to visit a temple called Thang Long that was right next to the lake called Ho Tay.

Then they took us to have lunch at a restaurant called Mother’s Kitchen. We were served white rice to eat with beef, pork belly and quail egg, fried fish, sautéed greens and a green vegetable soup. There was even an empanada looking pastry that has the filling similar to egg roll. It was bland but fish sauce dip made it better.

Rau Tron: a variety of salad lettuce toppings Vietnamese style served with a peanut type dressing. Very light and refreshing.

The toppings to make your own spring roll include rice noodle, lettuce, mint leaves, basil, fish sauce.

Fried fish. I don’t know what kind of fried fish it is but it was the best entree at lunch! The fish was crispy and crunchy and flaky on the inside. The sisters definitely enjoyed the fish the most.

Rau Muon. This is stir fried vegetables with garlic. My mom didn’t know how to translate it to English for me but I actually enjoyed this dish a lot! I ate all of my serving. I was secretly proud of myself. First greens of this trip!

Pork stew with quail egg. This was actually really good but I couldn’t eat a lot of it without eating a lot of rice and I didn’t want to eat too much rice. The pork belly was crispy and sweet from the caramelization. The round little balls are quail eggs.

Green vegetable soup. This was actually good too! Light and easy to eat

Banh Goi. This looks like an empanada with the stuffing of egg rolls inside. It’s a northern dish. It was bland and my mom said you have to dip it in fish sauce first.

Beef stir fry with vegetables. This was also bland! The beef was over cooked so it was tough to chew on.

They love to eat watermelon over here. It’s always plentiful!

During the afternoon portion of our tour, we revisited the Ho Tay Lake but a different part of the lake: one with a pagoda temple.

Then we had dinner at Nha Hang Huong Rung. I was very impressed with the food at this restaurant! It is so good!!

We were served Bun Cha Ha Noi. It consists of rice vermicelli as the carb base. You are given this fish sauce dip that has carrots, daikon, and fried pork pieces.

We got toppings to complement this carb and sauce: fried tofu, boiled pork belly, fried chicken (that walks), boiled vegetables and my favorite, Cha Ca Thang Long!!! It is grilled catfish with dill and green onions. It is soooo good! I learned about this dish from my dad and step-mom. The fish was hot. It was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It was tasty! It was filled with the aromas of dill and green onion. The charred green onion and dill is also very good!!!

Everything was just so good! I am happy from today’s dinner. Ha Noi has so much good food. I am excited for the next few days of eating.

After dinner, we convinced our tour guide to drop us off at the 36 Pho Phuong, which is a popular Ha Noi street night market.

He gave us a few pointers of where to go and what to do. We turn around and Cafe Dinh is right there in front of us!!!

There was hot and cold option. The barista said cold is better. 5 cold egg coffees please!!

Omg this is way better than at Trung Nguyen! It was so creamy and fatty from the raw egg yolk. There were also still the coffee taste and smell even though the egg is the main highlight. I loved it!!

I hope I can sleep tonight. The 5 of us cheersing to egg coffee was a fun and cool moment for me. Going out without drinking etoh haha!