Autumn is also the time when Hanoi enters the peak tourist season, when the weather is cool, favorable for sightseeing, walking and experiencing street food.
Com sticky rice
Mentioning Hanoi autumn, cốm is one of the gifts that many people seek to buy. From cốm, people process into many dishes such as cốm sweet soup, cốm cake, cốm cake and cốm sticky rice.
Com sticky rice is usually made from young rice, green beans, lotus seeds and coconut. The young rice is softened and then cooked quickly, then mixed with steamed green beans, boiled lotus seeds and stir-fried coconut with sugar. The dish has the chewy aroma of young rice, the buttery taste of green beans and the light fatty taste of coconut.
Some addresses selling xôi cốm in the Hang Than, Chan Cam, Ly Quoc Su street areas. The price of a serving is commonly around 25,000-50,000 VND.
Tao Pho
Tofu pudding is a familiar snack in Hanoi, usually sold in the afternoon. The dish is made from soybeans, with soft, smooth tofu pudding, served with ginger sugar water.
Depending on the restaurant, tofu pudding can be added with pearls, jelly, grated coconut, longan or coconut milk. On chilly days, tofu pudding eaten with hot ginger sugar water is a popular choice.
In the Old Quarter area, some tofu pudding stalls in Hang Bong and Hang Da are often crowded in the afternoon. Prices range from about 13,000 to 45,000 VND per bowl, depending on the type.
Egg ice cream
Egg ice cream is a snack that was once popular in Hanoi and is still maintained by some eateries. The dish consists of whipped egg ice cream, usually eaten with hot bread.
Egg yolks are beaten with sugar to form a golden, smooth creamy layer with a fatty taste. When eaten with just-baked bread, the dish combines soft, fatty cream and a hot, crispy layer of bread on the outside.
Some egg ice cream addresses in Hai Ba Trung and Hang Manh street areas. Price is about 25,000-35,000 VND per serving.
Banh troi tau
Banh troi tau is usually sold in markets, old quarters and sidewalk eateries in Hanoi. The dish consists of cakes made from sticky rice flour, inside usually with black sesame or green bean filling, served with ginger sugar water.
The cake is served hot, the sugary water has a sweet taste and gingery smell. The top is usually sprinkled with roasted sesame seeds or roasted peanuts. A bowl of banh troi tau costs about 15,000-25,000 VND.
Some areas with floating cake stalls are known to many diners such as Hang Giay, Doi Can, Nguyen Chi Thanh.
Hot rice cake
Hot banh duc is a familiar snack for Hanoians, especially suitable when the weather turns cold. The cake is soft, sticky, scooped hot into a bowl and eaten with minced meat stir-fried with wood ear mushrooms, fried onions, herbs and broth.
Depending on the category, the broth can be cooked from bone broth or mixed with a sweet and sour taste. The minced meat stir-fried with wood ear mushrooms creates a rich flavor, combined with soft banh duc.
Hot banh duc is sold in some areas such as Truong Dinh, Linh Nam, Pham Ngoc Thach. The common price is about 15,000-25,000 VND per bowl.
