Traveling to Hanoi for the second time, Mr. Nguyen Huu Hoang Loc (32 years old, Da Nang) continued to enjoy many delicious dishes throughout the journey. Surprisingly, this was a trip with many "shocks" about Hanoi cuisine for the young man.
One of the unexpected experiences for Mr. Loc was when a friend took him to eat sticky rice and sweet soup. Da Nang does not have this dish, so the male tourist was quite eager to wait.
The address Mr. Loc and his friends visited is Mrs. Thin sweet soup - a three-generation family sweet soup shop nearly 100 years old in Hanoi's Old Quarter. The menu of the shop has 2 main sweet soup lines: cold sweet soup in summer and hot sweet soup in winter. The price ranges from about 20,000 - 25,000 VND/piece.
At first, I thought my friend invited me to eat sticky rice and sweet soup, which means going to eat sticky rice and meat and continuing to eat sweet soup - a sweet and ice-filled refreshment. But no, when I received a hot bowl of sweet soup with sticky rice on top, I found it quite strange. This is the first time I have known this dish and I am not very familiar with the taste when combining both. I like to eat sweet but for me, this sticky rice and sweet soup is a bit bland," Mr. Loc said.
The male tourist added: "In Da Nang, I only know dessert sticky rice ice cream including cold ice cream, sweetness combined with sticky rice, not sweet sticky rice like in Hanoi. If you eat salty, choose sticky rice often combined with meat, eggs, pate, braised chicken... or if you eat sweet, you can choose corn sticky rice, black bean sticky rice, eat with sugar and bean salt".
Besides, the male tourist was also quite surprised when his friend invited him to eat caramel. This is the first time Mr. Loc has heard the name of this dish.
He recounted: "When the staff brought out the dish, I found it exactly like the flan I used to eat. However, caramel here is softer and served with sugar water. Caramel costs 8,000 VND/plate but is very large, eating with sugar water is more delicious than combined with coconut milk".
The place to eat caramel that he and his friends enjoyed is a famous snack shop on Hang Than street, near the intersection of Hang Than - Hoe Nhai - Nguyen Truong To. This is originally a restaurant famous for caramel sugar since 1996. In addition to the caramel dish that is loved by many diners at the shop, the menu also includes ice cream, sweet soup, yogurt, coconut jelly, sponge cake...
Caramel in the North and flan in the South have a common recipe. However, in the South, flan is often eaten with coffee, coconut milk... Meanwhile, diners in the North can order to eat caramel separately, or combine it with jelly, pearls, fruits, tofu... as a sweet soup.
Concluding a trip to Hanoi with many interesting culinary experiences, Mr. Loc shared: "The food suits my taste, every restaurant is satisfied. The food is quite eye-catching and especially the portions are very full - almost double compared to Da Nang. The price is reasonable, can be called cheap compared to the price and quantity of accompanying food".
