Sonny Side is an American vlogger, owner of the Best Ever Food Review Show channel with 11 million followers on YouTube. With an endless passion for cuisine, he regularly posts his experiences tasting dishes in many countries around the world. Sonny had an interesting and surprising experience when discovering a series of strange street foods in Vietnam such as cha ruoi, ca cuong...
Starting his journey of exploring Hanoi street food, Sonny stopped by one of the famous banh cuon shops on Hang Ga Street, Hoan Kiem District. Banh cuon with meat and wood ear is a very familiar breakfast dish. However, instead of the usual fish sauce, the shop will serve water bug sauce.
Diners can order fish sauce with water bug oil or request water bug cut into their dipping sauce.
Sonny was surprised that the water bug smelled like perfume. He confirmed that the body part felt a little disgusting when bitten into, but the flavor that came out was wonderful: “It starts out like a sweet apple, and then it tastes like beef jerky. It was really delicious. They made a really unique dish. Who knew you could mix fish sauce with a bug?”
The next dish Sonny tried was fried worm rolls. He was quite shocked when the vendor fried live worm rolls directly in a hot oil pan with meat, eggs, etc. The image of the worm rolls still wriggling made the foreign guest both scared and excited. However, when he tasted it, he had a completely different feeling.
“Honestly, the patties are quite tasty and rich, the dill and herbs give them a more attractive aroma, and the texture on the outside is crispy. I didn’t even feel any worms in my mouth,” said the foreign guest.
Sonny was surprised that the fried crab dish was much better than other similar dishes he had eaten in Vietnam. Although he was hesitant when looking at the preparation method, the foreign guest affirmed that the taste of the dish was really impeccable.
Roasted quail with honey leaves is also one of the street foods Sonny chose to try in Hanoi. He affirmed that this dish is not too scary or strange for Westerners.
The small quails, after being fried in hot oil, are served with salted figs and fish sauce with garlic and chili. The leaves of the hook honey are placed inside the bird's belly and outside, creating an attractive aroma, stimulating the taste buds of diners. The quails are fried so crispy that diners can easily eat the bones.
Sonny nodded in praise of the simple dish that was both visually and flavoursome: “The bird was crispy and meaty, it was really excellent. I felt like I was eating bacon.”
In conclusion, Sonny affirmed that Hanoi's specialties in particular and Vietnamese cuisine in general are extremely diverse, rich and unique. In particular, the street food here can certainly surprise and satisfy the most demanding diners.
