After a few hours in the hotel, the rain seems to abate, so we set out for an afternoon Bia Hoi. We settle into our places at the corner joint (new chairs and tables today) and watch the wet world go by.
We’re a little at a loss for dinner tonight. There is a place around the corner called Little Hanoi that looks good and gets really good reviews. But there is another “imposter” 2 doors down (seems to be all the rage here to steal names of other successful places!), so we have to be aware of which we choose. But, as we keep looking, we end up at another place I’m calling Coc Au Vin (actually it is Qua Cho Que – but what the heck!). We’ve walked past this place a few times and it is always busy, and the food portions are huge. It gets good reviews too – so we figure what the heck!
We get seated inside right away, even though they are pretty busy with a huge party in one of the rooms. Our waiter’s nick name is Tip Top – some Aussie customers named him that and he liked it – so he uses it now. He says he isn’t really “tip top” yet, but he’s trying. Too cute.
We order beer and wine (the wine is quite good, if not expensive, well, it’s $4 a glass, and for US prices, that’s great, for Vietnam, not so great – we’ll spend more on the wine than we will the food) then a snack of deep fried sweet corn. Which is like a softer version of corn nuts. Really, really, really great to go with drinks!
We decide to take it slowly with the food and order 2 apps and then 1 main. The deep-fried squid catches Ed’s eye, but Tip Top doesn’t know if it is good, because he doesn’t like squid. Cute. So order it anyway, along with “optional” squid butter and garlic. Then we also have the fresh pork spring rolls. Both are delicious – and good sized portions. The squid is cooked just right, and the sauce really emphasizes the seafood. The spring rolls are delicious with large slices of pork inside. Very good.
We finish off dinner with Bun Cha – now our favorite dish (for this week at least)! This one is prepared differently though, instead of just adding noodles to the pork already in the soup, everything is separate and we get to make it ourselves. The pork comes out on a sizzling tray – both pork slices and patties – along with broccoli rabe and bean sprouts. Then a side dish of the rice noodles, various greens (which we are avoiding) and a bowl of sweet and sour sauce. We take what we want, put it in a bowl then stir in a little sweet and sour sauce. Even though the sauce is cold, the pork is so hot, it all melds together wonderfully. Totally different than our street food version – but equally good.
As we are finishing our meal, we look outside and it is pouring again. Sigh. I didn’t bring the umbrellas because we are only 1 block away, but still, we’ll be drenched. Of course Tip Top tells us not to leave – have another drink! Wait for the rain to stop. Well, if you insist….
….drinks finished, rain stopped, we pay the bill and head back toward the Hanoi Elite, stopping first at this cute little hole in the wall bar called JoJo’s.
The guy had stopped us on the way to the restaurant, so we figured we’d stop for a night cap here. It’s a great little shotgun type of place. Comfy sofa chairs, good music and some great artwork! Loved the mummy – and loved the Breaking Bad canvas even more!
No wine, only beer, but I’ll excuse them for that coz it is such a cool little place! We managed our way through one beer each – we had Beer Hanoi which I didn’t really care for, so Ed actually had almost 2 beers! Then we wandered the 50 yards back down the alley to the hotel for a good nights sleep before our all day excursion to Tam Coc in the morning.
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