Bun Bo Nam Bo

When I arrived in Hanoi last November, dusty, exhausted and fat from a quick jaunt around Malaysia, I was ready to be seduced by new flavours and new experiences. It started off well enough with rooftop mojito’s and succulent bun cha, but I quickly had the wind knocked out of my sails. Firstly by a new friend who told me that Hanoi isn’t a wonderful eating city, then I became fully deflated by the realisation that she was, sadly, correct.

Don’t get me wrong, Hanoi has great points and some amazing food, but it certainly isn’t Georgetown, KL, Singapore or Ho Chi Minh City. Maybe I am just being blinded by language barriers, too much choice and such low prices or maybe I’m yearning for some more accessible, better quality international food. Regardless just one thought back to the regular dining options in my price range in Sydney and my mindset shifts, I’m not taking anything for granted here.

I have professed my love for Bun Cha before, and soon I’ll give you my take on Cha Ca, two local specialities that I adore. But most of the Vietnamese food I ate in Australia is from the South. Fresh spring rolls, grilled pork chop with rice, Banh Xeo, Caramelised fish in claypot and bo kho are all from south of here. Some of these dishes are available in Hanoi, but not readily. One southern dish that has infiltrated the capital is Bun Bo Nam Bo (beef with dry bun noodles southern style, I think).

It goes in layers a little bit like this: lettuce and herbs, then bun noodles, tender beef and bean sprouts sauteed with garlic and lemongrass, green papaya and carrot pickles, roasted peanuts and crisp fried schallots, all drenched in a thin sweet savoury sauce. Add a good splash of the fiery chilli sauce, and mix the whole thing up well so the sauce, peanuts and fried shallots totally cover the noodles and making each mouthful complex and intriguing.

This is what Vietnamese food is all about for me. Fresh, explosive flavours and a riot of textures. Light but punchy, tasting best under the blast of a fan, sitting uncomfortably on plastic stools. I actually asked my colleagues recently “do you find these seats uncomfortable too, or am I just a weak white girl with tender glutes?” consensus was that the mini plastic stools hurt everyones bum an equal amount, they just hide the hurt better.

Hanoi mightn’t be the foodtopia I first imagined, but having Bun Bo Nam Bo around the corner makes it much more appealing.

Bun Bo Nam Bo

Available all over the place, but 67 Hang Dieu is the most famous place. (Not to be confused with Hoang Dieu. Hang Dieu is in the Old quarter on a length of road that changes its name several times, further up it is called Hang Ga and Hang Cot).

This place had ridiculously fluctuating prices. This joint is firmly in tourist city and the white tax here is astronomical. I think they charge westerners by the phase of the moon, I’ve paid from 25,000 vnd to 35,000vnd, although maybe the price is just increasing alongside inflation.