What should you buy when you come to Hanoi to travel? Or does Hanoi have some delicious and cheap specialties to buy as gifts? These are probably more or less questions that visitors to Hanoi ask. Hanoi cuisine is very diverse and unique. The dishes here are suitable for different ages. To get this beauty is thanks to the care of the cook. Today, Dung Ha Dry Food will synthesize Hanoi specialties as delicious and cheap Tet gifts so that anyone who once set foot here has the opportunity to experience all the dishes that make up the brand of Trang An land. !
1. What are the specialties of Hanoi?
The capital of thousands of years of civilization, Hanoi has famous landmarks with long historical value such as Hoan Kiem Lake, One Pillar Pagoda, Uncle Ho’s Mausoleum, and Temple of Literature. Visitors to Hanoi travel not only because of the ancient beauty, unique cultural heritage. But they come here to experience the beauty of their own culinary culture. Hanoi with ethereal and delicious dishes bearing the typical beauty of the four seasons. Besides simple dishes, Hanoi specialties also have typical snacks and drinks. Delicious dishes are prepared from skillful hands and eager, enthusiastic hearts of the people of the capital.
There are dry dishes, there are wet dishes, hot foods,… they all have their own distinctive aroma. Hanoi has 4 distinct seasons in the year. Each season will bring diners the most memorable experiences. Not only a specialty used in daily meals, these dishes you can completely turn yourself into a great chef to prepare them. The 2023 Lunar New Year is an opportunity for you to show off your cooking skills. But to make them, we have to find out what Hanoi specialties have.
2. Summary of Hanoi specialties – 18 delicious Hanoi dishes when you come here
2.1 Hanoi Noodle Soup Specialty
2.1.1 Hanoi Pho – The quintessence of Vietnamese cuisine
Pho is a dish that you can find them anywhere in Vietnam. But perhaps, Hanoi Pho is the dish that many people have to love the most. No one can tell when pho originated. They only know that pho is Hanoi’s specialty and is most dearly included in Vietnamese literature.
Thach Lam once described Pho Hanoi: “The broth is clear and sweet, the cake is flexible but not crushed, the fat is crispy but not chewy, the lemon and chili peppers with onions are enough. Fresh herbs, northern pepper, drops of lemon granules. harsh, and added a little bit of ca cuong, lightly as a doubt.”
Nowadays, it is hard to find a favorite bowl of pho like Thach Lam. But only Pho Hanoi still completely preserves that beauty. Clear noodle soup, natural sweetness from pork bones. Along with the soft meat but still has a certain toughness, and you can find pho in Hanoi anywhere. In addition to the traditional re-cooked pho, Hanoi noodle soup is also famous for: Pho roll, pho with wine sauce, re-rolled pho or chicken noodle soup,…
2.1.2 Hanoi Bun Thang
Hanoi’s culinary specialties are not only delicious in taste but also eye-catching in form. Every detail of the dish is carefully taken care of. The most typical can be mentioned is Bun Thang Hanoi.
This dish is eaten by Hanoi people on important occasions such as Tet. Now, enjoying an old bowl of bun thang has become much easier. But traditional ingredients are not as perfect as they used to be. However, the attractiveness of this dish has not “diminished” over the years.
The word “Thang” in Bun Thang means oriental medicine ladder. The reason it has this name is because they have a presentation like a traditional Chinese medicine ladder with many other accompanying ingredients.
The ingredients can be mentioned in the dish such as: dried shrimp, pork leg, omelet, shredded chicken, salted egg, etc. At first glance, anyone can imitate cooking this dish. But the important thing about bun thang is in the ratio of 12 types of ingredients.
2.1.3 Hanoi Bun Cha
Bun Cha has also existed for a long time and is a familiar dish to the people of the capital. Ingredients for Hanoi’s specialty noodle dishes include: vermicelli, grilled meat, ram rolls, balls, and a cup of dipping sauce.
This dish consists of 2 parts. The dipping sauce that comes with diluted fish sauce is cooked just enough of sour, spicy, salty and sweet. Add a little papaya, thinly sliced carrots and indispensable barbecue. The rest are vermicelli, fragrant spring rolls, herbs: perilla, parsley to create freshness.
2.1.4 Vermicelli with bean paste and shrimp paste
Just by the name, everyone knows that this dish has 3 main ingredients: vermicelli, beans and shrimp paste. But the attraction of this Hanoi specialty is not limited to that but also lies in the combination of countless other “toppings” that create the outstanding flavor and uniqueness of vermicelli with shrimp paste.
To meet the requirements of “fragrance” and “color”. The noodle dish with shrimp paste with shrimp must have all the ingredients: fresh vermicelli, deep-fried tofu, fried rice nuggets, pork intestines, pork leg meat, raw vegetables, … and a cup of traditional shrimp paste, mixed a little Sweet and sour custard, spicy and aromatic.
Combine a little of each with a rich dipping sauce. You will feel the typical flavor of this Hanoi dish.
2.1.5 Snail noodles
Bun snail is a typical dish of Hanoi. A rustic dish but delicate in the choice of ingredients. Snails must be caught from West Lake to be greasy and large as required.
Vermicelli must choose the type of vermicelli purchased from Phu Do village, Nam Tu Liem district. Some people are more picky and fastidious, they also order to make their own vermicelli from eight fragrant rice, sticky rice with yellow flowers.
Snail vermicelli must have a characteristic natural sweet and sour taste of the broth. Interspersed with tough noodles, snail meat is cooked, soft and crispy and not too tough. Moreover, this Hanoi snail noodle dish should be served with chili sauce and raw vegetables to make the noodle bowl more attractive.
2.1.6 Hanoi crab noodle soup
Crab noodle soup is easy to find anywhere in Vietnam. But perhaps, the most unique, the most attractive, the most delicious is Hanoi crab noodle soup. Because Hanoi is the land that produces this crab noodle dish.
Crab noodle soup has many different ingredients, but the most prominent one is crab noodle soup. They give diners a cool taste for hot summer days. If eating in winter, you need to cook very hot broth, add a few tablespoons of chili peppers and raw vegetables to help keep your body warmer in the cold winter.
See more: 18+ Southern specialties as unique Tet gifts 2023
2.2 Hanoi Cake Specialties
2.2.1 Hanoi’s green tea cake
Banh Che Lam is also known as Che Lam. This is a specialty cake of Hanoi originating from the traditional craft village of Thach Xa – Thach That. Ingredients for this rustic cake include: glutinous rice flour, ginger, peanuts, molasses malt and yellow sugar.
The cake is soft and sweet from cane sugar. In the middle, there is a fatty taste from roasted peanuts and a little spicy taste of ginger, so everyone who eats it will compliment it. Che lam cake appears a lot in the Vietnamese Lunar New Year confectionery tray. This is also a cake that anyone who uses it is very difficult to criticize.
2.2.2 Cakes
Banh Khoai is not only considered a specialty cake of Hanoi, but it is also a “Gift of Hanoi’s memories”. The reason this cake is called with such a name is because in the early years of the 8X 9X generation. This is a snack of many children when sweets are not as popular as they are now.
There are two types of cake in Hanoi: mixed cake and vegetarian cake. Anyway, this Hanoi specialty cake is a harmonious combination of fragrant sticky rice and grapefruit essential oil.
2.2.3 Lemongrass cake
Just like the cake. Another famous cake of Hanoi that you should not miss is banh cha with lemon leaves. Cake with lemon leaves stick with Hanoi people throughout the years of difficult subsidies.
At first glance, this cake resembles a moon cake. They are all made from flour, fatty meat, pumpkin jam, sugar, … only the cake has more lemon leaves to create a very unique flavor for Hanoi.
The ingredients for making lemon cake are very simple and easy to find. But the way to do it is completely difficult. Cake when finished product must be extremely crispy. Keep the full flavor for a long time. The ingredients inside must be mixed together so that the cake is not too greasy and especially does not lose the characteristic flavor of the cake.
2.2.4 Tranh Khuc Chung Cake
Tranh Khuc banh chung is a famous specialty of Hanoi in Tranh Khuc village, Duyen Ha commune, Thanh Tri district. Since ancient times, people here have made banh chung for a living. Gradually, this dish has “conquered” the hearts of many diners and became a famous cake especially in Tranh Khuc village in particular and Hanoi in general.
To make delicious banh chung. Workers must pay attention to the selection of raw materials. Rice for making cakes is glutinous rice with yellow flowers in Hai Hau, Hai Duong. Fresh pork (lean butt, shoulder, bacon, …), dong leaves must be big, large, green and cut from Cat Trang. Skillfully wrapping and cooking Banh Chung will create a flexible, fragrant and fragrant Tranh Khuc cake.
2.2.5 Summary of Hanoi specialties – Drift cake
Hanoi drift cake is available in every season. But to feel the full flavor of this dish, you should usually eat it in the winter.
This dish is called both cake and tea. Because there is a meal inside, there will be full of pieces of cake that are round and round. Add a little sugar water to it. A slight spicy taste from ginger, the aroma of coconut fiber and white sesame.
Drift cake Hanoi was born to “warm the cold souls in winter”. So they are more and more popular with young people to keep their body warm. All the ingredients are stored in a beautiful bowl, the weather will be chilly, just eat while rubbing it to “have the taste”.
2.2.6 Gia village gai cake
Gai cake originated from a village along the Day River, in Yen So, Hanoi. The scent of thorn leaves wafts in each cake. The sweet taste of green beans mixed with greasy fresh coconut.
The secret to creating the uniqueness of this dish is the process of grinding rice flour so that the crust is always smooth when eating.
2.2.7 Thanh Tri roll cake
If you want to eat delicious banh cuon, you must definitely visit Thanh Tri. Because this dish is prepared according to a very special recipe here. In order for the cake to be delicious, it is necessary to choose dry rice like Khang Dan. Rice must be ground very finely and have the right proportion of water.
Hanoi specialty Thanh Tri rolls without filling. Served with spring rolls, cinnamon rolls, fried tofu, non-aromatic purple onions. Along with that is fish sauce mixed with glutinous vinegar and ca cuong essential oil, adding a little sweet and sour fresh chili. A dish that you can enjoy them for breakfast every day.
2.2.8 West Lake Shrimp Cake
West Lake Shrimp Cake is also a long-standing specialty of Hanoi. This dish is delicious not because of expensive ingredients but because of the ingenuity from the hands of the makers. The combination of simple ingredients but still brings high efficiency that makes diners admire when eating.
The outer shell is deep-fried and covered with a golden brown layer, chewing like it melts in the mouth. In the middle is a large shrimp protruding, sweet taste, firm meat. Definitely a dish that you cannot refuse.
2.3 Synthesize Hanoi specialties to eat once and grind
2.3.1 Ha Noi autumn rice
Com Vong village is a specialty of Hanoi when it comes to autumn. This specialty appears most often in films depicting scenes of Hanoi. Anyone who has been to Hanoi or has never been to Hanoi knows that Com is a specialty. This dish attracts many diners every time they come to Hanoi.
Sweet nuggets, mild aroma. Enjoy a piece of nuggets while still hot, wrapped in a neat, smoky lotus leaf and delicate flavor from the land of the Flying Dragon. Surely it will be an experience worth a lifetime.
2.3.2 “The First Ancient Heaven Tra – Tay Ho Lotus Tea”
If you have the opportunity to come to Hanoi in the autumn, you can enjoy a piece of sweet and novel nuggets. If you come in summer, you can enjoy the colorful and unique painting of lotus flowers in West Lake.
The lotus tea is ethereal, fragrant, extremely skillfully and elaborately prepared, containing the soul of Heaven, Heaven and Earth. Sipping sips of hot tea and gazing at the immense West Lake lotus pond is a truly wonderful feeling.
SEE MORE OTHER TYPES OF TEA HERE!
2.3.3 O mai – A specialty of Ha Thanh
With a mild sour taste, a little sweetness mixed with a slight spicy taste from ginger. Good price. This is definitely a great gift for family and friends.
Address to buy umbrellas:
- Dung Ha Agricultural Products: No. 11 Kim Dong – Hoang Mai – Hanoi
- O Mai Hong Lam: No. 11 Hang Duong – Hoan Kiem – Hanoi
2.3.4 Trang Tien Ice Cream
The flavor of ice cream has been around since 1958. Trang Tien ice cream flavor is associated with the childhood of many generations of Ha Thanh people. Whether young or old, when coming to this thousand-year-old cultural capital, everyone will want to enjoy the cool taste of Trang Tien ice cream cones. And you, if you have the opportunity to come to her, don’t forget to enjoy this famous summer snack!
AUTHOR EDIT: NGUYEN THANH TUNG
4. Conclusion
Above is a detailed article summarizing Hanoi specialties that you can refer to. There are specialties you should enjoy in Hanoi when the weather turns cold or autumn. But there are also specialties you can buy to treat diners when the 2023 Lunar New Year is approaching.
If you find that we are missing other specials, please leave your comments at the bottom of this article!
See more: Modern New Year dishes of each region you should know
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