Foodaholix

Vacationing in Vietnam: Hanoi and Halong Bay

From serene Da Nang we flew into Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. The first look of Hanoi felt it was kind of an old city, compared to the glitzy Saigon and surreal Da Nang.

Read: Da Nang and Hoi An Travelogue

As is becoming the practice on this tour, we hit food straight from the airport, this time to a place called Madame Linh Restaurant. This was quite a crowded place, but the food justified it all, we had Ostrich meat cooked in Vietnamese style, Fried Fish, some lovely salad and Fried Coated Prawns.

Food at Madame Kinh Restaurant

After this, fully satiated we went on a city ride. The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum has the embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh, the father of modern Vietnam. The mausoleum is open early in the day, and a large queue forms before its opening. The people in Vietnam adore their leader, and turn up in large numbers to pay respect to him.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

Later we went on a tour of Hanoi downtown on Cyclo, a local version of cycle rickshaw. The Cyclo is king of an “ulta” cycle rickshaw with the seats in front and driver at the back. It was an interesting ride through the lit up lanes of the city. We stopped by at the St Joseph’s Cathedral to have a look at the architecture. Hanoi is known for its Water Puppet Theatre, but we could not dovetail it in our schedule. Instead, we decided to go for “Egg Coffee” that is so popular in Hanoi.

St Joseph’s Cathedral

Egg Coffee or Ca Phe Trung is a signature of Hanoi City. Many of my friends had categorically told me to try this out. We went to this coffee place called Café Dinh, a small joint on the first floor facing the lake, that is supposed to be iconic for its Egg Coffee. It is said that during the war, milk was in short supply, and Nguyen Van Giang, a bartender, came up with the idea of using whipped egg instead of milk in the coffee. Café Dinh belongs to the daughter of Nguyen Van Giang making it a very famous place where tourists drop in.

Egg Coffee

We watched the making of Egg Coffee and tasted the drink. It was very different, more like a dessert, and I liked the taste.

Hanoi Bier Street and Skewered Pork

We came across a Gujarati restaurant, aptly named Gujarat. I was told that this restaurant serving Gujarati and Marwari food has four branches in Hanoi itself, a testimony to the number of Indian tourists coming in. However, we had our dinner at the Beer Street, with a local Vietnamese “bier” accompanied by Noodles and Stir Fried Pork on Skewers.

Halong Bay Cruise

The next day was reserved for Halong Bay, where there are limestone cave formations in many small islands. This is a UNESCO Heritage Site and draws a large number of tourists every day. The jetty at Halong Bay jetty is a three-hour journey from Hanoi.

We had a launch boat waiting for us at the jetty. This was exclusively for our group for this scenic journey through various islands in the bay. The sumptuous lunch served on the boat was one of the best on this tour. The spring rolls, sautéed prawns, and chicken curry were all so good.

Our Boat and the Sumptuous Lunch

We got down at an island to visit a cave. While the caves are similar to Bora caves (Arakku) or Batu Caves (Malaysia) with stalactites and stalagmites, the maintenance of the caves was one thing that caught my attention.

Halong Bay Caves

The Vietnamese tourist places are all maintained well as squeaky clean. The lighting inside does well to illuminate the natural colours of the limestone.

The Halong Bay trip took about the entire day. On return, we went to a street-side restaurant for dinner to enjoy Vietnamese food including Mixed Seafood Noodles and some local beer. We would depart for another country Cambodia, the following day.

Seafood Noodles in a Local Vietnamese Restaurant in Hanoi

Vietnam is a pleasant and place to visit. The people are friendly and the cuisine is very different from India, but you start loving it in a few days. The country has everything – hills, valleys, sea. Tourism is encouraged and what struck us was the cleanliness in general in this country. I had good expectations from this trip, and Vietnam did not disappoint us.

Also Read: Ho Chi Minh City Travelogue

Vacationing in Vietnam: Da Nang and Hoi An

Ho Chi Minh City gave us a very good first impression of Vietnam. The people came across as diligent and hardworking, and the country seemed to have made significant progress in the four decades after the war. We were at the chaotic Ho Chi Minh airport for the trip to Da Nang where for the first time the experience was not so good. Our flight was delayed by couple of hours, and there was no way one could get to know the status. Vietjet the premier private airline of Vietnam seemed to be much worse than our Indigo in handling customers.

Also Read: Travelogue of Ho Chi Minh City

Vacationing in Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City

Any Bengali kid of my generation is very familiar with the name Vietnam. In 1960s and 70s, when the Viet Cong was fighting the French, and then the Americans, there used to be lot of sympathies for the Vietnamese guerrillas in Bengal. In fact, many of the walls in our neighbourhood were plastered with the slogan “Amar Naam Tomar Naam Vietnam” (my name, your name is Vietnam). Wrestler Muhammad Ali used to be a hero, when he said “I ain’t got no quarrel with Viet Cong” and went to jail in the United States for refusing to fight in Vietnam for the United States Army.

Cafe Apartment in Ho Chi Minh City

Haleem Trail: Subhan Bakery

While we have well-known Haleem brands doing bumper business during Ramzan in Hyderabad, new entrants to the scene has a tough time building up a brand. Though a segment with low entry barriers, reputation plays a big role in consumer choice. One of the recent successes in the Haleem arena is Subhan Bakery whose product has made rapid strides in popularity.

Read: Subhan Bakery: Keeping Hyderabadi bakery traditions alive

Subhan Bakery is not a new name in Hyderabad food scene though. Operating from 1940s, it is known for its Osmania biscuits, and of course Dum Ke Roat, the Muharram speciality of Hyderabad is synonymous with them. During Muharram, a big queue is seen at their outlet in Nampally, of people patiently waiting to buy the roat. I know Syed Irfan, the owner of the bakery, and he is one of the most knowledgeable persons about Hyderabadi food.

Read: Dum Ke Roat: The Muharram special cookies

In 2023, Subhan also started to offer Haleem. With ingredients such as goat meat, pure ghee, daliya as well as select spices and dry fruits, a lot of attention was given to source quality stuff from reputed suppliers. I have had the opportunity to taste it over the last three years, and surely it is one of the top choices among the commercial setups selling Haleem. The Haleem is replete with ghee, the ingredients are well blended together and the wheat-meat ratio is quite high. Also, it has very very few bones, that too small, as a result you get your value’s worth when you buy a particular size. The packaging is also great with sealed container, so that if you plan to carry it to another location, you have no trouble at all.

With these plus points, it is no wonder that the Haleem has made to most of the lists of top go-to places during the holy month. I would advise anyone to visit them during Ramzan and try their best-of-breed Haleem.

Back To: The Haleem Trail

Contact:
Subhan Bakery
11-6-467, Nampally Market, Devi Bagh, Bazar Ghat,
Lakdikapul, Hyderabad, Telangana 500001

Quick Bytes: Oh! Calcutta completes 25 years in Hyderabad

If we analyze the usual food festivals organized in large cities of India, especially of Indian regional cuisines, you will notice a pattern. Punjabi is by far the most popular one, followed by Bengali and Goan. The same holds for Indian regional restaurants. Bengali food is among the well-accepted cuisines of the country whereas the other Eastern regional cuisines like Assamese, Bihari, Odia are lagging quite behind in popularity. And, if I have to name one crusader who has popularized the cuisine both in Indian metros and abroad, it is Mr Anjan Chatterjee, the Managing Director of Speciality Restaurants. His brand Oh! Calcutta has brought Bengali cuisine to most major metros, as well as to London with a restaurant named Chourangi.

Oh! Calcutta completed 25 years of operation recently in Hyderabad, not a mean feat as most Bengali restaurants here did not last beyond 3 to 5 years. To celebrate this occasion, the restaurant chain organized an event in Hyderabad, where Mr Phiroz Sadri their Executive Director, talked about its past, present and future plans. A new menu was unveiled with quite a few new items to commemorate the occasion. Mr Sadri patiently explained all the new offerings as well as talked about certain important ingredients of Bengali cuisine that were on display.

Calcutta (or Kolkata now) had been the capital of British India for a long time, and there were some British dishes that were adopted and localized into Bengali cuisine. A few of these were on offer some with a small Oh! Calcutta tweak. Anglo Indian Chicken Cutlet and Aam Adar Grilled Fish are couple of them that come to mind immediately. From the Islamic cuisine of Bengal, we have the Mutton Tikia as well as an innovative Jackfruit Tikki.

Steamed dishes wrapped in banana leaves are another set of sought after dishes from Bengal. Aam Achar Maccher Paturi, Ilish Paturi, and Kashundi Narkel Paneer Paturi are a few of the new ones added. Lebu Pata diye Murgir Jhol is a comfort runny curry of chicken with flavours from lime leaves that goes well with steamed rice.

The prawn family is adequately represented in two dishes, Chingri Machher Malai Curry, and Daab Chingri. The presentation of the latter is a feast to the eyes. Radha Tilak Chingri Pulav prepared with prawns and Bengal’s own Radha Tilak rice is also a new addition.

For Hilsa lovers, now you have Steamed Boneless Hilsa on the menu, the dish will find a lot of takers. For vegetarians, Mochhar Ghonto and Rajbarir Chhanar Kofta are couple of dishes to look forward to. Badi Chura an Odia border dish has also been added to the menu. To its repertoire of Bengali breads of luchi, and parota, Petai Parota, where a large paratha is beaten and crushed into smaller pieces is an interesting new entry.

Kancha Lonka diye Anarash Chutney, Baked Rosogolla and Channar Malpoa bring up the grand finale to the course by course meal that would titillate the taste buds of Bengalis and non-Bengalis alike.