HANOI'S SWEETS AND SMOOTHIES !

While it can’t be said that the Vietnamese have a sweet tooth, you can find a fair share of sweet and intriguing concoctions to savor in Hanoi. 
Chè

Chè is a goopy, sticky, and sloppy sweet treat.  It can be served warm or over ice.  You could just have chè đậu xanh (green bean chè) or some other star ingredient, but more often than not, chè is enjoyed thập cẩm, or mixed and piled high with ingredients of your choosing.  These could include vegetable goodness such as stewed bean, corn, lotus seeds or taro, or all shapes and neon colored jellies and tapioca balls.  Scoop some of these over crushed ice, and then drizzle with sweetened condensed milk or coconut cream.  For added texture, add a sprinkle of shredded or roasted coconut.
Where to find it?
Across the street from Bún Bò Nam Bộ is Thạch Chè Lộc Tài, 76 Hàng Điếu, dishing out a fine spread of chè ingredients.  Chè Thập Cẩm Cũ, at 72G Trần Hưng Đạo Street is another small outlet for this sweet treat.  The food stalls at most local markets will generally have a place offering up chè. 

With Chinese roots, bánh trôi tàu is a sweet glutinous rice ball, are about the size of a small tangerine, stuffed with either shredded coconut, green bean paste, or black sesame paste, served up in a sugary syrup.  Enjoy a bowl with lục tào xá, a green bean porridge with lotus seeds and punched up with citrus-y dried kwit peel, or chí mà phù, a thick black sesame porridge. Also look for a smaller variety of bánh trôi sold at most local markets.  These are smaller than the bánh trôi tàu, more like small ping pong ball sized glutinous rice balls stuffed with a tiny crunchy cube of brown honey-sugar and topped with sesame seeds.  Served by the plate full for about 2,000 dong. Where to find it? The most famous bánh trôi stop is 30 Hàng Giầy  – just at the elbow of the street below it hits Hàng Buồm.  This unassuming little shop front has large wooden doors—on which the hours of operation, 3:30-11pm, are scrawled in chalk—open onto a garage space of sorts set with low tables and stools.  It is run by a famous ex-opera star who now also performs in mainstream comedic films.  The price is about 5,000 dong for every dish.

Tào Phớ is a lighter treat than either chè or bánh trôi.  It is a simple dessert or refreshing treat of silky soy bean custard served in fresh soy milk, over ice.  You can get it in a convenient snack-on-the-go bag with a straw out the top.   Where to find it? Head up about 50 yards from to Bún Bò Nam Bộ and Hàng Da Market to 51 Hàng Điếu, at the corner of Hàng Nón.  Tào Phớ is about 2,500 a serving.  This spot is an all around snack shop and also serves up decent sandwiches—bánh mỳ patê for 5,000 dong or bánh mỳ trứng for 4,000 dong.  You can also find a good tào phớ at Quán ăn Ngon.

You can work up quite a thirst hoofing it around Hanoi.  The perfect thirst quencher is a thick and fuity sinh tố or shake. In theory, sinh tốs have milk added, but mostly you get pure fruit puree with a little ice to cool things down and maybe a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk to sweeten things up.  Most stalls and shops offer single flavored shakes but some will offer you an array of combinations or any of your own choosing.  These might include mango (my all time favorite), papaya (Ben’s all time favorite), fresh strawberry, coconut (light and refreshing), or less mainstream choices such as avocado, mung bean, or even durian.  Mía Đá is the classic summertime favorite.  It is fresh pressed sugar cane juice with touch of lime juice, served over ice.  Look for the sugar cane press machines (tin contraption with a big crank on the side, usually accompanied by a tub of dark, blackish purple sugar cane stalks on one side and a pile of flat, white, fibrous sugar cane debris on the other.  Most roadside operations sell a cup or bag for 5,000 dong. Two of the most common anytime drinks in Hanoi are soda chanh and trà đá.  Soda chanh soda water with a generous squeeze of fresh lime juice, usually served with salt (yes, salt or muối) or sugar (đường), and with or without ice (đá).  This tart and fizzy drink goes down well with all Vietnamese foods.  Whereas soda chanh is generally ordered in cafes and restaurants, trà đá, or iced unsweetened Vietnamese tea, is the local drink of choice at most simple street stalls.  If you are worried about the ice, best bring your own bottle of water to wash down your bún chả or ốc.  Where to find it? A great people watching corner, respite from heat (or silk and lacquer shopping) and all around great sinh tố spot is on northwest corner of Hàng Gai and Tô Tịch street, very close to Hoàn Kiếm Lake.  It’s hard to miss the crowd of people sitting on stools out front enjoying their refreshing drinks.  Nor is it hard to miss their assembly line of hundreds of glasses of cut fruit stacked up and ready for the blending. Prices vary depending on the ingredients but generally vary from 10-15,000 dong per glass.   Hanoi even has a chain of Shake shops, with seven locations at last count.  Shake advertises fresh, fast, healthy and sieu sach or “super clean” facilities and drinks.  Two locations you’ll be likely to run across are at 12A Đinh Liệt Street (not far from the ốc place on the same street, so I often grab a cool drink on my over), and 26 Ba Trieu Street. The Highlands Café chain around the city does a magnificent sinh tố.  Their mango smoothie is a thick and chilly pure essence of mango.  In addition to smoothies they also offer fresh squeezed juices and a collection of Torani flavored sodas.

Watermelon Magic

Long ago, . Vietnam was ruled by generous kings. One of these, King Hung Vuong the Third, had only one daughter, and so he adopted a poor boy from a faraway island. He named the child An Tiem and cherished him as if he were his own.

An Tiem grew to be intelligent, wise and skillful, and the king so loved him, he decided An Tiem must marry his daughter. Together they would rule the land after the king died.

An Tiem and the king's daughter married, and they loved each other deeply. They had two children, and their lives appeared to be blessed by the heavens.

But some in the king's court envied the young man, and soon their envy turned to hatred. They began to spread rumors of his pride and disrespect. These stories were untrue, but still the rumors spread. Before long they reached the king.

The king began to wonder. Might these stories be true? Would his own daughter help to destroy him? Would the young man he had for so long treated as his own son forget his favored position and turn on the king?


He began to think betrayal might be possible.

Distraught by his suspicions, the king decided he must exile An Tiem. With a heavy heart but fearful of the future, the king sent the whole family far away to live on their own on a desolate island.


"If An Tiem is as brave and able as he claims, he will survive," the king announced. He hid his tears as the family departed, for he believed they could never survive.

The island was battered by heavy winds and waves that crashed upon the shores. An Tiem's wife wept when she saw how they would live一alone and without any of the comforts and luxuries she was accustomed to.


But she loved her husband, and she had faith, and so she remained devoted to An Tiem. Together they worked hard to make life bearable upon that barren island.

One day as An Tiem walked along the beach, he noticed strange yellow sea birds among the rocks. When he climbed up to see them closer, he noticed they were pecking at black seeds, and some of these dropped into the sand.

An Tiem decided he would plant these seeds. What could he lose? Perhaps something could grow in this place. When he returned home, he told his wife, "If these seeds are good for birds, they will be good for us."

Together they prepared the ground and planted the seeds. 
Soon they noticed tender shoots sprouting from the earth, and the shoots grew and crept along the ground. Buds appeared on these vines, and these flowered and turned into fruits. To An Tiem's amazement, these fruits grew and grew, larger than peaches, then as large as a head, and covered with green skin smooth to the touch.

The fruits smelled delightful, and when An Tiem sliced one open, he discovered inside beautiful red pulp sprinkled with those marvelous seeds. He tasted the pulp and smiled, for the taste was fresh and cool and sweet. He called his fruits "dua do," or red melon. But later his wife, hearing the cry of the birds that had carried the seeds, said, "Listen to their song."


"Tay qua," the birds seemed to cry. "Tay qua." "Water melon."
His wife wept with joy as she tasted the first watermelon. And the family picked the fruits and stored them carefully inside where the sun would not rot their skin.



They went on planting, and by year's end they had so many watermelons that they began to offer these to passing sailors, trading them for food and clothing, for spices and toys and other things they needed for comfort.


One day An Tiem sat upon the beach looking longingly toward his old land. Suddenly he had an idea. He gathered some watermelons, and upon these he wrote his name. Then he set them adrift.


When the king's servants discovered these peculiar fruits bobbing upon the sea outside the palace, they gathered them and carried them to the king.

When the king saw An Tiem's name, his heart swelled.



"So he is not dead," the king cried out with joy. Then he tasted the strange and wonderful new fruit, and he understood that An Tiem's resourcefulness had served him and his family well on that barren island.


But the king longed for the loves of his life一his son and daughter and grandchildren 一and so he sent for them.


And forever afterward all the people of Vietnam told the story of those birds and their magical black seeds and the sweetness of An Tiem's gift, the watermelon.