This post is a continuation of my question and answer series found here and here.

What types of food did you eat while over there?

I was extremely nervous about eating in Viet Nam, but it turns out that I had no reason to be. I’m vegan, which means I don’t eat any animal products and my husband is vegetarian. So on top of our already fried nerves, we were worried that we would have nothing to eat but rice and noodles for three full weeks and arrive back home totally malnourished. This was absolutely not the case; we ate extremely well at many great restaurants and thoroughly enjoyed trying different foods.

We packed SO much food in our luggage that was totally unnecessary. We could buy soymilk in the little shop across the street from our hotel, snacks and treats in the Citimart at the Hanoi Towers, and there were plenty of meals to choose from at our hotel and every restaurant that we went to. I was grateful for the protein bars, peanut butter and snacks that we packed, but we definitely went overboard. Oh well, live and learn, right? Oh…about the peanut butter, if you bring some, be sure to pack it in your checked luggage. One of the moms on our trip had some in her carry on confiscated at the airport.

We ate often at the Moca Café near the catholic church by Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi. They had wonderful Indian dishes and lots to choose from. We also ate at an Italian restaurant, a pizza place, a few fancier Vietnamese places in addition to our hotel’s restaurant. We also went to a lovely little French bakery and stocked up on baguettes, raisin bread and treats for my husband. Towards the end of our trip when we had resigned ourselves to sit in our room and wait for the call to come that Ella’s visa had been processed, we ordered a lot of room service. We were completely bummed out, impatient, and didn’t feel like getting dressed and going anywhere, so we loved room service.

I got a little sick at one point, probably from something I ate while out, but can’t be sure, and could only handle really bland, plain fare. It was quite comical to try and order plain pasta from room service. I was brought regular pho (noodles in broth,) pho ba (noodles in broth with meat,) and every other combination of these things that you could imagine. I guess it’s only crazy Americans with upset stomachs that would think plain old noodles would be palatable. We finally learned (with the help of other families with us, the room service servers, and other people who worked in the kitchen,) that if I ordered “fried” noodles, no pho, no ba that I would get some as plain as possible noodles. Mission accomplished! They were actually so good with soy sauce and some kind of local greens that I loved, that I would order that even after my stomach had recovered. After writing this, I am absolutely craving that combination!

photo credit

More Reading:
Recipe - Vietnamese Vegetarian Curry Soup
Our Tet Party - Vietnamese Foods

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