Vietnam — Countryside Restaurant, Hanoi, Vietnam

First night in Hanoi

September 2015

So, a new country — Vietnam, and specifically the Old Quarter of Hanoi.

I arrived in the country late, found my hotel without a problem, and immediately headed out for food.

The staff in the hotel recommended The Countryside Restaurant, which was around the corner, as it served good Pho.

Pho is the delicious local speciality of Hanoi, and it is a dish that the people are very proud of, to the point that they claim it doesn’t taste as good a few miles down the road.

Pho is a soup-based dish, so the initial stock is critical to get a good flavour. The base is made from ox bones, with minimal seasoning, and added cardamon, cinnamon, star anises, grilled ginger, and onion. The final dish contains soft noodles, and in the version I had, cooked beef was added to the hot soup, along with some extra spices, spring onion and something called “thom” vegetable. (I never found out what the “spices” were, but I suspect some were chilli. I never did identify the “thom” vegetable.)

I enjoyed my first bowl of Beef Pho so much that I returned for the chicken version a few nights later. (Oh, the photos below don’t do the food or restaurant justice.)

The restaurant was on the "tourist trail" as it offered cooking classes, and on the nights I ate there, several tourists came in on guided food tours.

Another great feature of the place was it gave a good view of the road outside (well, it did from the table I had), and so I was able to watch the crazy driving antics of the locals. It was a real eye-opener and gave me a sense of what I would face on the roads over the following days.

Foursquare: Countryside Restaurant