Are you a fan of bún chả? It’s a big YES for me! Although I’ve never eaten bún chả prior to visiting Hanoi in October 2019, I always knew I’d liked it. True enough, my very first bún chả at Bun Cha Ta Hanoi on our first night in Hanoi had me fall head over heels in love with it. I thought the one at Bun Cha Ta Hanoi was very good. But wow oh wow Bún Chả Hàng Quạt is even better!
Our wonderful brunch spread at Bún Chả Hàng Quạt.
Cafe Giảng was our last eating feast pit stop for day 2 in Hanoi. Psst, we continued on our eating feast back at the hotel, devouring the super-rich Marou brownie. Our main mission at Cafe Giảng is to sample the famous egg coffee invented by the founder, Mr. Nguyen Giang. What’s egg coffee? Egg coffee or cà phê trứng is a Vietnamese coffee drink with beaten egg yolk and usually sweetened with condensed milk.
 & Đậu Xanh Trứng Đã (Egg With Green Beans Cold) @ Cafe Giảng, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi 1.jpg "Cà Phê Trứng Đã (Egg Coffee Cold) & Đậu Xanh Trứng Đã (Egg With Green Beans Cold) @ Cafe Giảng, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi")
Left: Cà phê trứng đã (egg coffee cold)
Right: Đậu xanh trứng đã (egg with green beans cold)
Our Hanoi day 2 trip has been an eating feast so far = hotel buffet breakfast, ice-cream at Kem Tràng Tiền, cheese tart at Pablo Cheesetart, lunch of chả cá Lã Vọng at Chả Cá Phan, avocado smoothie at Coconut Juice and chocolate break at Maison Marou. Rest assured I have two more places to blog about for day 2 and this is the first one.
We went to Xôi Yến for dinner which is just about 5 mins walk from our hotel. This is one of the eateries that I was looking forward to because I’m a lover of mung bean and sticky rice (also known as glutinous rice). In Chinese cuisine, we have a dish that combine mung bean (whole) and sticky rice and that is Cantonese bak chang (Cantonese rice dumplings). It’s my very favorite when done right. So, I can imagine if we were to marry mung bean (paste) and sticky rice and then top with offsprings (various good looking toppings), it would be lip-smacking good.
, Mung Bean Paste, Chả Quế (Roasted Cinnamon Pork Paste) & Fried Hard Boiled Egg @ Xôi Yến, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi 1.jpg "Xôi Xéo (Sticky Rice With Crispy Shallots & Fat), Mung Bean Paste, Chả Quế (Roasted Cinnamon Pork Paste) & Fried Hard Boiled Egg @ Xôi Yến, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi")
A bowl of deliciousness.
Ahh chocolate… it’s my very favorite food before after egg. I was extra thrilled when I found out about Maison Marou while digging information for my oncoming Hanoi trip over a year ago.
Maison Marou is a chocolate café and shop and they currently have three stores (as of writing) in Vietnam; two at Ho Chi Minh City and one in Hanoi. Maison Marou offers many things chocolate from single origin Vietnam chocolate drinks, pâtisserie to single origin chocolate bars and provisions and as well as non-chocolate drinks like coffee and tea.
 & L'Opéra @ Maison Marou Hanoi, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi 1.jpg "Chocolate Break - Signature Marou Chocolate (Hot & Cold) & L'Opéra @ Maison Marou Hanoi, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi")
Chocolate break at Maison Marou Hanoi.
Their chocolate brand; Marou Faiseurs de Chocolat (Marou Chocolate Maker) makes bean-to-bar single origin Vietnam chocolate. In bean-to-bar chocolate, the chocolate maker is in charge of the whole process from sourcing raw cacao beans to the crafting and creation of the chocolate bars. This means that the chocolate maker has the control of the quality right from the beans to the kind of additives added.
Our day 2 in Hanoi has been mainly about eating and eating. More to come but first here’s what we had for lunch: chả cá Lã Vọng. What’s in the name? Chả cá means grilled fish and Lã Vọng is the name of a statue of either the God of fisherman or poet (I found two versions of the story out there). I’ll skip how the dish comes about and let you find out yourself (it has to do with Lã Vọng and then more). 😉 In short, chả cá Lã Vọng is a dish of turmeric grilled fish with dill.
Similar to bún chả, chả cá Lã Vọng is hail from Hanoi. There’s a street called Chả Cá in Old Quarter dedicated to this dish where it takes its root. I gave those tourist-famous chả cá Lã Vọng restaurants a miss, and instead, choose Chả Cá Phan because it’s mostly patronized by locals and also because the Vietnamese reviewers gave quite good reviews online.
Come feast on chả cá Lã Vọng or turmeric grilled fish with dill.
On day 2 of our Hanoi trip, we took a walk along Phan Chu Trinh street after a super brief visit to Hanoi Opera House. We were eyeing O’Douceurs located on this street and even went inside but finally, but alas we decided to skip it. Since it was past 11am and the weather was even hotter, we were reminded of the tasty ice-cream that we enjoyed earlier at Kem Tràng Tiền. We knew Pablo Cheesetart, Japan’s famous cheese tart chain is just around the corner and chooses to take a break there for the air conditioning first and sweet treats second.
The moment I stepped into Pablo Hanoi, I was at awe with the interior design. It was chic, modern and comfy. This is the first floor interior. Beautiful ain’t it?
I’ve only tried Pablo Cheesetart once before this which was at Osaka a few years back. Pablo Hanoi was our 2nd time. So, ahem… we ordered two minis for sharing while enjoying the cool air and cosy ambience.