Up North They Spell it Banh My:
Yes, in Hanoi they spell it "Banh My", not Banh Mi. And most of the stands we came across only have 2 basic types; Banh My Pate(where you choose your meat), and Banh My Trung(egg). I had thought about not doing this post since I never managed to take a good photo of the Banh My in Hanoi, even though we had a few of them. The best we had was from this little stand next to Pho Cuong on Hang Muoi Street.
The drill, at least for us was pretty easy....you order a Banh My Pate, a Baguette is put into the little toaster tucked into the side of the stand, and the lady pointed at different meats.
You nodded yes, or no to what you wanted. In this case the Cha Lua(lean pork sausage), and the Fatty Red Pork Sausage next to it. The Woman cuts a chunk of pate from the block, places it into a little pan, and heats it up to melt the pate.
We usually decline the butter. The Woman smears a good amount of pate on the warmed roll, adds the chopped meats, tops everything off with cilantro, wraps the sandwich in newspaper, bags the deal, and you're good to go. For 8,000 VND(50 cents US).
So what's the difference between this, and what we get here in San Diego. Well first, I found the pate to be a bit creamier, and milder in flavor. It is quite good.
The second thing is the bread:
The baguette is very light and airy. In fact, if you bit an end off, you could almost deflate the whole deal. It does have a bit of chew, and a nice light, yeasty flavor. The crust is thin and super flakey; the Missus said it explodes like a croissant. The crust is not hard and crusty...in other words, you won't tear the dermis off the roof of your mouth.
I've spoken to a few people who have been to Vietnam about the baguettes; and some of them are surprised I enjoyed the bread so much. They consider it cheap bread, without substance. I think of it as heavenly, both light and flakey. In fact, the Missus and I miss this type of baguette. Everything we've had since we returned has seemed too hard, not flakey enough, and much too doughy.
Here's an okay Banh Mi Trung.
We had this at the Airport in Hanoi. Pretty greasy, too much butter, and the egg was oily. The baguette was the same though.
As far as I'm concerned, this could be the "breakfast of Champions" for me:
You recognize this right away:
Classic, Chinese-style steamed bun. This one was bought on the corner of Duong Thanh and Bat Dan. It looked so good, so we stopped and asked the Woman how much it was. Unable to understand us, a young man eating on one of the stools told us 5,000 VND. Which was no problem. Except to this woman, who understood "5,000", and proceeded to give the guy a piece of her mind. She than made the sign of "four"......we still gave her 5,000 VND, but being the honest vendor she was; she gave us change! You gotta love her honesty.
The filling in these is an interesting mixture of pork, bean thread, and cloud ear fungus. And it is all topped off with a quail egg.
It can be a bit on the greasy side. But, along with the Banh My, was really great for the train ride to Sapa.
It will sit in your stomach for a looooong time.
I was amazed to see a vendor carrying these around in her baskets.
We called these Mountain Apples while growing up in Hawaii, but I now know they are more commonly called Malay Apples. I don't recall seeing them since I left the Islands. The Missus, never having tasted them, bought a few. And they were just as I remember, a bit tart, with crisp meat, and sometimes a mild bitter finish.
Along with calling Iced Coffee with condensed milk Cafe Nau Da, instead of Cafe Sua Da, there's an interesting pronounciation for "R's". Ruou, is pronounced Zeee-ot, and Rieu Ze-ew. It didn't make much difference for us, because we butchered things pretty bad anyway. But it was made apparent when we inquired about things, and ended up spelling them. And we'd get; "oooh, Bun Ze-ew!"
So just a few items I had waiting for the moment to post. I hope everyone is keeping cool this hot weekend!