In Hanoi, eating this one dish is compulsory

Like the chaotic city it was brewed in, the cup of egg coffee placed before us in tiny Cafe Giang in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, remains a mystery – even after imbibing.

To our Australian cafe-attuned noses, the strong yet milky concoction with two blurred but unmistakable egg yolks should not work, particularly on this steamy night when a cold Bia Hanoi or Tiger Beer seems the more obvious go-to.

Organised chaos … Hanoi, Vietnam.Credit: iStock

But in this city where nothing is quite as it seems, work it does. The coffee provides an instant caffeine hit, its bitterness offset by a supremely creamy – yet surprisingly non-sickly – sweetness, the product of whisked condensed milk and expert brewing at this unpretentious cafe, which comes with bragging rights for coffee aficionados from Seoul to Melbourne, partly because it is not easy to find.

Established in 1945, it appears at the end of a narrow corridor off a raucous street and offers few hints of its coffee-lover fame, with utilitarian brown tiles and wooden stools. The only exceptions are the vintage black and white pictures on the walls that showcase the family behind the business. Suddenly, a figure in the main family photo materialises down a staircase in front of us.

Nguyen Van Dao was just an infant when he was pictured with his many siblings, his mother, and his father, Nguyen Van Giang, the cafe’s founder, its namesake and – most importantly – the inventor of ca phe trung, or egg coffee. Now Nguyen Van Dao proudly carries on his father’s work, whipping up egg coffees for its fans and the curious.

Nguyen Van Dao with his family’s treasured portrait at Cafe Giang. He is pictured as an infant, bottom row, second from left.

As he poses beside the family photograph, we discover the answer to what came first: the coffee or the egg. It’s coffee. Nguyen Van Giang was an expert barista, honing his craft as a barman at Hanoi’s Sofitel Legend Metropole Hotel, a watering hotel visited by the likes of authors W. Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene. Charlie Chaplin chose the Metropole for his honeymoon with his third wife, actress Paulette Goddard. And Hollywood came calling again decades later, when the famously infamous “Hanoi Jane” Fonda hid out in the hotel’s air-raid shelter during the Vietnam War. (In 2011, this same yellow-walled “bunker” was rediscovered under the hotel’s Bamboo Bar during renovations.)

But back to Nguyen Van Giang and his egg coffee. Vietnamese traditionally don’t enjoy their beverage black but in the late 1940s, Vietnam was in the grip of a milk shortage and drastic action was needed to protect the family’s livelihood. An experiment with frothy egg yolks to create a creamy consistency saved the day, and Cafe Giang is still benefiting from this alchemy.

Cafe Giang is the second stop on our two-person Hanoi street food tour through the city’s Old Quarter organised by Asia Vacation Group. Our first was to sample another unique Vietnamese delicacy, banh cuon, similar to – but not at all like – a savoury pancake. We watch as a rice flour batter is ladled onto a searing round pan in a shopfront, covered for a few seconds, then skilfully half rolled into a long oblong with a wooden stick. It’s then moved to another flat pan where it’s filled with spices, onion and either pork or shrimp or mushrooms, rolled again, and adorned with lime wedges and served alongside dipping sauces. We try the mushroom versions – twice, their savoury pull proving too hard to resist.

Our next food date is a few motorbike-filled streets away. We’re in line for the sweet and sour delights of bun cha. In an upstairs airy verandah restaurant full of 1930s-style wooden furniture, we sit on bench seats above the mayhem of the streets below and try pork skewers served with a broth, vermicelli noodles, mint and pickled vegetables on the side, as our guide explains the process: tear your herbs, swirl your broth, then add some pork. (Or is it the other way around?) As usual, the many accompaniments deliver new levels of deliciousness, including a surprising standout – the much-maligned (at least outside jam-making circles in Australia) kumquat.

Banh cuon,  similar to – but not at all like –  a savoury pancake.Credit: iStock

It’s June and it’s hot. It’s also late, and the streets brim with holidaying Vietnamese who miraculously part the waves of motorbikes and cyclists as they burst through the streets to eat and socialise in the (slightly) cooler night air amid food and flower stalls, coloured lanterns, buckets of snails, pagodas, temples, coils of incense smoke, hanging freshly killed meat, pungent dried fish and scented, fruit-filled shrines. Streams of others stroll on the red-lit Huc Bridge in Hoan Kiem Lake or play cards and take selfies out the front of the gloomily gothic St Joseph’s Cathedral.

Egg coffee.Credit: Alamy Stock Photo

We start to flag. But if Hanoi delivers one all-encompassing food lesson it’s this – you must go with the pho: the sheer counter-intuitiveness of this city makes a bowl of steaming, spicy goodness a compulsory dish, even on this supremely sticky night. Our chicken pho (in special small bowls after we loosen our pants and plead for mercy) at the tiny roadside Pho Ga Nguyet comes recommended not only by our indefatigable guide, but also by the food minds of Michelin who recommend it as their go-to pho in Hanoi, praising the chef’s use of traditional methods and fresh ingredients.

“Train street″⁣ in hanoi’s Old Quarter.Credit: iStock

The bowl brims with juicy chicken breast and punchy broth that slaps us awake and we continue into the night, for there are even more stops on our food tour: green sticky rice ice-cream with shaved coconut at dessert favourite Che 95; the ubiquitous banh mi (a baguette sandwich) and front-row seats with iced lemon water amid excited crowds awaiting the Insta-sensation that is the 8.45pm arrival of a train on the snuggest of tracks on, naturally, “train street”.

Saint Joseph’s Cathedral, Hanoi.Credit: iStock

Later, we watch from our hotel balcony as the crowds disappear with one savage clap from the skies. It’s suddenly bucketing down, and lightning spotlights streets now at rest before the organised chaos of another day.

The Details

Tour
Asia Vacation Group offers a range of tailored package deals, including expert-guided street food tours, for guests travelling through Vietnam and to many other destinations. See asiavacationgroup.com

For a limited time later this month, it is offering a 10-day journey exploring Vietnam from north to south from $1529 a person (full Vietnam Airlines airfares included). See asiavacationgroup.com/au/10-day-highlights-vietnam

Fly
Vietnam Airlines (vietnamairlines.com) and VietJet (vietjetair.com) fly non-stop daily from Sydney and Melbourne.

Stay
Silk Path Hotel, Hanoi, offers various room types right in the heart of old Hanoi. An excellent buffet breakfast, including traditional pho. From $96 a night. See silkpathhotel.com

More
Australian visitors entering Vietnam require a visa. See vietnam.travel/home

The writer was a guest of Asia Vacations Group and travelled courtesy of Vietnam Airlines.