Sau ta - Dracontomelon fruit

A lot of preservation methods were created because almost people can’t wait for the fall to enjoy dracontomelon (Quả sấu). However, the ripening season of dracontomelon fruits is the fall so it is more amazing to try it this time. Dracontomelon can be eaten fresh with fish sauce mixed with sugar and chili. When added with fish sauce, it is great to enjoy with meals. Some people prefer it plain in a cold beverage with sugar. The most popular dishes of sau are ô mai sấu (salted dry dracontomelon or sugared dry dracontomelon), a simple and cheap but delicious specialty of Hanoi.

Whether green or ripe, locals are so accustomed to eating the fruit. Green quả sấu is a popular ingredient in soups and drinks. When using it to create basic sour soup, simply boil water spinach and add some quả sấu. To make it tastier, boiled pork or fish is added along with onions and herbs. Though tamarind is a known ingredient to sour soups, the unripe quả sấu, often as large as the tip of a thumb and with a very soft seed, exudes a more distinctive taste and fragrant which it lends to the soup, making unique hearty bowls of sour soup.

It can also be consumed in many other ways. When its peel is shaved off, it is cut into strips and soaked in sugar water, and some crushed ginger is added to conjure up a slightly sour and sweet taste. This can be added to water and some ice to get a sour, fragrant, sweet taste.


When ripe, it arrives at a deliciously sour taste that is good for creating drinks, foods, and snacks. The ripe quả sấu is soaked in salt and sugar to make drinks. The soaking process also helps preserve the quả sấu for a longer time to allow consumption even up to a year when properly stored.
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Another popular process is to soak the quả sấu in sugar instead of salt. This is done by shaving off the peel, soaked in lime water for a while, removed and cleaned with cold boiled water. They are then placed in a jar. Boil sugar water and crushed ginger, allow it cool and then pour into the jar with quả sấu. Then they are stored into the fridge after two days. This results to a unique drink with a sweet taste from the fruit and a little spicy and fragrant due to the ginger.

This fruit is served on sidewalk shops or you can find street vendors who sell variety of fruits. You can buy them as a gift for your family or your friends

Nom (salad)

Nom is one of the most common meals in Vietnam, in not only parties but also in daily meals. This dish is a combination of a variety of fresh vegetables, usually used in salads in Western countries. The make-up of Nom, however, is slightly different.

The main ingredients of Nom include grated pieces of turnip, cabbage, or papaya, and slices of cucumber with grated, boiled, lean pork. Other auxiliary ingredients include grated carrot, slices of hot chilly, and roasted ground nuts. These are used to make the dish more colourful. All are mixed thoroughly before being soaked in vinegar, sugar, garlic, hot chilly, and seasoned with salt.

The presentation of the dish is also very meticulous. The mixture of ingredients is put into a dish before being covered with vegetables.
To try a mouthful of Nom is to enjoy a combination of all the tastes life has to offer, including sour, hot, sweet, salty, and fragrant tastes. The dish helps with digestion at meals and parties. It can become an addictive aid to assist the real connoisseur enjoy more food.
This food is quite cheap and delicious. You can find it easily at traditional markets around Hanoi.

Vermicelli - Mien

Along with Pho and Bun, Mien is a favourite food to many foreigners. Mien has a similar shape to Bun; however, this Chinese originated noodle is not made of rice flour; seaweed and cassava flour are used instead. Thanks to this, Mien is a less-calorie food as well as a vegetarian favorable by on-diet people. Basically, main components of Mien’s broth is the same with Pho, however, its spices are sourer and maybe more fishy because Mien usually eaten with sea-foods. Mien Luon (Mien with eal) is the most popular type of Mien in Vietnam, especially in Hanoi. Broth to cook this special Mien is made of eel’s bones and gingers; then sliced fried eel would be added later. Fresh uncooked vegetables are recommended to eat with Mien Luon to eliminate the fishy taste of it. Other variables of Mien are Mien Ngan (Mien with goose meat), Mien Cua (Mien with crab meat) or Mien Ga (Mien withj chicken). 

Mien can be used with soup or stirred in oil, such as Mien Xao Thit (Mien and pork stirred in fat) , Mien Xao Long Ga (Mien and chicken tripe stirred in fat), Mien Xao Cua Be (Mien and sea crab meat stirred in fat).

Salted dry fruit - Apricot

Apricot is an ideal nosh to enjoy on a beautiful day in Hanoi. There are two main types of making apricot which are saltef dry and sugared apricot. It usually made from all crop of kinds of sour fresh fruit like plum, apricot, pineapple, lemon, tamarind, etc. 

Apricot (Ô Mai)

Apricot is produced for traditional method, since choosing material, the companies also send staff to gardens in Hung Yen, Hai Hung, Hoa Binh, Lai Chau in order to gather all crop of kinds of sour fresh fruit like plum, apricot, tamarind, kumquat, pineapple, canary, lemon. Apricot has smooth yellow colour with sweet- smelling after plusing sugar, ginger, adding chili and stiring liquor ice. That secret of recipe still make Hang Duong, an ancent street, famous for selling the most delicious apricot in Hanoi.\

Apricot (Ô Mai)

This Traditional Vietnamese Food is for instant all year and you can enjoy with a pot of tea and a few friends to chat. This is also valuable present from Hanoi people giving to their friends.

Apricot (Ô Mai)

How to make dried apricot?

If you would like to make dried this Traditional Vietnamese Food, you can use the following recipe and you can make the perfect nosh. First, you soak the apricots in water to cover overnight. Then, place them to cook in the same water. Cook until tender. Mash them or chop in blender. After that, peel, core, and cut the pineapple into small pieces. Cover with water and cook until tender. Measure the fruits and juices. Last, place equal amounts of sugar with the measured fruits into a heavy kettle and cook slowly until thick and clear.

Apricot (Ô Mai)

 Do not miss this traditional Vietnamese food for one walking day. And this nosh is also one of amazing gifts for your family and friends, especially girls and women in hometown.

Vietnamese chicken Noodle soup (Phở)

Hanoi Chicken Vermicelli Soup People now consider it as the traditional Vietnamses food and it is very easy to find this dish around the city.

All items will be put in the bowl – the mix of rice vermicelli with shreds fried egg, pork ham stips, Vietnamses mint, checken floss, some slices of red chili and finally the soup. The preparation for clear soups, thin omelet, super thin pork ham require quite a long time. You can fall in love with its perfect taste. Some lemon juice and shrimp paste will definitely make this dish tastier and richer

Vietnamese chicken Noodle soup (Phở)

Hanoi capital in the old days, this dish traditionally prepared on the fourth day of our Lunar New Year (Tết), when we have a meal to see off our ancestor. All the left-overs in the kitchen from ham, chicken, shrimp, and pork to some veggie have been used for this dish. That is why everything has been cut into shreds.

Today, Hanoi Chicken Vermicelli Soup seems simplified a lot, from the ingredients to the cooking process, esp. in South where is far away from the origin place. This Traditional Vietnamese Food requires long preparation. How to keep the soups clear, how to make thin omelet, to cut it and Vietnamese pork ham into super thin shreds as you see from the photo. And also how to tear the cooked chicken meat into small strips, but we missed shrimp floss this time.

Vietnamese chicken Noodle soup (Phở)

Otherwise our color picture would look nicer with red shrimp floss, yellow egg shreds, pink pork ham strips, green Vietnamese mint and ivory chicken floss. Soup for this dish is chicken soup base; to keep it clear during cooking process would take time and patience to do so. Among different kinds of soup for rice vermicelli I probably prefer the taste of chicken soup than the others, pork or beef.

Vietnamese chicken Noodle soup (Phở)

Pho, a typical dish of Hanoi people, has been existing for a long time. Pho originated in the early 20th century in northern Vietnam, apparently southeast of Hanoi in Nam Định Province. It is a popular street food in Vietnam and Pho is the specialty of a number of restaurant chains around the world. Pho is primarily served with either beef or chicken.

Pho is traditionally served as a breakfast food, so you'll find pho sellers all over town from before dawn to mid-morning on the street. Pho is the Hanoi street food as well. It is the characteristic of Hanoi cuisine.