Wonder what Vietnamese-to-English translator app they used. 
Kem Cheese - cream cheese
Thạch Nổ Củ Năng - jelly pearls which bursts when you bite into them.
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Thanks! Why would anyone want cream cheese in their juice/smoothie? I guess they mean whipped cream?!? And I suppose the jelly pearls are tapioca pearls like in boba tea.
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Maybe cream cheese-flavored foam like this one:
Yes, or more specifically, the “popping boba” pearls.
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(post deleted by author)
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A former student took me out for dinner tonight. My special request was for bun cha, which I actually had never had before. We sped off on her motorbike to the Old Quarter, to the aptly but somewhat unimaginatively named Buncha restaurant. The menu looked appealing:
She ordered the combo for 2 for 175k. I asked for pineapple tea instead of corn tea (what is corn tea anyway?). A lady was grilling skewers of pork patties over a charcoal brazier on the ground floor. We headed up to the upper floor which was nice and airy, with interesting views of the hustle and bustle of the tourist area.
Our food arrived pretty quickly. My student’s instructions were to essentially put everything into the soup before eating it. So the 2 different kinds of skewers (patties and thinly sliced bacon type cuts of pork), a bunch of different herbs, the noodles and the fried spring rolls all went in to the light sweet and slightly sour broth before being consumed. Really tasty and perfect for the autumn weather. Iced tea was ok, nothing to write home about but not too sweet.
We stopped for coffee afterwards at a little place by the Hoan Kiem lake.
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Hmmmm. Not sure why my lunch post from yesterday got deleted. I’ll post it again below with today’s
Monday lunch:
Thinly sliced steamed chicken, lightly sauteed prawns, steamed cabbage and roasted peanuts.
Tuesday lunch:
My interpreter said the Tuesday green veg was water lily. Braised beef with carrots and onions and a big piece of fried fish.
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All the trainee doctors were in quite a jolly mood today - they asked if we could order lunch to have together in the department. We voted for bun cha.
This was really nice, added bonus of sliced red chillies and minced garlic to add to the soup. There was a lot of team camaraderie which was nice to see. Interestingly, most people ate very quickly and then went off for their afternoon nap. The nap appears to be quite important. One unlucky person has to man the shop floor while everyone else has a post lunch snooze.
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This is spectacular.
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At naptime I go back to the education centre and have to tiptoe around because there are napping people in every possible nook. I come out of the elevator to this:
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Working lunch over a meeting with my Vietnam boss. Rice paper rolls filled with crispy skinned fish, cucumber, pineapple and rice vermicelli. Nice dipping sauce.
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Thank you for chronicling your journey Medgirl. As a veteran of multiple medical missions to Vietnam as well, I can say I have always enjoyed the local food, and certainly appreciate the less touristy, out of the way local places, and every day food in Vietnam. I am perfectly happy being and eating there for several weeks without a whisper of western food. While not a coffee drinker here, I find the ca the sua da to be rocket fuel to energize me during the day and evening for culinary expeditions.
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I completely agree with you! No need for Western food but as a rapidly modernising Asian country, Western style fast food is now widely available in Hanoi, as is a huge variety of packaged ultra processed foods. My interpreter was saying obesity is now starting to become a health issue for some Vietnamese. I’m still happy that it is possible to find good quality delicious traditional foods at a very reasonable price here.
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