The world knows that I’m a big fan of Hanoi cuisine. What always keep me wanting to revisit the capital are, without any doubt, my Hanoi friends and the fabulous local cuisine, especially Hanoi’s street food. And sometimes I get annoyed because I cannot go to Hanoi more often. Luckily, I have recently discovered this place named “cô Thường Hà Nội” here in Danang that sells those Hanoi-signature-snacks that I am so in love with. And with this I can quite comfortably wait for my next trip to Hanoi with less grumpiness. First of all let me tell you a bit about the place. It is an ‘entertainment complex’ that has everything to offer for high school students. The first floor is the shop that sells all these Hanoi wonderful snacks; the second floor is a PS3 video game store and the third floor is a karaoke place. Need I say more? This is like a true heaven for Vietnamese high school girls and boys.Now back to the main topic, the menu of this shop covers a variety of yogurt, shakes, juices, ice cream, lemon tea, etc…Many of them are authentic Hanoi food that you do not usually find in Danang. While I have yet to tried all of them, I have 2 favourite dishes that outshine any other stuff offered by the shop and I find myself keep coming back to them: Nem chua ranand Sua chua nep cam.
 

Nem chua ran (deep fried fermented pork finger snack) is a popular snack among youngsters in Hanoi. Having fallen in love with this dish since the first try in Hanoi, I can say that Nem chua ran at this place tastes just like the original. Heck, I would even go as far as claiming that it tastes better than it does in Hanoi thanks to much more polite service and comfortable sitting (in Hanoi we had to sit on the street, or extremely narrow shops).

 

Sua chua nep cam is fermented black glutinous rice (nếp cẩm) served in a cup with yoghurt (sữa chua). You can alternatively order unfermented nếp cẩm (“nếp cẩm không men“). I’ve heard about this dessert before, but never had the chance to try it in Hanoi (always busy with other marvelous desserts). I know it doesn’t sound right commenting on a Hanoi dessert just by eating in Da Nang (say, if somebody tells me the best Mi Quang is in Hai Phong, I’d probably report him to the mental hospital). Therefore I’m just going to judge from my personal taste that this dessert is super delicious and addictive. On top of that, nếp cẩm, a special type of glutinous rice, is believed to have many health benefits.