Chả Cá (Grilled Chopped Fish)

Almost all foreigners who come to Hà Nội look for Cha Ca Street to taste this specialty. In the past, in this street were sold various types of Vietnamese lacquer, and it was known as Hàng Sơn (Lacquer) Street.

At the end of the 19th century, the Đoàn family residing at No. 14 came up with a new dish of grilled fish served with vermicelli and some spices. As the dish was liked by their friends, the family opened a shop to sell it. It was called chả cá Lã Vọng as at the door of the shop was placed the statue of La Vong (a famous Chinese figure) holding a fishing rod in one hand and a string of fish in the other.

This food was gradually accepted by Hanoians and its reputation spread all over the City. Later, the traditional street was re-named Cha Ca.

Chả Cá (Grilled Chopped Fish)

The shopkeeper places on the table in front of his customers a small earth stove with hot charcoal on which there is a small frying pan with boiling fat. Then the ingredients and spices are displayed: mắm tôm (shrimp paste), lemon, chili, roasted peanuts, bánh đa (a kind of cake made of ground rice), different kinds of herbs particularly fennel and spring onion.

Fish used to make this food can be bagarius, carnero, mussel but the best is dwarf catfish cut into pieces then mixed with lemongrass and pepper. When chả cá is brought to the table, the guest puts some spring onion and some fish pieces into the pan with boiling oil.

Chả Cá (Grilled Chopped Fish)

Then he takes bún (vermicelli), onion, coriander, fennel and roasted peanuts along with one or two pieces of chả cá and dip them into the shrimp paste with lemon juice, chili and sometime, some belostomatid essence.

Delicious! While tasting the specialty, take a glance over the dim room full of blue smoke spiraling upwards. The air is impregnated with good smells.

Bánh Cuốn (Rolled Cake)

In Ha Noi, bánh cuốn was first made in Thanh Trì, a suburban village. Thanh Trì lies to the south-east of Hà Nội on the bank of the Red River. The inhabitants here are skilled in making the original rolled cake, as thin as paper, as clear as porcelain glaze and having a nice flavor. The flour is soft and elastic. In the past, every morning, Thanh Trì girls brought bánh cuốn to the inner area and sold it in the streets.

They carried a bamboo basket covered with a flat basket on their heads and when customers called them, they would put it down. In it there were a bottle of fish sauce, vinegar, chili, some bowls, and dishes, a dozen or so pairs of chopsticks and layers of bánh cuốn arranged over one another. Each layer of bánh cuốn had been covered with a little fat and fried pieces of onion.

Bánh Cuốn (Rolled Cake)

The huckster slowly took out each layer, rolled it and placed it on a dish to serve her customer. Banh cuon taken with hot sour sauce is really a delicious and popular food. When urban people have more sophisticated tastes, they take bánh cuốn together with giò bò (beef paste), giò lụa (lean pork pie) or chả lợn (fried pork pie). In each way, they can enjoy a special flavor. Though there are now new types of bánh cuốn, that made in Thanh Trì is still flavored by many Hanoians.

Half a century ago, a number of improved bánh cuốn stalls came into being on Ha Noi streets. They still used Thanh Trì bánh cuốn but added fillings of half-lean-half-fat port and fresh chopped shelled shrimp, fragrant mushrooms, and jelly fungus soaked in warm water and cut into small pieces with onions, fish sauce and pepper. All those ingredients are fried then put into the rolled cake which will be steamed before being .served to the customer. In the bowl of prepared fish sauce, some drops of belostomatid essence are added to give the food a flavor.

Today, at bánh cuốn stalls in Ha Noi Old Quarter, the cake. And the fillings inside the cake are made at the same time. Customers have to wait for each dish of cake and enjoy the warm and fragrant smoke, particularly on cold days. Unfortunately, belostomatid species have gradually been subjected to extinction and almost all stalls use chemical belostomatid essence. Nevertheless, the bánh cuốn stall at No. 17 Cha Ca Street still serves customers with the real belostomatid essence.