Hanoi delicacies in the culinary paradise of Dong Xuan alley

Dong Xuan alley, also known as Dong Xuan market alley (Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi) is only about 200m long. This alley is located right next to the famous market, not far from Hoan Kiem Lake, so tourists  can easily find it. "From 10 noon, this market starts to be busy. Around 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., many days customers crowded each other to move, the shops were crowded, and the sellers could not rest their hands in time. There are Vietnamese tourists but there are also many Western tourists. Foreign tourists are curious and find it very strange, so they press the camera to take a panning photo," Ms. Vuong Thi Thanh - the owner of the dummies shop at the beginning of the alley shared. Along the small alley - only wide enough to set up a row of tables and chairs, the rest of the tourists go in a closed circle to avoid each other, the "culinary labyrinth" appears with all kinds of eye-catching delicacies such as spring rolls, shrimp cakes, snail noodles, bamboo stick vermicelli, mixed tea... The special thing is that the food here is quite cheap. With a few tens of thousands of VND, visitors can have a full meal. The shops here usually only have a stainless steel table, 3 chairs placed around. Next to the wall, the seller devotes a small space to place the stove, ingredients, spices... Most of the shop owners here have more than ten years of sales seniority, even several decades. Many shop owners are attached to the small alley for half their lives. Ms. Nhung has been selling vermicelli at Dong Xuan market for more than 40 years. Previously, the shops in the market alley mainly served people in neighboring alleys, small traders, traders throughout the provinces to Dong Xuan market to import goods... Today, they welcome more domestic and international tourists. In the market, there is a famous Thuy snail noodle shop. At noon, hundreds of diners came. The owner and the staff who worked quickly still couldn't serve in time. According to the owner, in winter, the restaurant will sell out about 1.1-1.2 quintals of vermicelli/day.  The most "fragrant" in the market is probably the bamboo stick grilled noodle shops  , where the smell of meat is sweet. The owner sandwiches each piece of meat into pairs of bamboo sticks to grill on embers to serve diners. They use bamboo sticks to make the meat more fragrant than grilling on an iron grill. This market is famous for snacks such as shrimp cakes, pillow cakes, filtered flour cakes, spring rolls, and dried beef stuffing. At the end of Dong Xuan market is the shrimp cake shop of Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan. The crust is prepared according to its own secret of more than 30 years so that when fried golden, the cake will not be too dry and always delicious.  Right next to Ms. Lan's shop is Ms. Thanh's busy dried beef stall. The price of a full bowl of dried beef stuffed with cut meat into pieces of about 2 knuckles, carrots, shredded papaya and roasted peanuts and herbs is 40,000 VND. The second most expensive item here is the listening book, priced at 8,000 VND/piece. After enjoying the main course, diners can dessert with tea dishes of all kinds. Ms. Lien has been selling tea for 32 years. On sunny and rainy days, she makes nearly 20 different tea dishes by herself such as green bean tea, black bean tea, potatoes, yogurt, caramel... The work starts at 4 a.m. and opens at 9 a.m. Pho tiu Ba Phuong is a familiar dish to diners when coming to Dong Xuan market alley. The dish includes pho, thinly sliced soft char siu meat, dried onions, roasted peanuts, herbs... The unique sauce creates the characteristic flavor of this dish. You can enjoy Mrs. Phuong's pho in Dong Xuan market alley before 5 p.m. After this time, the shop moved through the Hang Chieu street area. Image:  Whitenhimtron Coming to Hanoi to travel, try to visit Dong Xuan market alley, enjoy great street delicacies. Source: VNN