It was an easy flight from Korea into Hanoi, Vietnam. I made note of it, because I still don’t know what alternate life I lived that accommodated a trip to Vietnam, on a flight that took less than five hours. Hanoi was the first stop in Vietnam because I was desperate to cruise in Hạ Long Bay. The bay was a little over a two-hour drive from Hanoi, so we bookended our cruise with nights in Hanoi.
Our hotel was in the middle of the old town in Hanoi, and it was the first time I heard the symphony of horns. Consisting mostly of motorbikes, but taxis and delivery trucks made sure they were a part of the action. Somehow the chaos all works, even with pedestrians walking into the fray – which is the only advice given on navigating this chaos. Just walk forward. Standing at the edge of the street, contemplating what walking forward to cross the street would be like, I imagine I felt a little like Peter did when he first went to get out of the boat. Now Peter wasn’t gripping two children’s hands and he had Jesus literally in front of him. I just had blind faith in the redit post I read… But it was a word, because the bikes and chaos folded us in, moving around us without even a flinch. I’m positive I held my breath across the entire street and would later walk meters out of the way to not have to cross a street like that again. But I did it; I walked on water.
We only spent two afternoons and two nights in Hanoi, but on my small list of things I wanted to see and eat, a bánh mì was at the top.
The roots of the bánh mì date back to the mid-19th century during French colonial rule in Vietnam. The French introduced the baguette, or petit pains, a crusty bread that would become the foundation for what we now recognize as the bánh mì. (source)
We ordered four different versions, and while all the variations were delicious, we thought the best was the pork.
After our cruise in Hạ Long Bay, we went searching for a restaurant described as someone living room, that had bánh mì on the menu. It was located in the French Quarter of Hanoi, and we struggle a bit to find the entrance. But when we finally popped up the stairs, the family welcomed us and fed us (in their living room restaurant).
I often wonder what my kids take away from our travels. I know their experiences are different; I know their perspective of how they see the places we visit is different – how can it not be? I grew up in central PA where seeing a horse and buggie with an Amish couple heading to town was normal. My boys have traveled to over thirty-five countries and lived on three continents. So when we touched-down in Vietnam, I know they didn’t hold the same wide-eye fascination that me and my husband did. It was another country, for sure, to them. And I know they felt a difference between traveling in Europe and Asia and America, but I didn’t know what, if anything, would take root in their minds.
We moved to Paris later that summer, and despite being surrounded by Korean, Japanese, Thai, and Vietnamese restaurants, it took us six months before we Uber Eats bánh mì. Truthfully I wasn’t sure what we would like, so I ordered several different sandwiches – satay beef, chicken citronella and porc laqué (a roasted pork with a sweet outer crust). When we sat down to eat, the conversation was all about the bánh mì we ate in Vietnam. The sandwich experience in Vietnam connected us to a moment in our new home in France. ( It’s not lost on me that both of our locations share a connection as well. Read this.)
Now, we can’t stop ordering them. My youngest will always request a with extra carrots. My oldest is obsessed with baguettes, so this hits the spot. I crave that mayo / sauce that is in the sandwich. We now order four porc laqué bánh mì and Che Chuoi (a banana tapioca pudding) and Che Xoai (mango tapioca pudding) on the regular.
In Hanoi we ate here:
And we currently order banh mi (in Paris) from Bo Bun Shop from Uber Eats.
We stayed here in Hanoi and have no complaints. I wouldn’t call it luxury but it worked. It was noisy; you are in the old town. I loved that we were all able to stay in one room (family of four) and that they provided breakfast.