Hanoi, a land of thousand years of civilization, is famous for a unique and massive cuisine. Hanoi specialties are always specially interested by tourists, because all the quintessence of Vietnamese cuisine converge here. In the past, there was a saying ‘Eat North, Dress South’, implying that Hanoi’s cuisine is the best in all regions.
In the early twentieth century when flour appeared in Vietnam, Hanoi housewives created shrimp cakes. It is a harmonious combination between Vietnamese cuisine, which is eaten with many vegetables and Western cuisine with lots of fat. Initially, shrimp cakes were just a popular dish during the subsidy period. Later, Ho Tay Food Company raised the level of shrimp cakes to become a specialty, a gift of Hanoi. 
Ho Tay Shrimp Cake uses the West Lake shrimp, like small shrimp, but firm meat, soft shell and very sweet. Along with that is a little sweet potato from the Red River field, sliced, creating a ruffled crust, but eaten crunchy and mildly fragrant. At that time, about 40 years ago, there were rarely any restaurants that met the two criteria of spaciousness and beautiful space. Ho Tay shrimp cake restaurant becomes the ideal party place for student groups and couples dating. A serving of shrimp cake 5, each 3 moat, served with beer 3 moat a cup. It is not cheap, but delicious, eating while watching the scenery and enjoying the cool West Lake wind. 
Remembering the subsidy period, Trang Tien ice cream was the obsession and desire of the 6X, 7X, 8X generation … “Going to eat ice cream, watching the train” was a beautiful memory of Hanoi people. But now, the tinkling sound of the train is gone, but the taste of Trang Tien ice cream remains the same, timeless, with the years. It is called Trang Tien ice cream because the original ice cream was made on Trang Tien street in the 1950s. As a state-owned ice cream restaurant under the subsidy period, experiencing many ups and downs, when state-owned stores gradually lost, Trang Tien ice cream still existed. The original cream flavor was only: rice nuggets, coconut milk, green beans and cocoa, later on, there was a bit of cinnamon. Nuggets are creamy and soft, with a double grain of rice, green bean ice cream is fragrant, bar, coconut cream is creamy, … Many people think that the most delicious is cone ice cream, fragrant with the scent of milk. but not greasy, sweet but not bored, and rich in coolness. 
Recently, after more than 60 years of existence, Trang Tien ice cream suddenly “put on” a new shirt color with a cool green tone and the design has both the old street look and the breath of modernity. However, Trang Tien ice cream still retains its original sweet and fragrant flavor. Even though more and more different brands of ice cream are imported, diversified and more expensive, Hanoians still look to luxury ice cream as a habit and a hobby that is hard to break. Perhaps, Trang Tien ice cream is not simply an ice cream, a simple Hanoi specialty, but also a sky of childhood memories of many people. 
Along with the dishes that have been identified in Thang Long – Hanoi such as bun cha, pho, fish ball, nuggets …, cold vermicelli is also considered one of the traditional gifts, marking the time of the land. period. Cold noodle vermicelli is considered a traditional dish, only available in Hanoi with the characteristic flavor of sudden vinegar, vermicelli leaves and especially not eaten with herbs. 
One of the famous cold vermicelli shops in Ha Thanh is Mrs. Xuan cold vermicelli, located at the corner of Dao Duy Tu intersection with Hang Chieu street. Snail processing must be a type of snail, the snail to sit to be crisp enough and greasy. Snails must be soaked overnight with rice water or alcohol to remove the oil and remove the fishy smell. The soul of cold vermicelli lies in vinegar and chilli. This dish is not the combination of many ingredients such as tomatoes, snails, noodles, ribs, beans … in the same bowl, but everything is separate. Vermicelli is cut into small pieces, stuffed snails are sliced and dropped into the bowl of sauce. When eating, the vermicelli is picked up into the bowl. Close your eyes to enjoy the cool, spicy flavor of the distilled chili, shiny red snail juice, kept without mixing with any other ingredients, just add vinegar and just enough spices. 
Cakes are traditional Vietnamese cakes and are especially popular in the North. The dish made of soy sauce appeared around the 60s of the twentieth century. Peanut cast and poor sauce is a simple yet dear country gift. There is no need for luxurious ingredients, just from the rice grain of the village with the ingenuity of the mothers and sisters, this cake has made many people far away from the countryside remember. 
Rice soaked with clear lime water, crushed into powder for cooking pot and stir well. When near, let roasted peanuts and mix well. When the cake is poured into the banana leaf lining, wait for it to cool, then slice the dots with the same soy sauce. The delicious peanut molded cake must not be crushed, but it must be soft, flexible, crispy, without sticking to the hand, smooth and shiny. The pulp of roasted peanuts, along with the delicate and rich rice flavor, the fat leopard blends together, both simple, and evokes a lot of emotions about a very peaceful land. Cakes can be eaten with many kinds of sauces, but the most popular and popular is still the sauce casting cake. Today, cast cakes are sold a lot in the street hangs or markets in Dong Xuan, Hang Be, but the most is still in Tay Ho. 
Sticky rice in Hanoi is not sold many places, so the sticky rice in Ngo Si Lien is always crowded. Many diners are too familiar with the sticky rice trolley sold by two owners who are over 70 years old. At 2:00 pm, every day, Mr. Luan and Mrs. Kim push the cart to the top of the alley to sell sticky rice. 
To have a fragrant cassava sticky rice dish, the two grandparents had to work hard to prepare the ingredients from 5 am: scrap the cassava skin, soak it in salt water for at least 4-5 hours to let the plastic out of the cassava, so as not to be bitter. After that, scoop up and mix with a little salt and then cook. At about 11-12 noon, Ms. Kim mixed cassava with next-class sticky rice to make it sticky and soft. “Tapioca rice padded rice is a popular dish in ancient times, because without money to buy meat and fish, her grandparents have come up with a way to mix cassava cooked with rice to change meals,” said Mrs. Kim. No matter what, what my family eats, they sell it, gradually get support from customers, so I also change some side dishes such as fat tart, beef rolls, sweet and sour pickles … indispensable is scallions with lard ”. From the modifications to a few toppings included, the diners probably had to “wait in line” for a long time. Sticky cassava of the last century is simply cassava stuffed into sticky rice, now served with cucumber, fat … has created a rich taste for this rustic dish. The pulp of cassava is mixed in the aroma of sticky sticky rice, eaten with grease, pickles … just as much as it will dispel the hunger of the afternoon. 
Braised tea is a traditional dish with bold flavors of the Northern people. The best braised tea must be cooked from green beans with green pepper, whole seeds, tiny, light green, not choose big-bean, crushed yellow beans, which are sold throughout the market. 
Green beans after being crushed, soaked in cold water for 6 hours. When the shell is loose, treat it well. After that, sprinkle a little salt and drain to bring the contents to the pot to cook. Crush the cooked beans so that they are smooth, and then hold each handful with a small grapefruit. Those handfuls of beans use a thin sliced knife to let the beans fall apart. Done again, bring the beans and cut them into the hand. Just like that a few times, the new beans are smooth. Thoroughly filter the unripe beans. The white sugar is thoroughly beaten with water, boiled to cool it to sugar water, then mixed with the crushed beans. Put this mixture on the stove, stirring with chopsticks both hands and lower heat gradually. Before that, boil some cardamom juice and then filter the clear water and pour it into a pot of tea warehouse. One of the familiar addresses in Hanoi also sells traditional warehouse tea: Sticky rice with Ba Thin tea. 
Every morning to noon, the corner of Hai Ba Trung street is crowded with people, waiting to enjoy a delicious cup of egg cream and fragrant crispy bread. That is the address of Ms. Khanh’s egg ice cream shop, opened in 1987, starting with the “machines” for making homemade eggs, created by her husband’s hands, so much “age” but sticking to the end. now. Whipped cream or Whipped cream. Called the childhood dish of many Hanoi people, but there are still many people who have never tasted it, even confused with current egg coffee. Because this dish is not too popular, but in the 1980s – 1990s, outside of Hanoi, there was nothing. 
Each cup of whipped cream contains only 2 egg yolks and a little sugar, carefully beaten until it becomes fluffy, soft, and then flavored with vanilla, coffee, green tea or a teaspoon of beans. big green cooks sugar. Whipped cream eggs of the old days and whipped cream eggs of 30 years later, the taste is still intact, probably because the hands of the craftsmen still retain their love of the profession. 
Many people who hear the name for the first time often wonder: What combination is so absurd. Ice cream sandwiches, it sounds strange, but actually just a small, soft bread, can be held in your hand with cool, sweet ice cream inside. Accompanying it is a little peanuts and fresh milk directly from the bottom to create a very special flavor. 
Many people in Hanoi recounted that this dish was invented for the first time by some wagon dealers in Hanoi. Because they spend the whole day on the street eating bread, in the hot sun they come to buy popsicles at Trang Tien ice cream shop or other ice cream shops on the street, to eat with bread to relieve thirst. Some people in a hurry have sandwiched the cream on the bread to make it easy to eat, reduce flow, taste delicious, so others imitate and follow. So “cream sandwiches” was born from there. Ice cream sandwiches have become a “luxury” dish of 7X and 8X generation children. Just hear the loud bell of the ice cream vending machine and the kids gather around. Eyes eagerly watched the cream of the round cream clatter, bringing each round cream ball into the bread. Later, as their lives improved, Hanoians no longer remember ice cream sandwiches as much as they used to, and the ice cream sandwich shops also gradually closed. Ice cream sandwiches are now just nostalgia, only living in the memory of old generations. But even so, the memory of an ice cream sandwich will remind every Hanoian of a past, difficult, needy, but still full of “sweet”. These simple dishes have accompanied our grandparents and parents through the past difficult and difficult. Over time, many new dishes were born, gifts from the subsidized period were no longer so popular as in the past. However, the Hanoians still remember the greasy Khanh’s egg creams, the idyllic dot cake or sweet stewed tea … as a way to cherish the past and past memories./.
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