Entree Kibbles: Quán Bánh Cuốn Nóng Gia Truyền Đội Cấn - Vietnamese Steamed Rice Rolls near Ho Chi Minh Museum in Hanoi [Vietnam]

I can't recall if this eatery was picked off Google Maps or something the Greatest Kon had wanted to check out when we were in Hanoi, but it did seem promising given the pretty good crowd at about 10.00 am!

There wasn't any English menu and with just this Vietnamese one in front of us, we can only rely on translation app to get a rough inkling on what the dishes meant. We did recognize a few words; Bánh Cuốn means rice rolls, which would be similar to our local chee cheong fun.

While waiting, these were placed on our tables. Frankly, without any instructions, the common Singaporeans wouldn't know what to make do with them. When to eat what, with what!? The unknowns meant shunning them altogether.

The rolls, being rolled.

Gà ác tần thuốc bắc - Gà means chicken so we figured it's something to do with chicken but we absolutely didn't expect a herbal chicken soup, with its head, and comb still intact, as if it was sleeping! Disturbing, it sure was.

Soup was herb strong but without much flavor. Guess that's the reason why it was brought to the table with a container of salt. Meat was tender although you would see the innards once you dig further in! Vegetables, strangely, had a texture like shredded meat!

Generous serving of rice rolls that had a noticeable amount of wood fungus, including a sprinkling of deep fried, large-piece shallots that were satisfyingly crunchy! They tasted okay, a tad dry and not my cup of tea.

The rice rolls were just the carbohydrate component to the orders; our three portions of rice rolls actually came with the soupy "mains" - cha lan, thit nuong, and cha que. I only know thit nuong which was grilled meat. The other two were patties and mixed.

Drenching the rice rolls with the lightly sweetened sauce was a sure way to make them softer and less dry, and a lot more palatable. Meat wise, they were a bit porky.

We also ordered a rice roll egg wrap which was alright in taste; didn't quite impress Without the sauce, this roti-prata lookalike would be quite dry also.

Before and after - frankly, I think its popularity stemmed from the fact that it was quite economically priced, and serving was big, making it a good breakfast for one person. Only issue for me? I am better off using my calories on other food.

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