Okay, so you know which street foods you can’t skip out on when you’re in Vietnam. But what do you drink whilst you’re scoffing down your fourth banh mi for the day? Or you don’t-really-need-but-really-want dessert after your dinner of com ga? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered on the sweets front too.
1. Ca Phe Sua Da (Vietnamese coffee)
Again, I’m starting with an obvious one but I’m stressing this: you really can’t miss the coffee in Vietnam! It’s brewed in a little Vietnamese drip filter, which slowly releases drop after delicious drop into the cup below it. The coffee itself is very dark and quite bitter, and most of the time is served with condensed milk. This transforms it into the most delectable caffeinating treat around: a perfect balance between sweet and bitter, milky whilst still having a serious caffeine kick. You can order it hot or over ice. Most of the time, I ordered iced since it was so hot and humid.
Beware though: this stuff is addictive. I drank at least two iced coffees a day and couldn’t imagine life without it, so I brought 2kg of coffee beans home with me. Given how hot it is, most of the time you’ll be wanting iced caffeine-sugary-goodness. So go ahead, order a ca phe sua da. Your life will never be the same.
2. Nuoc Mia (sugar cane juice)
Because I’m an absolute dweeb and was too busy enjoying my sugar cane juice, I forgot to actually take any photos of it! If you’ve been anywhere in Asia, you’re probably familiar with the sight of fibrousy, flattened sugar cane on the side of the road. This is what it’s squeezed for! The sugar cane is put through a mechanical press to extract the juice, which is served with ice and a dash of lime. You can find nuoc mia stalls all over the place, and they will often squeeze the juice fresh for you. This is seriously sweet though, and not for everyone’s taste, but definitely worth a try whilst you’re there.
3. Ca phe trúng (egg coffee)
Before you turn and run in the opposite direction, let me explain myself! This is certainly not just an egg with coffee. The egg is whipped with sugar, to make a thick, fluffy, meringue-like topping. A generous amount of this sweet, foamy topping is dolloped on top of a steaming hot cup of Vietnamese coffee. It ends up being about two-thirds coffee, and one-third meringue topping, which makes this more like a dessert than a drink. They have an iced variety available, but I personally think the ice dilutes it too much and prefer the hot version. Egg coffee is a specialty in Hanoi, and the best place to go is Café Giang. You definitely don’t want to miss this whilst you’re in Hanoi, as you can’t find it anywhere else in the country!
4. Weird bean dessert-drink-thing
One of my favourite things to do in Vietnam was wander around local markets in the food section and order what everyone else was eating. These odd-bean-drink-things were popular in many cities all over the country. I honestly have no idea what their proper name is! There will usually be a stall that has lots of bowls and jars of jellies, fruits, and various unnameable liquids – this is where you can find these. As far as I understand, you can order pretty much whatever combination you like. I would usually point to what another customer was having and ask for the same.
Typical ingredients might include red beans, grass jelly, lychee pieces, coconut jelly, tapioca pearls, mung bean paste, fruit juice, and/or coconut milk. These ingredients are piled together in a glass over ice and then handed to you for you to work out how to eat it. A young girl showed me at one market to mix it all together before you drink/eat it as I had stared perplexedly at my glass, so I believe that’s how you do it. As strange as they may sound or look, they are actually very tasty and refreshing so I’d definitely recommend trying them at least once. At the very least, it’ll be a fun experience 😛
5. Kem (ice cream)
You can get kem all over Vietnam, from 7-Eleven to street vendors, but I had this particular ice cream from a place in Hanoi. One of my local friends took me here; I would never have discovered it by myself. You can find Kem Trang Tien near the Hoan Kiem Lake. It’s a bit like an ice cream factory, but open to the public. When we went, it was bustling with locals buying armfuls of ice cream cones for each of their kids. The flavours available change on an almost daily basis, my friend told me. The two that we had were coconut and taro. They were delicious: not too sweet or creamy, but very flavourful and refreshing. We also tried the heavenly matcha soft serve. Although this seems fairly readily available now, it was rather hard to get at the time. You’ve got to eat this quickly though! Even inside, the Hanoi heat melts ice cream fast. Though I suppose this means more time to try more flavours, am I right? 😉
6. Coconut coffee
Hm maybe I should have mentioned at the start of my post that half of these things will be coffee related… but this really emphasises just how good the coffee in Vietnam is! Coconut coffee is very different to egg coffee, and perfect for a hot day. Again, you start with the typical dark, bitter Vietnamese coffee. This time though, they add a coconut ice instead of condensed milk. This is basically frozen coconut milk; it’s not super creamy like ice cream and is similar to a granita. This turns the coffee into an icy, slushie-like drink that you half eat, half drink. It’ll cool you right off after hot day’s exploring!
Which of these desserts/drinks did you need in your life yesterday?
I was about to get upset cause I don’t like coffee but then you got to the ice cream part <3 they all sound amazing though!
haha you need to try this coffee though!
I need more Vietnamese coffee in my life! If one could just open up on the corner of my street that would be great, thanks.
But I need it today, not yesterday – and over ice – because today it is hot and sunny and yesterday it was drizzly humid rainy. In fact, I need it right now, in the park just outside this window, under that tree there……
Haha you do! I drink it almost every morning, I can’t live without it anymore. I’ll send you some 😉