About 20-30 years ago, the food was always a luxurious thing for many people. At that time, young children often shouted when they heard the “Who steamed rice rolls” of Thanh Tri wheeled barbarians carrying wheel chairs on the old bicycle. After holding the rice box, their mother exchanged the cake, and everyone was eagerly watching her sell the thin cake from the thick cake. Looking at the smooth cake with a little bit of wood ear mushroom, it was very interesting.
Nowadays, street vendors are almost gone, but there are more and more restaurants in Hanoi with different types of variations as well as steamed rice roll cakes from other regions such as Phu Ly, Lang Son. That makes “Banh Cuon” become one of special street foods for all tourists who are in Hanoi food tasting tours.
“Banh Cuon” is another local specialty from Northern Vietnam.It is a delicate and light dish usually eaten for breakfast in Vietnam. However, you can find it all day long. Steamed rice rolls are made of a thin rice sheet rolled and filled with ground pork meat and minced mushrooms. It is served with fried shallots and cilantro herbs on top.
The baking powder which is used to make the roll cakes is wet grinded. That is the reason why it is very smooth. After being cooked by steam, the leaves are rolled with meat, wood ear mushroom, and agaric mushrooms. Then the baker will use the bamboo to divide the cake and roll it into 4 short pieces and put on the plate. After putting all the dishes on the plate, a little shrimp will be sprinkled on the pieces of rolls and on the same point a few stalks of vegetables like mints, corianders … Steamed rice roll cakes will be enjoyed together with a bowl of dipping sauce which is commonly a sweet, sour, salty, savoury and spicy sauce. There are some slices of pork chop and some dried onions in it.
“Banh Cuon” is often recommended in food walking tours in Hanoi by all tour guides because of its reputation. In this essay, I will introduce to you some famous steamed rice roll cake in Hanoi to help you find a good restaurant to enjoy the delicious dish.
Firstly, I advise you to try “Banh Cuon” at 19 Nguyen Binh Khiem street at least one time, Hai Ba Trung district. It is also a popular place for many gourmets. The steamed rice rolls in Nguyen Binh Khiem is very soft with white cake, mushroom shrimp meat full of attractive. It is eaten with sour, spicy, sweet sauce. It is about 15,000 VND to 20,000 VND per serving. When enjoying the rolls here you need to note that you have to line up and get the number, because there are many eaters coming to buy its. In addition, you can also eat some chicken feets while waiting for the rolls.
Secondly, Ba Trieu roll cake is also one of the places to eat in Hanoi that you should not ignore. Although it is the sidewalk restaurant, the quality of the roll here is not inferior to the rolls in the big stores. The menu is varied, with vegetarian rolls, shrimp rolls, egg rolls … Among them, steamed rice rolls with shrimps and mushroom are the most popular taste. The cake is coated white pure, thin, fullness with the aromatic flavor of mushrooms, wood ear mushroom and naturally sweet taste of shrimp. With 22,000 -27,000 VND, you have a delicious steamed rice rolls to enjoy.
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