(Photo by Karin Bage)

After my somewhat disappointing experience in Sapa (food excepted), I tried not to have too many expectations for the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi. Nonetheless, my hopes were high when I arrived here on Tuesday - and this time, I am happy to say, all those hopes were justified, for Hanoi is utterly fabulous. Though it's wild, chaotic and a teeny bit intimidating at first, it's many charms get to work quickly, and I am already totally in love with the place.

One of those many charms is, of course, the street food, which is just mind-blowing - utterly delicious and absolutely EVERYWHERE. The other day, as my friend Karin and I wandered the streets near where we're staying, we stumbled across an alleyway that led to a market. Though by the time we got there (around 3pm) the market was well past it's best, on the alleyway there were a few street kitchens still going strong, busy with people getting their afternoon sweet kick. We joined one stall that was serving a wide array of snacks, and through an embarrassing mixture of pointing and help from an English-speaking fellow diner, sampled a few wonderful small eats.

Banh troi tau, opening photo, was first on our menu. This instantly aroused my curiosity as it is so similar to the Chinese tangyuan, a specially of Chengdu - and sure enough, our friendly fellow diner translated it's name as a kind of Chinese cake. The method of serving of this version is a world away from the plain Chinese kind though, with fresh shredded coconut, crushed peanuts, black sesame seeds and coconut milk adding a much more tropical flavour. And the dumplings themselves were exemplary - a perfect balance of chewiness and softness, and in two different flavours (green bean and sesame) to boot.

As we were eating the dumplings, a mother and her teenage daughter sat down next to us and ordered drinks. I was so taken with the look of the mother's that I ordered one myself, and was not disappointed.

First, crushed ice is packed into a glass, to which is then added a red bean sauce. Then the glass gets a spoonful of black jelly, another of coconut milk, and then is topped off with some shredded fresh coconut. The resulting drink was an amazing mixture of textures - grainy (from the red beans), slippery (from the jelly), crunchy (from the ice), and all a glorious deep maroon colour. This stall will be enjoying my patronage again soon, no doubt.

Sweet snacks stall on alleyway next to Ngoc Ha Market,
Ba Dinh District, Hanoi.