Vietnam: Quan An Ngon, Water Puppet & Bit Tet Hai Ty

Quan An Ngon was tourist's favorite because it had wide range of Vietnamese food to offer in a clean environment. The efficient way to cover most of the Vietnamese traditional dishes in one meal would be a dinner at Quan An Ngon.


We arrived at 7pm and the place was already very crowded and packed. However, the waitress managed to find a table for us. So, we did not need to queue for a table. The restaurant concept was pretty similar to the hawker centre where there were stalls selling different type of local goodies.


The first that we ordered was snail dish, steamed snail in lemongrass. It was Quan An Ngon's signature. The snails were bigger than what we thought, but they were good.


I asked the waitress if we could have rice paper wrap with both shrimp and pork since they were the same price(55kVND). So in the end we had half plate of sugarcane shrimp and another half plate of meat balls. :) We had fun wrapping up the ingredients, dipping it to the sauce before sending it to our stomachs. You could not go wrong with this dish. Highly recommended.


Grilled beef in "ngon" style was just normal, nothing fancy(65kVND). It was also the first time I tried Che(shaved ice with coconut milk, tropical fruit and jelly) and I immediately fell in love with it. Consequently, I had Che twice the next day.


After the dinner, we went for water puppet show near Hoan Kiem lake.


It was a traditional show with orchestra accompanying the performance with traditional music and songs. We had no idea what they were singing though.


The puppeteers controlled the puppets behind the screen to perform different stories, such as fishing, boat racing, harvest festival and so on. The second picture was taken during curtain call. You could see that the puppeteers had to dip their legs in the pool for the performance.


On the way back, we stopped by Bit Tet Hai Ty stall for supper. Warn you. This was a truly roadside stall with questionable hygiene.


This stall served steak in brown sauce. I was still full and only tried a small piece of it, therefore could not give any comment. But judging from the empty plate later, I guess it was good. Price was not cheap though, a plate of steak and fries was charged 40kVND. But for a taste of local, it was worthy.

Quan An Ngon
18 Phan Boi Chau
Hoan Kiem Dist
Hanoi
Opens for lunch and dinner

Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre
57B Dinh Tien Hoang Str
Hoan Kiem Dist
Hanoi
15:30pm - 17:00pm - 18:30pm - 20:00pm - 21:15pm daily
9:30am Sunday
Ticket price
Type I: 60kVND/ticket
Type II: 40kVND/ticket

Bit Tet Hai Ty
20 Hang Giay (at Hang Buom)
Hoan Kiem Dist
Hanoi
Opens at night