We live in a part of Hanoi euphemistically called the Old French Quarter and we often see bewildered westerners, maps in hand, searching for vestiges of colonial grandeur. Many old villas remain but a lot are hidden behind tacked-on shop fronts. Some have been turned into glitzy restaurants, and there are crumbling gems that need skilled restoration.
It's an area where middle class Vietnamese are hastily remodeling their houses to suit western tenants, where swathes of homes are erased to make way for high-rise luxury apartments.
It's also an area of culinary delights. If you have the money you can dine in places that have menus in English and where knives and forks are as ubiquitous as chopsticks - but it's also an epicurean cornucopia if you want to eat with the locals.
It would take a thick volume to include all the delicious, and usually cheap, Vietnamese eating places within easy walking distance, so for now I'll choose a few spots in the immediate vicinity.
Let's start with breakfast. Just around the corner from Quang Trung St., in Ngo Van So St., Mrs. Hoa sits next to her large basket of xoi (sticky rice). Her produce is popular and sells out quickly. One thousand dong will buy a tasty dollop but it's so moreish that it's better to get two. She spoons the warm sticky rice on to a banana leaf and offers to pile shredded dried pork or spiced sesame salt and crushed peanuts on top.
You can either squat on the pavement to eat it, or walk halfway down Ngo Van So St and have it with Vietnamese coffee at Xa Me coffee house, run for and by the street kids and orphans who live above it.
Coffee here is amongst the best in Hanoi and comes as a strong short black (cafe den), with ice (den da), hot with condensed milk (cafe sua), milky with ice (sua da) or, most delicious, yoghurt and ice (sua chua danh da cafe). If you're ice phobic (as you should be in lots of Vietnamese venuse), then stick to cafe nong (hot). A good coffee will cost VND5,000 and VND5,000 more for yoghurt.
Across the road in the alley are Mrs. Sam's and Mrs Hong's pho bo (beef noodle soup) stalls. By 6 am both cooks are sitting beside bubling couldrons slicing fresh beef and onions. For the novice, all I can say is go, sit, watch the preparation ceremony and order a bowl. If you're unsure about how to eat it, just do as the locals do. When you've finished, hand the cook VND10,000.
Truong Han Sieu St has a plethora of street sellers, both legal (those who pay a People's Committee rental for a metre or so of pavement) and illegal (the women who wander the street with baskets on shoulder poles or the back of bikes). If you are buying from one of the latter and it's a police hassle day, you may end up chasing your fleeing vendor to get your change. Today we could buy bananas, guavas, custard apples, longans, jackfruit, watermelon, grapefruit, oranges, dragon fruit, limes, passionfruits, peaches, persimmons, plums and pomegranates, imported grapes, apples and fuji pears... all within 50 metres. If you're a tay (westerner) you'll be fleeced a bit, but generally for any seasonal fruit expect to pay an inflated VND15,000 to VND20,000 a kilo.
Even if you're not that hungry, buy a fresh, warm breal roll from the lady who trots around the streets balancing a basket nearly as big as herself on her head calling "mi nong nao" (delicious hot bread). VND1,000 is all it takes to receive the morning's widest smile.
That's breakfast, but there's still lunch, dinner and a latenight snack to go. We might have to continue our neighbourhood food ramble in future issues. Mind you, our mouthwatering area is replicated in different guises and dishes throughout Hanoi.