Today was a dear friend's birthday. From another friend's recommendation, we chose The Hanoi Social Club for brunch. Warning; if you decide to go there, it's more of a coffee shop than anything else. The food is really delicious, but the seating was limited. We had 9 people and chose to sit on the rooftop around a coffee table:
Our "table for nine"
The birthday boy and friends with a lime mint lassi and a passion fruit lassi: so delicious and fresh! I think this picture could be an add for their website; yes?
If you know me, you know I have a chai tea latte obsession. As I am not a coffee drinker; chai tea is my guilty pleasure. It may or may not be one of the major reasons why I want to live in India....that and yoga. ANYWAY; this is the most beautiful presentation I have ever seen. It was just as good as it looks!
Brunch for the birthday boy; falafel sandwich with "Viet" fries; fried bamboo shoots that some with a spicy chili sauce--they were good!
Hubs chose the Social Club burger with avocado, cheese and fries. It "was a lot of bread", but decent.
My brunch; quinoa and polenta porridge with pistachios, currants, mango, coconut and cream. It really hit the spot. I also ordered a side of scrambled eggs that were much more appetizing than they looked. So I decided to spare the photo.
A cake ball from Saint Honore; the bakery of choice for almost any Mission function.
The birthday spread; cake balls, macaroons and meringue---needless to say, he was happy--and so were we!
After brunch, the birthday gang went to play Lazer tag while Hubs and I decided that we needed to get home and organize our apartment since they are taking our "Welcome Kit" tomorrow. The "Welcome Kit" is a group of items that the Mission owns us until our shipment arrives. We have had it's contents spread out on our dining room table for a week and we are ready to pass it on to the next group of new tenants.
As we headed home we walked through the Old Quarter and came across a gallery. We chatted up the sales girl and bartered two pieces:
"nothing is more precious than independence and freedom" -Ho Chi Minh
I'd show the other one, but I wrecked the photo.
We came home and had a very satisfying, but quite boring afternoon. We got organized, organized and organized some more. Afterwards, we were pretty hungry but tired so we decided to venture back to the seafood place from the first week to see if it was still as good as we remembered it.
Sweet potato fries with tomato sauce and mayo:
just as delish as we remembered
Stir fried glass noodles with crab:
equally delicious, with a few crab shells here and there--no big deal
Spicy lemongrass clams:
Amazing as ever--they might have been better tonight!
The view from our table; part of the "kitchen"--this is where they grill the oysters and clams
As you can see, of of the reasons why this is called street food is because we eat on the sidewalk and some of the cuisine is prepared on the sidewalk as well!
Mollusks in open air
Mopeds and sweet potato fries, an excellent combo!
Today was another day of good friends, good food and good times.
I feel a lot more settled in after spending several hours in our apartment.
I think we are going to have a hard time when we leave Ha Noi, but for now I am going to focus on being present and enjoying the moment!
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