Hidden Hanoi

THE Hidden Hanoi Cooking School really does live up to its name.
It is so hard to find that our local driver took three trips around the congested block before apologetically arriving at the front door.

Hidden Hanoi, well the cooking school part of the business at least, operates near Hanoi‘s West Lake.
It is run by Tran Hanh An, a former journalist who, much to her family’s horror, now teaches foreigners to cook.
“Locals would never come here,” she says. “This is something your mother would teach you.”
There are six hands-on cooking classes _ Bun Cha (street food), seafood, monsoon, village, vegetarian or the all-day party food menu.
An is married to an Australian (from the Gold Coast) and visits our country every year. She exhibits glimpses of the Australian humour but in all other aspects she is very Vietnamese.

The happy cook

Happy, with a genuine smile, she tilts her head back and opens her mouth wide when she laughs. She is dressed in boots, jeans and has several layers of clothing under a bright red coat with flowers on the sleeve. Her eyes dance from person to person as she explains how food dominates the daily routine of Vietnamese people.
“Most people would eat six times a day,” she says. “We care a lot about balance. It is the yin and yang of food. Hot with cold, crunchy with soft and oil with light. Balance is good. Food in north Vietnam is light compared with the rest of the country. Central Vietnam is all about spice and the south is hearty.
“Everything is fresh. Vietnamese people will go to the market at least once a day. Most go twice.
“The fridge doesn’t play an important role in Vietnamese cooking, everything is fresh.
“When my parents bought a fridge they put it in the lounge room to show everyone how wealthy they were. It was turned off during the winter because we didn’t need it.”

The secrets of street food

Today she is teaching us how to make street food, or as the locals call it Bun Cha. As a rule this type of street food is consumed between 11am and 2pm and includes spring rolls, a soup, barbecue pork and noodles.
“We are millionaires on the street in regards to what we can eat,” she says.
I have done many cooking classes, in many different countries, but this is the best. And when you consider that most Vietnamese street food is adventurous to say the least, this works for me because I can see every ingredient that has gone into our lunch.
The mixture between doing and observing is perfect in An’s class. The eight of us work around a square bench, each assigned different tasks, while An moves from station to station. In a very short time we are creating perfectly formed spring rolls and putting together a marinade that smells, and tastes, like Vietnam.
And the proof is in the eating, which we delight in doing after two hours in the kitchen.
Hidden Hanoi does much more than cooking classes. It also runs tours of Hanoi‘s temples, the French Quarter, the Old Quarter, and Hanoi‘s wet market.
The first thing you notice about Hanoi is that, just like the food, it is very different from Ho Chi Minh City in the southern part of the country. There are far fewer Western influences.
The street vendors are less demanding as you navigate your way through the maze of parked motorbikes, sidewalk coffee shops and people selling fresh and fried foods.

Journey to the old quarter

In the Old Quarter at least, there is nowhere near the number of faux spas offering $US15 massages.
The Kangaroo Cafe in Boo Khanh St is a good place to stop for a coffee and have a chat to Australian owner Max Hart about what makes Vietnam tick. He has invested almost a lifetime in this country and is a valuable asset for tourists eager to get off the well-worn travel path.
He can arrange trips to almost anywhere in Vietnam but tonight our request is simple. a motorcycle ride around the city.
Like any Asian city, Hanoi‘s traffic is chaotic. To be a part of it on the back of a motorcycle is something else. Traffic rules do not exist. Only the bold survive. The weak probably never reach their intended destination.
My 30-minute ride, clinging to the back of a stranger half my size, took me past the Hanoi Hilton (Hoa Lo Prison where American PoWs were held during the war), Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum and down some dark back streets to Huu Tiep Lake in the Ngoc Ha Precinct.

Hanoi moves from the horrors

Here you will find the remnants of a B52 bomber that was shot down and now sits in the middle of a tiny lake. It is an eerie feeling to walk around the lake and see this eight-engine beast protruding from the water.
In one generation Hanoi seems to have moved from the horror of war to embracing every visitor as a long-lost friend.
Hanoi offers a lot, but costs very little. You can easily spend a day walking along its shaded boulevards taking in the French-colonial architecture.
If you are a hot chocolate-aholic then make sure you visit the Sofitel. You won’t be disappointed. This warm drink is so thick with chocolate you drink it with a spoon.

For more information on Hidden Hanoi cooking classes go to www.hiddenhanoi.com.vn