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Amazing..I would kill for a dish of chicken oysters! There's a chicken oysters kilpatrick joke to be made in there somewhere.. Uncharacteristically healthy dinner for me; fritters of beetroot, lamb and freekeh (smoked cracked green wheat), based on this Nigel Slater recipe, and kale with caramelised onions. And a little dipping sauce for the fritters of Greek yoghurt with grated cucumber, chilli, garlic and lemon.

Pan fried scallops and morcilla (Spanish black pudding, lots of paprika), topped with panko.

About five minutes, on a pre heated grill pan (smoking hot, actually). They were so tender, it was incredible! Still on the quick seafood theme, mussels. Braised with cider, cream and fatty speck bacon. With some bread and a big glass of the cider. Mmmm.

Love the Ottolenghi-ing! I found good sized calamari tentacles at the fish shop for AUD$8 a kilo! Pretty good, I thought. Grilled them up with lemon, garlic, olive oil and chilli.

Looks beautiful. I've had my eye on this recipe meaning to make it for ages.

Calamari, grilled with salsa verde, and a green salad. I like to leave the skin and wings on..I don't find the skin bitter the way some people do. And there's quite a bit of meat in those wings!

Thanks! Vietnam is such a fantastic country for food. OK, last post. Since the boyfriend was technically there for work (not that you'd know it from our food pics!), there's always at least one meal involving being taken out by his Vietnamese colleagues. I look forward to these meals. They always order up a storm, though this time they were remarkably restrained.. They took us to Pho Bien, 14 Trang Thi in the Hai Ba Trung district of Hanoi. This was a huge seafood restaurant, obviously for locals in the know as we didn't see another Westerner anywhere near the joint. First up, some kind of gelatinous soup, maybe chicken and egg thread? The ubiquitous seafood rolls. These seem to be everywhere and are tasty but packed full of mayonnaise! Fried squid, miraculously tender: Green salad, Viet style: The main event, a crispy fried fish (called 'mu' in Vietnamese), it's some kind of freshwater fish that I haven't been able to work out in English. It came with rice paper, vermicelli and herbs to roll up into crispy parcels. The rice paper was thinner than any I've encountered before and didn't need to be moistened the way the thicker stuff does. I started rolling my own, like the peasant I am, while everyone else let the waiter do it: Finished and ready for dipping: Lastly, chao vit or congee made with the fish's head. Eyeballs and all. Dessert was the sweetest, most juicy pomelo I've ever had. A pomelo to make Sydney pomelos taste like hockey pucks..yum. Dipped in chilli and salt, I loved this. The quality and abundance of fruit in Vietnam really is incredible. And candied ginger: The restaurant, near closing time. I'm definitely coming back to this place next time I'm here, there were so many things on the menu I'd have ordered if we were the ones paying. Another meal at a bia hoi, which is an outdoor beer garden type thing that springs up at night with tents, tables and tiny midget stools along entire street sides..this one was Bit Tet Hai Ty at 20 Hang Giay St. Ignore the doofus in the photo, I must've caught him mid blink or mid slur. Pork-stravaganza..first, suon ran (caramelised short ribs) and then suon rang muoi, salt and pepper ribs, both buried in mountains of deep fried lemon grass and green onion. Greasy and delicious and consumed with much beer. A meal at Quan Com Pho, a mid-range Vietnamese restaurant in the outer city (29 Le Van Huu). Crab spring rolls: Ribs with sesame sauce: Caramel prawns: Honey-grilled squid with chilli sauce (the winner): And a passionfruit juice, seriously delicious: Phew. Wanna see a Vietnamese supermarket? This is Intimex, at Le Thai Tho. We went to stock up on packaged coffee, chilli sauce etc to take home. I don't think many Vietnamese actually shop here (why would you, when the fresh food markets are so good?) but if you're interested in overseas supermarkets like I am, here you go: And a last meal in Hanoi before I flew back to Sydney, fried eggplant with garlic and caramel squid, at Little Hanoi, 14 Ha Tien. Phew! And that's it. Barely scratched the surface of this incredible food city. Already can't wait to go back.

More things; banh goi, deep fried Vietnamese pastries of pork mince, vermicelli and wood ear fungus. These are hard to find, the only place I encountered was at 52 Ly Quoc Su, purveyor of all things deep fried. Bloody delicious. A meal at Highway 4, 5 Hang Tre. jmolinari was right, food very meh. Some seafood spring rolls, pomelo salad and caramelised pork belly, none of which were particularly exciting versions. Maybe they were fine and I just wasn't in the mood, but I kind of hated this place (not even the A/C worked, false advertising!) To soothe my cantankerosity, I got a banh mi on the way home. I was actually looking for a banh mi with pate etc but none to be found at that time of night, so the other version available was banh mi doner kebab. Fatty pork on a bun, cabbage, coriander, chilli sauce and pickles. And got back to the hotel and polished off a bottle of Vietnamese one, out of scientific interest. It reminded me of New Zealand wine of a few years ago, promising but not really there yet. Also, some bakery goodies..Hanoi is pretty full of good bakeries, and this one (a branch of a chain, on Phan Ding Phung St) was pretty spiffy. Got a bag of macaron shells (!) and a pate xo, puff pastry filled with pate and pork mince. Tasty. Not all of these are from the same day, I'm drifting, you understand..anyway, also went to Grilled Chicken St, or Ly Van Phuc for gu nuong. Vietnamese grilled chicken is incredible, I have no idea exactly what they do to it but it's so good. Unfortunately, we weren't all that hungry so had a wing or two, a stick of chicken breast, and some thigh/leg meat. It's served with cucumber pickles and baguettes smeared in honey and toasted till crispy. And COLD beer, heaven! Hilariously, the grill dude absolutely INSISTED we take his photo, and then chose to look THIS impressed when we did: OK, the big 'un...we took ourselves along for the Sunday brunch buffet at the Metropole. Expensive way to get some air conditioning, I tell you, but it was pretty good. I especially liked the cooked-to-order foie gras station, and the amazing duck liver parfaits in shot glasses. Seafood was good too, oysters, prawns, crabs, sashimi and smoked salmon. Also, whelks, razor clams, caviar and salmon roe. Sorry some of these are blurry, the boyfriend walked around taking them all and the man has no concept of focusing a camera. Duck liver parfait, beef carpaccio, foie gras, smoked salmon, salmon and foie gras rice paper rolls, beef tartare..bliss. These aren't all my plates, blurry ones = boyfriend's, but I reckon we actually ate about double this.. As you might imagine, we were pretty full after that!

OK, I'll go first. Have been in the Hanoi for the last week, basically doing nothing but eating (and sweating; 95F and 80% humidity, oy..). Mostly a mix of old street food favourites (it's my fifth time here) and a couple of tourist joints when we just needed A/C. I've tried to include a pic of the shopfront, and the address, should you try to find them. First, bun cha; a very Hanoi dish of grilled pork belly and pork patties, with a sweet fish sauce broth, vermicelli noodles, herbs and a side order of nem cua be, crab spring rolls. Had this at Bun Cha Nem Cua Be Dac Kim, at 67 Duong Thanh St. Then, onto sticky rice with chicken breast, and with caramelised pork belly. The chicken is particularly moist at this place near Hoan Kiem lake, and their chilli sauce is to die for. I also love the shreds of lime leaves that come with. The place is at, look for the Xoi (sticky rice) sign, 29 Hang Hanh St. Banh cuon, gossamer thin rice paper crepes made to order, stuffed with pork mince and mushrooms and served with a sweet fish sauce for dipping. Banh Cuon Gia Truyen. Heineken only $1.50! 14 Hang Ga St. And my absolute favourite drink in Vietnam, iced ca phe sua da..strong, strong coffee with condensed milk. This one was at Paris Deli, Nha Tho St. Stay tuned, lots more to come!

Excellent! Very much looking forward to the report of your adventures.

Any chance you'll be posting pics, Chris? Would love to see what you're eating. Am actually heading to Hanoi myself now, in June..afraid of the heat, but craving the food!

Looks amazing, Bruce. I like your unconventional breakfasts. Speaking of, this might not be everyone's idea of breakfast fare, but I liked it; a rye cracker, smeared with avocado, salt, pepper and lemon juice, and topped with octopus, preserved with olive oil and garlic.

We all seem to be on fish..here, I cooked perch smeared in Dijon mustard and topped with panko and parsley, and samphire sauteed in butter and lemon. And a lightly-dressed green salad.

Pretty excited about my purchase of the day: a bottle of Mukai Shuzo 'Ine Mankai' red rice sake. Light rose in colour, slightly sweet, red rice sake is quite unusual and this is a heavenly example. Also bought a bottle of Alvear Pedro Ximenez 1927, and a bottle of Laird's Applejack, which I believe is around $20 in the States, but $75 FREAKING DOLLARS in Australia.

I think you could use sausage meat, or maybe even just ground meat with something to bind..though the cooked morcilla was pretty crumbly anyway. The recipe I followed is here. Still on a Spanishy kick, I made this recipe; scallops, broiled with chorizo and topped with crispy panko, lemon zest and parsley. And a little salad on top of mache dressed with sherry vinegar and mandarin olive oil.

Kim, wonderful meal. That cake looks so light..mouthwatering. I made morcilla-stuffed squid with a spicy tomato and chilli sauce. No joke, people - this has to be one of the best things I've made in ages. I couldn't get over how delicious this was, though it helped that I started with VERY good morcilla. And a simple green salad of mache.

Ooh, forgot to come back to this thread..sorry about that. Anyway, chicken street is Pho Ly Van Phuc (Ly Van Phuc Street). The very last stall was the best one, IIRC. Look for the blue chairs (though those are ubiquitous, granted). Bones everywhere and beer..heaven.

Could be Franci.

No eggs for me. Can I still play? Salmon I cured with beetroot, sugar, salt, white pepper and vodka. Rye crackers with fresh chevre, a little olive oil, and cracked black pepper.

The results, after a short 12 hour cure. I'm aware that standard cures are longer, but I like a softer texture and, I wanted to eat it! Served on a rye cracker smeared with a very mild chevre, a drizzle of olive oil and cracked pepper.

To my palate, it noticeably alters the taste..a little sweeter, earthier, nuttier. Something slightly different from normal cured salmon, somwehow. But it's pretty subtle.

Loving this thread! That Indian Candy is mouthwatering. In a similar colour palette: Beetroot Cured Salmon. This is something I make fairly often (I did it on my eG foodblog!) and this thread jolted me into making it again. A piece of salmon; tail today. And the cure; for a 250g piece of salmon, I use 25g of salt, 25g of sugar, a tablespoon of vodka, some white pepper and a grated beetroot. Packed onto the salmon fillet and wrapped in plastic, and weighted before putting in the fridge: Results tomorrow!

That looks amazing! I just ordered my first Paula Wolfert book (the Cooking of South Western France one)..really looking forward to trying my hand at French. Last night was meat-henge; Vietnamese lemongrass pork neck and nem nuong, patties of ground pork with caramel, eschallot, black pepper, lemongrass and fish sauce. Ate them on a bed of rice vermicelli, pickled carrot and radish, shredded cucumber and lettuce. And mint, not shown. Dressed with the normal nuoc cham dipping sauce of chilli, garlic, sugar, lime juice, vinegar and fish sauce.

Kate, you had me at Yuzu marmalade. Is that homemade (I have never seen it in the US)? Delicious looking salad. Thanks percyn..I bought it in Tokyo (the one on the left), but I also bought a jar of yuzu jelly from June Taylor Jams in San Francisco. It's available on their page(mid way down). I bought it about a year ago, so it wasn't as dark then as it appears now.

Very nice, all. And welcome, Justin! Dinner here was scallops, seared in butter and glazed in yuzu marmalade. With this lovely asparagus dish from Food52; asparagus, leeks, pancetta, lemon and orange zests, garlic and toasted almonds as I didn't have any pine nuts.