Friday, September 15, 2006
Beer and Coffee in Vietnam
Just a small one to mention the beer and coffee here in Vietnam.
Both are actually fantastic!
The coffee is served in many different forms, but I think the coffee itself is largely the same. It has a kind of liqueur taste to it and is normally very fresh. The Vietnamese prefer it with ice. They give you a glass of ice and a little perculator which is dripping the coffee into the glass of ice. You then add sugar and grind up the ice with a spoon. Pretty darn tasty, but I still preferred it hot with a touch of milk. When you ask for milk though, it's a bit of a raffle to see what you get. Sometimes (and quite often) it's sweetened condensed milk. Sometimes is carnation milk, and I believe I even got goat's milk one time.
As for the beer, it's superb. They do serve it very cold here too, I haven't been served a warm beer, except for maybe once. There is many locally made beers, including Tiger, Saigon, Halida, Larue, Huda and Hanoi. They also serve Carlsberg and Heineken in most places.
Larue used to be brewed by Fosters, and is a nice draught beer. My favourite was Huda, which is found mainly in Hue. It's a 'Belgian like' beer that is very smooth and flavoursome. There was a Belgian guy who ran a bar who had it on tap and it was superb. I drank quite a bit of Huda on our one night in Hue.
Halida is also a European style beer which is also superb. Tiger is the equivalent of Carlton Draught or VB, and is found everywhere and tastes great.
Last but not least is Bia Hoi, or the fresh beer you get in dodgy little places in Hanoi. It's really 'hoppy' or something, but tastes fantastic. The price is about 20 cents for a schooner sized glass so it is absolutely fantastic value. It's great because you sit out on the street corner on these little plastic chairs and watch the entertaining night life of Hanoi.
Both are actually fantastic!
The coffee is served in many different forms, but I think the coffee itself is largely the same. It has a kind of liqueur taste to it and is normally very fresh. The Vietnamese prefer it with ice. They give you a glass of ice and a little perculator which is dripping the coffee into the glass of ice. You then add sugar and grind up the ice with a spoon. Pretty darn tasty, but I still preferred it hot with a touch of milk. When you ask for milk though, it's a bit of a raffle to see what you get. Sometimes (and quite often) it's sweetened condensed milk. Sometimes is carnation milk, and I believe I even got goat's milk one time.
As for the beer, it's superb. They do serve it very cold here too, I haven't been served a warm beer, except for maybe once. There is many locally made beers, including Tiger, Saigon, Halida, Larue, Huda and Hanoi. They also serve Carlsberg and Heineken in most places.
Larue used to be brewed by Fosters, and is a nice draught beer. My favourite was Huda, which is found mainly in Hue. It's a 'Belgian like' beer that is very smooth and flavoursome. There was a Belgian guy who ran a bar who had it on tap and it was superb. I drank quite a bit of Huda on our one night in Hue.
Halida is also a European style beer which is also superb. Tiger is the equivalent of Carlton Draught or VB, and is found everywhere and tastes great.
Last but not least is Bia Hoi, or the fresh beer you get in dodgy little places in Hanoi. It's really 'hoppy' or something, but tastes fantastic. The price is about 20 cents for a schooner sized glass so it is absolutely fantastic value. It's great because you sit out on the street corner on these little plastic chairs and watch the entertaining night life of Hanoi.
# posted by Glenn @ 5:54 pm 
