The Hanoi Bike Shop

One day last week, the G man said ‘shall we go for dinner?’. What a lovely phrase, and one I don’t utter nearly often enough. Of course I said ‘of course!’ and, as it turned out, he had somewhere in mind – The Hanoi Bike Shop. Who am I to argue with such inspired genius?

It was a gorgeous day, and we noticed a free table on the street outside, so when we went in I asked if we could sit there. We were asked if we wanted to go upstairs and try the balcony instead – I had no idea there was a balcony, and I was all over that suggestion like a cheap suit. If you get the opportunity to go out there and have your dinner in a sunbeam, do it.

As well as the basket you can see in the first picture, there are little cards on the tables explaining a bit about the restaurant, the food and the seasonings you can add*. This is a nice touch, particularly for anyone who isn’t familiar with Vietnamese food and doesn’t know a) what these things on the table are and b) how much of these things they should add to their food, if any.

* My first draft of that sentence read ‘the additional condiments and additions you can add to your food’. Wow. I really got stuck in a loop with the add-based words.

Our waiter’s name was Fred, and he brought us a jar of that chili and lemongrass oil. Oh, my. It was super spicy, and fragrant, and I took a picture of it.

The menu is one of those kinds, where you look at it and feel that you will be incapable of choosing from it, because everything sounds so good. It’s compact, which makes the process easier, but a certain amount of ‘ooh’ing and ‘what do you think’ing is still necessary.

We got some summer rolls to share – there are two options, and we choose the ones with pork, cucumber and peanut. I’m not a great fan of nuts in any form, but it’s tricky to eat Vietnamese and not have peanuts. As an addition to these summer rolls, the peanuts were spot on – they add a chunky crunch as well as a savoury and (unsurprisingly) nutty flavour.

I’ve made my own summer rolls before, and the sticky, chewy texture of the rice wrappers is something that lives in a special part of my brain now, and sometimes leaps out and shouts ‘YOU NEED ME’. So since there were some on the menu, it was a given that I’d be ordering them, and I was glad the G man wanted to get in on the summer roll action, too. Sharing is nice.

The G man ordered a lamb and sweet potato curry, which came to the table in this cool pot. What a treat – sweet, mild but complex, topped off with fresh mint, and the lamb was so tender.

My choice was the caramel hake – as recommended by Miss J after her first visit to the restaurant. It was amazing – sweet (as you’d imagine), creamy and spicy, with firm fish that flaked away at a gentle press of the chopsticks. It was finished with coriander, spring onion and chili slivers.

We ordered one portion of jasmine rice between us, which was more than enough – I’d asked as we were ordering, and Fred said that one should be fine, and if it wasn’t they could always whip some more up for us. There was no need whatsoever – the portion was extremely generous.

Then I took more photos of my dinner, once I’d piled some rice in a bowl and some of the fish and sauce on top. I drizzled in some of the chili and lemongrass oil for a spike of heat, but it didn’t need it – it was perfect as it arrived. Sometimes, though, you just need to add some really hot chili to your food and relish the sensation of an army of fire ants – that is, ants which are literally on fire – marching their way across your tongue. In a good way.

The Hanoi Bike Shop is most noted for two things – their home made tofu, and their pho. I have tried neither, which does seem to be an oversight, but with so many great things to choose from it is easy to see why I’ve been distracted. I’m particularly interested in their tofu, and am working up to asking if I can go in and see how it’s done. Have you ever arranged a kitchen visit with one of your favourite restaurants? I’d love to know if that’s a real thing that people do!

Repost: Accidental Hallowe’en Curry

Another repost today – I feel like I’m run off my feet just lately, trying to keep up with things! I’ve got a couple of good posts brewing, but for now let’s remember the time I made bright green food by accident…

I didn’t mean to make Hallowe’en themed food last night, but given that I’ve never seen such a vibrant shade of green in a curry I’m forced to admit that there was an air of the ghoulish about my creation. It was bright green. Brighter even, I think, than a fresh pea puree. Almost luminescent; you could have used it for a landing light. Put a sealed tupperware of it in the ocean and you’d have a multitude of confused anglerfish before you could say ‘sorry, it’s only a curry’. The photo doesn’t capture the green-ness, but it’s the best one I managed to get. I think you’ll agree, the contrast of the brown chestnut mushrooms makes it look even worse. It did change colour with the additions of further ingredients, but ultimately it really was a most peculiar colour for foodstuff to be.

 

It is a Thai-inspired curry, by which I mean it contains some  ingredients that you’d find in a Thai curry and some that you probably wouldn’t. Let’s see if I can remember what went in it… The first thing I did was make a curry paste, the ingredients for which are immortalised in this next photo. I added extra spices as I cooked; the list below reflects the final amounts, plus some further liquid additions at the end – this made more of a sauce than a paste.

• one handful of basil leaves
• one handful of coriander leaves
• three cloves of garlic
• one green chili, de-seeded
• one red chili, seeds left in
• half an onion
• one peeled lump of ginger, about an inch across
• 1tsp lemongrass powder
• 1tbsp turmeric
• 1 tsp light soy
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp lime juice
• 1 1/2 tsp apple vinegar
• 100g creamed coconut (leaving this out would probably make the consistency more paste than sauce, next time I’d just add all the coconut cream at once, after cooking the paste

 

I put all these ingredients in the blender and processed until they were a smooth paste. I then cooked up 450g of turkey mince in a wok, using about a teaspoon of groundnut oil to get it started. I seasoned the meat with 1/2 tsp fish sauce, 1/2 tsp sugar and 1/2 tsp light soy. When the turkey was almost cooked through, with only a little pink left showing, I added half a pack of chestnut mushrooms, and cooked until the meat was all browned and the mushrooms softened. I then added the paste/sauce from the blender cup, and cooked for two minutes. Then I added the rest of the 25og packet of coconut cream, stirred through and simmered for ten minutes. I tasted the curry then, which was still pretty green and watery, and added a teaspoon of dark soy, partly for colour and partly for flavour. It’s really about balancing the flavours, once the big bold paste has gone in. I had my basic tools of soy, sugar, vinegar and chili flakes to hand to tweak the final result. I didn’t use any chili flakes, although I did serve the curry to my dinner guest with fresh chili rings on top, and a bowl of chili flakes on the table, because it was the Tastebudless Wonder that I’m sure I’ve mentioned before.

It looked less Hallowe’eny once it was done. Here is an attempt to show the lovely rice, it doesn’t show up the colour that well, or the lovely variation in colour where the rice that was nearest the teabag had been mixed in with the white rice that was further away. Once I was happier with the balance of flavours in the curry, I left it simmering, uncovered, to reduce until the sauce was clinging to the ground meat, rather than the meat swimming in the sauce. This took about twenty minutes, after which time I covered and left on an extremely low heat to keep warm. In the meantime I made rice in the ever-handy microwave rice cooker. I seasoned the rice with light soy and a spiced chai teabag, and was really pleased with the colour and flavour of the end result. Those teabags are great for cooking and baking, so much so that I rarely use them for making tea. Once the rice was ready, I added the final ingredients to the curry – a tablespoon of sliced spring onions, about a quarter cup of shredded basil leaves and half each of a red and green bell pepper, thinly sliced. I stirred those through and left to cook ever so slightly while I plated up the rice. I topped the rice with the curry and added some basil leaves, some coriander leaves and fresh, sliced chili (I left this off my own plate, though in the end the curry wasn’t too spicy at all, it just had a nice level of slow heat). Then we ate it with poppadoms, for extra crunch. I’ll take any excuse to eat crisps with my dinner, really.

Rhubarb and Coconut Pork Satay

This is an ‘interesting’ one, where by ‘interesting’ I mean ‘odd’, and I’ll be the first to admit it. I can’t claim that it’s my own invention though, it’s heavily based on a Jamie Oliver recipe, and if it’s good enough for Jamie it’s surely good enough for me. I first saw this recipe on the TV years ago, and at the time I copied it down with the full intention of using it – the only time I’ve ever done so, to this day. I thought the recipe was so creative and imagined that the flavours would be really vibrant and fresh, I couldn’t wait to try it. And then, to put it simply, I didn’t. I still have that scribbled down recipe in a notebook, but I never got around to using it – until now. When I finally did use it, I made a few changes of my own and turned what was Hot and Sour Rhubarb and Crispy Pork with Noodles into a Rhubarb and Coconut Pork Satay, also with noodles. I will say that Jamie’s looks approximately one heck of a lot nicer than mine, but mine was a lovely curry, full of flavour and topped with spring onion, coriander, cress and slices of boiled egg. Egg and rhubarb. Who knew?

 

 

I started with the basic recipe a la Oliver – you can get it through the link above. It involves blending rhubarb, chili, honey, soy, garlic, ginger and mixed spice (which I substituted for five spice) until smooth. To this I added two tablespoons of quality peanut butter, and mixed again.

 

 

Er... it does go an 'interesting' colour...

 

I set this aside for the time being, and cooked some chopped onion, halved button mushrooms and diced pork steaks until the veg was soft and the meat browned. I poured the sauce over the top, stirred through then added a small can of coconut milk, about 200ml. I was a little concerned that I was adding too many flavours, but I was sure I could taste it in my brain, and my brain tongue is usually right. What I will say is that it no longer looked pretty and vibrant.

 

Where did all that colour go?!

 

I simmered on the lowest heat for half an hour, to let the pork cook slowly and become soft. When this time was up I hard boiled an egg, dropping some thin noodles into the pot for the last three minutes, and sliced up coriander leaves, a spring onion and mustard cress. I drained the noodles and shook over a little sesame oil, then put in the bottom of a bowl and covered with a big ladle of the curry and then all the toppings. Toasted coconut and/or almonds would also have been lovely, or crushed peanuts if you like that kind of thing.

 

And now for the whole recipe in an easier to read form…

Makes 3 – 4 servings:

• 1/2 serving of Jamie Oliver’s Hot and Sour Rhubarb 
• 2 tbsp quality peanut butter
• 300g pork steaks, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 100g button mushrooms, halved
• small onion, diced
• salt and pepper
• 200ml coconut milk (light or otherwise)

To serve (all optional!):

• egg noodles and sesame oil
• sliced spring onion
• mustard cress
• coriander leaves
• boiled egg slices
• toasted coconut
• toasted almond slices
• crushed peanuts

Combine the Hot and Sour Rhubarb sauce ingredients with the peanut butter in a blender, and set aside.

Over a medium heat, cook the pork, mushrooms and onion, seasoning with salt and pepper, until the meat is browned and the vegetables are soft.

Add the rhubarb and peanut sauce, then the coconut milk.

Turn the heat to very low and allow to simmer for forty minutes – if you’re having a boiled egg on top, put this in to cook after half an hour. For the last three minutes of cooking time, boil the noodles (if you’re having them).

Serve, garnished as you like, and marvel at the fact you’re eating curry with rhubarb in.