Cha Ca, Hanoi

Cha ca, or translated loosely as "Grilled Fish". It's more of a hot plate of lightly fried fish fillets, dill and spring onion, placed on a convection grill.


Rice paper rolls, filled with fried shallots. The sauce given to us were not the usual fish sauce, but rather a concoction of it. No pungent fish sauce taste in it.

My bowl of pho with Cha ca. What made this dish unique is the shrimp paste used to flavour the meal. By my definition of good food, I attempted this paste once, and left it at that. The taste was overpowering, plus the fact that these shrimps were prepared ala winery (natural fermentation until bubble appear) simply turned me off. Nonetheless, an interesting meal for my first night in Hanoi...