Ted Tastes Francesca Feasts

Yo food fam!
It’s Ted here — your food-loving, scooter-riding, always-hungry adventure guy — and today was EPIC. Like, next-level food exploration on two wheels kind of epic.

We’re still in Hanoi, and somehow (not sure how, maybe mind control?), we convinced Mum to let us do a SCOOTER FOOD TOUR around the city. Yes, scooters. Yes, FOOD. Yes, I lived my best life.

But first… let me take you back to breakfast.

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🧇 Breakfast: Dumplings & Sprinkles? Don’t Mind If I Do

Buffet brekkie at the hotel = best start to the day ever. I had:

• Eggs, 2 ways
• Croissants
• Waffles with sprinkles (yes, SPRINKLES)
• And some fancy juices like watermelon, pineapple, and my fave: passionfruit juice

There were also Japanese foods, which was weird but awesome — and yep, dumplings for breakfast is officially a thing now. Lucia was double-fisting croissants and dumplings, as per usual.

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🛵 Lunch (and everything else): Scooter Food Tour = Life Goals

Okay, so THIS was the highlight of the day.

Mum (bless her brave soul as she’s usally terririfed of motorbikes) booked us on a Scooter Food Tour around Hanoi. And not just looking-at-food from scooters — riding ON THE BACK of scooters like locals while eating ALL the best food. I felt like a celebrity. A very hungry celebrity. Luci thought it was epic and the scooter riders thought she was the cutest thing on two wheels.

Here’s how it went down:

1. “Breakfast” – Bánh Cuốn

Steamed rice crepes filled with beef and prawns. We watched the lady make them on a hotplate — it was like pancake magic. They were slippery and awesome.

2. “Lunch” – Bánh Xèo

Crispy crepes filled with beef, wrapped in rice paper with SIX(!) kinds of leaves. You dip it all in fish sauce and crunch your way to flavour-town, providing you got your wrap construction right – otherwise dipping disaster.
These were a massive hit. And my new favourite food is an Ambarella leaf, or as Luci calls it – umbrella leaf..

3. “Coffee” – Salted Coffee at Train Street

We popped back to Train Street (no train spotting this time, we were on a food mission) to try salted coffee — yes, SALT in your COFFEE. And condensed milk.
We all loved it but Mum & Dad drank them before we could get much of a look in. Luckily Francesca and I got whole coconuts to drink from, which was awesome. I pretended mine was a football. Lucia drank most of Francesca’s. Classic.

4. “Dinner – Phở Chiên Phồng

This was my favourite: fried pho noodles (they puff up like little pillows), plus banana leaf salad and beef curry. I could eat that beef curry forever.
Also, anything fried gets a thumbs-up from me. After dinner we were stuffed. But thankfully we all have a second stomach for dessert.

5. “Dessert” – Chè Party 🍨

The grand finale: five Vietnamese desserts in one go.

• Coconut ice cream
• Sticky rice with coconut ice cream
• Vietnamese crème caramel
• Black sticky rice with coconut milk
• And… I forgot the fifth one, because I was too busy eating the coconut ice cream but I’m sure it had cocunuts in it

By the end, we were FULL, HAPPY, and ready to roll — straight back to the hotel for some pool chilling and splash time.

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💬 Final Thoughts from Ted

Today had everything:

• Scooters
• Pancakes
• Mystery leaves
• Coconut drinks
• And dessert that sounded weird but tasted awesome

Francesca says Hanoi is chaotic but delicious. I say more scooter tours, please.

Catch you on the next food ride,
Ted (plus Francesca, Lucia the Coconut Queen, and Mum the Scooter MVP) 🛵🍜😎

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P.S. If I ever get a scooter, I’m naming it “Phở Speed Ahead.” Just saying.