It's said, and true indeed, that one factor to a complete travel experience is the food, perhaps specifically street food. And Don Xuan Market in Hanoi is definitely no exception.

Hot vit lon or fertilized duck egg is a Vietnamese delicacy especially famous among locals and foreigners alike. And it's one thing Don Xuan Market is plenty with, with motorbikes carrying chicken cages filling up the area and selling the local specialty. The raw eggs are stored overnight in bowls covered with nets. They are then boiled and eaten topped with bean sprouts, salt and pepper. While most, especially tourists and first-time eaters, may be apprehensive, even cringe, at the idea of eating such an “exotic” dish, the trick is to just go ahead without thinking. Because as earlier stated, one of the lasting moments of traveling is trying out the local cuisine. And Hot vit lon is one that is both one-of-a-kind and surprisingly tasty.

That is why through the years, especially recently, there has been a significant increase in casual or street dining as manifested by food trucks, stalls and other street stores. But tasting the local delicacy is not even enough. Eating it with the residents makes the experience even more fun and memorable.

Especially in Vietnam, food is an integral part of their culture. Families usually spend time eating together as a way of communicating and bonding. In fact, girls are judged according to their ability to cook.

Pho is another Vietnamese cuisine served steamed and eaten while seated on a small plastic chair. It's basically a broth combined with cinnamon, star anise and cardamom, chargrilled shallot and ginger, beef brisket and rice noodles. It can be eaten any time of the day, but traditionally for breakfast, that is why it is cooked even before dawn. Chicken head pho gets sold out as early as eight in the morning, so beef becomes as alternative choice. Pho is traditionally a simple meal, but visitors see it as complicated and sophisticated, with the perfect balance of sweet, spicy, salty, sour and bitter, the secret to all Vietnamese dishes.

Banh cuon are paper-thin crepes cooked on a metal hot-plate. They are filled with mushrooms and pork and topped with shallots and prok floss. To add even more “identity” and interest to the dish, big, cockroach-like insects or water bugs are added to the already authentic Vietnamese meal. And surprisingly, tourists find its essence, albeit unbelievable and naturally disgusting at first, sweet, similar to a green apple.

Bale Well Restaurant is a quaint eatery serving such dishes as spring rolls, fresh herbs, barbequed pork and banh xeo (Vietnamese pancake). Yet despite its simple and unassuming nature, it has been reviewed by prominent chefs abroad such as the head chef at Harrods in London, and two other top-of-the-line Sydney restaurateurs. The restaurant is named after the famous Ba Le Well, just outside the town and believed to be so pure that another local specialty cau lau rice noodles, made from water drawn from the well, is said to have an egg-like taste despite the fact that there is no egg in the dish.

Other things that can be found at Don Xuan Market that may be out of the ordinary are cow tongues, fish heads, mung beans, coconut dumplings, fried silk worm, sugar cane, and fruits such as mangosteen. All the while, vendors selling these goods are perched on table stalls while waiting or talking to customers, and motorbikes are passing to and fro because they are the common means of transportation.

Aside from its delicious exotic foods, Hoi An also boasts of stunning architecture and exceptionally talented tailors who sew so fast they can finish several clothes in a day, custom-made at that. The best way to get around the city is to walk where one will be able to fully take in and appreciate the beauty of the place. Customers at Bale Well Restaurant are given the opportunity to prepare and cook the dish themselves, an experience and memory they can hold forever, a true food adventure and complete travel experience.