Lunch and Litres at Gambrinus

Okay, it’s 4am our time and Matt and I have both been up since about 2am.  Is this jet lag?  In all of our travels we’ve never experienced this but there is a HUGE difference between an 8 hour flight and a 20 hour one.  It actually makes the 8 hour flights seem like nothing.

Since we’re up and the internet is working well we thought we might share some of our day with you.  After doing a 5 hour walking tour in the blazing heat Matt led the way to Gambrinus.  It is a Prague-style brew house with cooper vats of freshly brewed beer set up in the center of the establishment.  And, it is very popular with the Vietnamese.

We were escorted to the third level and seated by the window.  The air conditioning was turned on and several girls dressed in green striped uniforms appeared to set up the table.  Everything was positioned just so…the chopsticks unwrapped, the side bowl and plate placed slightly to the right and the coaster squared up on the left.  We ordered two .5L of  Golden Beer for 68,000 VND which is about $3.  It too was placed just right and the girl even checked the head space making sure it met the mark.

Two girls hovered over us while we made our meal selections.  It was some what intimidating being watched so closely and kind of made us feel rushed.  Oh, well.  We settled on Vietnamese Style Grilled Pork with a side of sticky rice.

It was tasty morsels, bite size pieces of pork that tasted like crispy bacon.  Check out their attention to detail.  A flower made out of thinly sliced pieces of carrot? 

Matt tried all three of their home-brewed beer ~  Gold (lager), Golden (malty lager), and Stout (dark lager).  He concluded that they all tasted exactly the same the only difference was the colour.  

Now that our tanks were back on full we left the comfort of A/C and headed back on to the streets of Hanoi.  Matt, a strong-looking chap was offered a job but after giving it a try decided that carpentry was much easier.  The strength of the Vietnamese women is unparalleled.  They make carrying hundreds of pounds of fresh fruit and veggies look easy.

Okay folks we’re going to try to get a few more hours of shut-eye.  We have a big day ahead of us…our cooking class at Highway 4 starts at 8am!