Chè or sweet soup, a special of Hanoi

Sweet-soup shops can be seen in almost streets in Hanoi: Hàng Buồm, Hàng Bạc, Cửa Nam, Sinh Từ, Tạ Hiện, Lương Ngọc Quyến, Lò Đúc, Khâm Thiên…

Hanoi is rich in sweet soups and each has its flavour, but they all look fresh, scented and something like smell of pomelo and jasmine. Sweet-soups are simply prepared but it needs efforts and patience and they vary in: lotus seeds, soft and green rice, black bean, green peas…

            Unlike sweet-soups from other provinces, Hanoians are very careful in selection of ingredients, preparation and even the ways to eat. Cereals, green peas, sticky rice… are the main. Sometimes sweet-soup is consumed with rice, so its rice-soup (or xôi-chè) ingredients to made soups are well-selected and processed, from the peas, sesame, ginger… to oil-species (banana, pomela, jasmine…). How to make the soup not so sweet, not too strong or not so dense… is really a question. Fresh and young corncop tastes so sweet as if it’s scented by the air and soil. Mixed soup is made up of all species: green peas, coconut, red peas and finest flow. Best of all sweet-soups is đậu hũ or soya-cake which is processed and prepared with almowd powder. Soya-cake might be “strange” firstly but the more you eat, the more you will like it.

            Sweet-soup or chè become familiar to Hanoians and even to the city’s visitors./.