Max McFarlin (from Arkansas, USA) is a famous blogger in the world travel community and owns a Youtube channel with more than 630,000 followers. Max has been in Vietnam for several years and currently lives and works mainly in Ho Chi Minh City.

On his personal channel, the American blogger regularly shares videos about street food in provinces and tourist destinations across Vietnam that he has had the opportunity to visit.

Most recently, Max spent time visiting Hanoi. Talking about this unexpected trip, the American guy shared that after watching a series of videos that his Vietnamese friend named Lylla posted on her personal page about Hanoi's food, he really couldn't hide his excitement so he decided to book a plane ticket to the capital to experience the food tour.

A Western tourist and his Vietnamese friend recently had a trip to Hanoi, enjoying the capital's specialties (Screenshot)

Among them, there is a dish that Max admits “every time I come to Hanoi I have to enjoy”. That is eel vermicelli.

“In the South, eel vermicelli is not very popular. So every time I go to Hanoi, I crave it and have to take the time to enjoy this dish,” Max said.

To enjoy authentic eel vermicelli, Max was taken by Lylla to a restaurant located at the beginning of Chan Cam street (Hoan Kiem district).

The restaurant has a fairly small area, specializes in serving eel dishes, dried eel and has been a familiar dining address for many locals and foreign guests for over 30 years. In addition, the restaurant also attracts customers with braised eel with banana and bean curd and eel rolls.

Eel vermicelli dish impresses diners with the softness of the vermicelli, the crunchiness of the dried eel, served with shredded carrots, bean sprouts and coriander (Photo: Chan Cam Eel Vermicelli).

At the restaurant, Max and his Vietnamese friend ordered two portions, one of eel vermicelli stir-fried with egg and one of eel vermicelli mixed with water, served with broth made from pure eel juice, plus a bowl of pickled cucumber.

“I see many people like to eat soft eel meat, but I prefer crispy eel meat cut into small pieces like this,” Max said.

The Western guest commented that “I can eat this dish all day without getting bored” after tasting the first crispy fried eel pieces. He admitted that the taste of the stir-fried eel vermicelli with eggs was very impressive and he was most satisfied with the crispy fried eel meat, which was marinated well.

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Max ate and kept praising the delicious eel vermicelli dish (Screenshot)

With the eel vermicelli dish, Max was surprised when his friend introduced that instead of using soy sauce like other places, this restaurant uses a homemade sweet and sour sauce according to a family recipe. Thanks to that, the eel vermicelli dish here has a unique flavor, more attractive to tourists.

“The noodles are cooked to perfection, soft but still crispy and sweet. The noodles are made from cellophane noodles so they are chewy, not too hard. Really delicious,” the American YouTuber praised.

He also showed his expertise when he said that stir-fried eel vermicelli is suitable to eat on cold days and mixed eel vermicelli has a refreshing taste and is suitable to enjoy in the summer.

After finishing the meal, Max and Lylla continued their food tour to enjoy delicious vermicelli and noodles in Hanoi. They had the opportunity to try many dishes such as bun cha, banh canh, etc. The Western guest was delighted to experience eating on the sidewalk like a local, freely tasting some delicious dishes at affordable prices.

Phan Dau