Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! Hope you all have something planned for the day and are looking forward to spending a good time with your loved ones. 😉
We were in the mood for sweet treats after we had some incredible crème caramel at Kem Caramen Duong Hoa on Hang Than Street and continued our search for dessert places in the vicinity. Came across Minci Che Xoai just a stone’s throw away and decided to stop here for a second round of desserts.
Minci Che Xoai
2 Nguyen Truong To
Ba Dinh, Hanoi
Vietnam
Tel: +84 166 246 9999
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/quanchexoaiminci/
For info, ‘xoai’ in Vietnamese simply means ‘mango’. Pretty obvious that this place specialises in mango desserts with a mango on its logo and a huge picture of mangoes inside the shop.
No English menu here unfortunately but as we sat by the chiller fridges, we could just look at what was available and point to what we wanted.
You’d have to Google translate the menu if you want to know what each and every item is. Basically, they are creme caramel (caramen), yogurt (sua chua), dessert soups (che) and smoothies (sinh to) with different flavours/toppings or coconut-related desserts (dua xiem). If you can’t be bothered and aren’t fussy about what you eat, just anyhow point to one – you might end up with some interesting sweet treat.
Never enough of Kem Caramen (10,000 VND). The caramel sauce here was a little overdone so it had a slightly bitter taste. Texture wise, this pudding was also more dense and less wobbly than that of Kem Caramen Duong Hoa.
How could we miss out on ordering their signature Che Xoai (12,000 VND)? It was a cold soupy dessert with mango, sago and basil seeds in evaporated milk.
I loved the evaporated milk that was fragrant and didn’t have that same heaviness as coconut milk or cream. Healthier too! The mango cubes were very sweet and juicy. The sago was a bit chewy and the basil seeds had a slight crunch. I liked that this wasn’t very sweet or cloying. Must try!
The Thach Rau Cau Dua (35,000 VND) came in a whole, big young coconut. It was basically coconut water in agar agar form on the bottom with coconut milk pudding on top. I never really liked agar agar that much previously because of those artificial colourings or flavourings but as this was made with fresh coconut water (and I believed there was no added sugar because coconut water itself was already sweet), it tasted refreshing. Loved the coconut flesh that was very tender and very easy to scrape off.The portion was quite substantial so it’s best to share with a few others if you’re going food-hopping thereafter. Overall, this was a lovely, refreshing dessert that wasn’t very sweet. ??
By the way, don’t be surprised if the boss charges you a few thousand VND extra than what’s indicated on the menu because they will just round up the figure. It’s only a difference of a few tens of cents.
While I preferred the Kem Caramen from Kem Caramen Duong Hoa, the Che Xoai and Thach Rau Cau Dua here were pretty amazing. Looking for desserts in Hanoi? Come check this place out.