Wicked is the Word!

To Tich Street in Hanoi, just off main drag Hang Gai (Silk Street), top end of Hoan Kiem Lake, is 'sinh to central'. Sinh to means blended fruit drink. Just to catch one's eye, the operators of these fruit caves station a dozen or so glasses loaded up with tropical fruits out front. It's simple but bloody effective merchandising that gets me in every time. The colour, the cleanly-cut fruit, the inherent healthiness of such a scene cannot - I repeat CANNOT - be ignored!

So, last weekend, I'm sucked into this rainbow yet again. I perch on red plastic and ponder my options. Get this: in a glass cabinet under above-photoed beakers is a tropical fruit shop. Freshly prepared avocado, papaya, rock melon, sapodilla, longan, watermelon, pineapple, mango, dragonfruit and jack-fruit jockey for my attention. Option one is: choose a fruit or two and watch it blended with an oozy mix of condensed milk, coconut cream, a slosh of water and shaved ice. The result is a damn fine fruity Vietnamese version of a milkshake.

A creature of habit, I go my usual. It's option two: the fruit salad glass (hoa qua dam) hand-mixed with dentist dream ingredients above and a strawberry syrup, issued with a bowl of shaved ice. I scoop and shove the shave into the fruity, milky chunk before shovelling then pouring the product into my gullet.

Inherent healthiness?

What a crock of crap!

Wicked is the word!

During this joy, there is further fun to be had watching bees hover around the fruity bounty and tracking the black longan seeds as they bounce from my mouth, career like marbles about the floor, down the steps and into the gutter.

Result

Two mixed fruit numbers - 14,000 VND (USD90c, AUD$1.20)

Hoa Qua Dam/Sinh To, 15b To Tich

Comments

[Mr. NoStarWhere]

I used to love those in Hanoi.

Does anyone know, can you get "dam" in Saigon?

I have tried and tried, asked Vietnamese and no one knows what the hell I'm talking about, which is probably due to my poor pronunciation. But even when I describe it, nothing!

You can get all sorts of "Che" and even ones approaching "dam" (which, if pronounced incorrectly, is "fart") but I've never found the fruity, milky goodness of those in Hanoi.

[vunguyen]

I dont know what the hell you talking about too *_*. Lol, Im just kidding. Because you wrote "dam" without any accent so I just make assumption:
"dằm" means: to splinter (according to a lame viet-eng dictionary I found online). And btw, the pronounciation ò it í quite similar to "dâm" means lustful; be very careful when you try to pronounce it.
"dầm" means: to soak; to pickle; to steep.

In this the correct is "dằm", I believe. And I think in the south we just call it "Sinh tố". Huhm, maybe "dằm" too, but remember if you say "dằm" alone noone will understand you. Try "đá dằm", trái cây dằm", ....

[vunguyen]

sorry, "And btw, the pronounciation ò it í quite similar to "dâm" means lustful; be very careful when you try to pronounce it."

--> the pronounciation of it is .....

[Sticky]

Mr. NoStarWhere - Can't help with the Saigon query but be assured that whenever you make it to Hanoi, the To Tich nectar will be sweet.

Mr. Vu - Thanks for the speaking tips. Might just point next time I drop in.