What to Eat in Sapa Prague | Page 2 of 2
Chè Sài Gòn: Vietnamese Desserts in Prague's Sapa
The Chè Sài Gòn stall at the back of Prague's Sapa market specializes in chè - Vietnamese sweet cups and drinks made of beans, tapioca, jelly, fruit and coconut milk. The cups are numbered, the menu on the wall is in Czech and Vietnamese, and there are around ten kinds. The three of us tried three of them and picked the winner unanimously.
Sành Quán: Bún Riêu Cua Crab Soup in Prague's Sapa
The Sành Quán bistro wrote its own review straight into its name - sành ăn is Vietnamese for gourmet. On the edge of Prague's Sapa market, by the Buddhist temple, it serves bún riêu cua crab soup of a kind you'd struggle to find anywhere else in Prague, along with a bún đậu spread with stuffed pork sausage. And on the tables there are little jars of homemade chili that really does burn.
Hippo Café: Vietnamese Phin Coffee in Prague's Sapa
Vietnamese coffee from a phin filter can't be rushed - and at Hippo Café, a family-run café with its own roastery in Prague's Sapa market, nobody minds. The little metal filter drips straight into the glass, sweetened condensed milk waits at the bottom, and the terrace looks out over the whole of Sapa. A few minutes of waiting are as much a part of the cup here as the spoon is.
Hippo Café: Egg Coffee with a View over Prague's Sapa
Hippo Café is a rooftop café with its own roastery, right inside the grounds of Sapa, Prague's Vietnamese market. Here they make cà phê trứng the Hanoi way - egg coffee topped with a thick, sweet cream of yolks and condensed milk that you eat with a spoon. The drink was invented after the war by a bartender at Hanoi's Metropole hotel, back when fresh milk was hard to come by.
Asian Groceries in Prague: Sapa and Zlatnická
The Sapa market on the southern edge of Prague is a Vietnamese city within a city - with a preschool, a Buddhist shrine and the Tamda Foods wholesale superstore, where Czechs shop too. For smaller runs there's an unassuming corner shop on Zlatnická Street by the Palladium, with a chiller cabinet of cilantro and fresh perilla tucked away in the back. A guide to two Prague addresses for Asian ingredients.