American YouTuber with 'million views' loves fish cakes, eats 3 servings at once for half a million VND

Mark Wiens is a famous food blogger from the US. He currently has a Facebook page with 6 million followers and a personal Youtube channel with more than 10 million followers.

With a passion for travel and culinary exploration, Mark Wiens has set foot in dozens of countries across continents, experiencing unique and attractive dishes in many localities and regions. In Southeast Asia, Vietnam and Thailand are the two countries Mark has visited the most. He is especially impressed with the rich cuisine in Vietnam with many delicious dishes.

Mark Wiens is a famous food YouTuber with a YouTube channel that has received more than 10 million followers. Each video he posts also attracts millions of views (Photo: Mark Wiens)

On his most recent trip to Vietnam, Mark visited Hanoi. He stopped by a restaurant on Giang Vo Street (Ba Dinh District) to enjoy the capital’s famous specialty: La Vong fish cake.

The American blogger revealed that La Vong fish cake is one of his favorite Vietnamese dishes, and every time he visits Hanoi, he has to try it at least once. On previous trips, he often visited his “favorite restaurant” to eat fish cake, but this time he wanted to experience a new dining location.

An American tourist came to Hanoi and stopped by a famous restaurant to enjoy La Vong fish cake, which he has long loved. This is also a dish that he "must try" every time he travels to Vietnam (Screenshot)

The restaurant that Mark visited had a spacious, airy space. The restaurant had received many positive reviews as well as a high ranking on Google, so he believed that this would be a quality destination to enjoy his favorite dish.

At the restaurant, at the suggestion of the staff, the Youtuber ordered two servings of La Vong fish cakes, fish intestines, and a plate of crispy fried fish spring rolls, enough for 3 people to enjoy until full. The fish cakes were served with vermicelli, roasted peanuts, herbs, and shrimp paste.

The traditional Hanoi La Vong fish cake is made from fresh, natural catfish because this fish has a lot of meat and few small bones, the fish meat is soft and sweet. The fish will be carefully filtered, processed and marinated with turmeric to give it an attractive yellow color (Photo: Anh Vu fish cake)

When customers order, the waiter will bring the fish directly to stir-fry in a small pan on a mini stove that has been prepared so that the fish cakes are always hot and fragrant. This also makes customers like Mark feel satisfied with the enthusiasm and thoughtfulness of the staff at the restaurant.

Having enjoyed La Vang fish cakes many times before, Mark also showed his gourmet side when he started his lunch. He put some noodles in his bowl, added some fish cakes stir-fried with hot herbs, and poured shrimp paste on top.

The American Youtuber could not hide his excitement and eagerness towards Hanoi's famous specialty (Photo cut from clip)

Although for many foreign tourists, shrimp paste is one of the most "difficult to eat and smell" dishes in Vietnam, Mark was impressed with this "smelly" dipping sauce.

He commented that the fish cake was soft, firm, rich in flavor and blended with the aroma of herbs including dill and green onions. The fish intestines were fresh, chewy, and crunchy. Throughout the meal, the Youtuber kept exclaiming, “So delicious”, “wonderful”,…

Mark enjoyed La Vong fish cake in the true Hanoi style, drizzled with shrimp paste and exclaimed because it was so delicious (Photo cut from clip)

Even because he was so impressed with the taste of La Vang fish cake here, Mark ordered another serving of herbs to enjoy. He admitted that although the fish cake was greasy, it was not greasy at all and still exuded the freshness of each ingredient in the dish.

After enjoying the hot fish patties and intestines, Mark also enthusiastically tried the crispy fried fish spring rolls. He commented that this dish was very delicious, with a crispy crust and rich filling, a blend of soft fish meat and herbs, dipped in sweet and sour fish sauce to his liking.

The Western guest also expressed satisfaction and impression with the crispy fried fish spring rolls (Photo cut from clip)

At the end of the meal, Mark paid 520,000 VND (including 3 servings of fish cakes, 3 fish spring rolls and drinks). He also suggested that other tourists, if they have the opportunity to come to Hanoi, must definitely enjoy this famous specialty and will not feel disappointed.

It is known that during this trip to Vietnam, in addition to La Vong fish cakes, Mark also spent time exploring many street foods in the capital such as xoi xeo, bun rieu, bun cha, bun oc, chop suon chao,... The American guest even did a food tour of a series of delicious pho restaurants in Hanoi and introduced them to friends from all over.

Phan Dau

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