Far and wide: Inspired by Hanoi’s hoa sữa

Estab­lished some 4,000 years ago on the banks of the Red River, and chosen as the cap­it­al more than 1,000 years ago, Hanoi is widely regarded as the his­tor­ic heart of Viet­nam. It clings strongly to tra­di­tions. The city’s Old Quarter trans­ports vis­it­ors back in time.

Over the cen­tur­ies, Hanoi has been exposed to the ups and downs of Viet­nam’s his­tory. Still, as it grows, it man­ages to main­tain an irres­ist­ible charm. Hanoi is where the tra­di­tion­al and the mod­ern inter­twine, prom­ising end­less adven­tures for urb­an explorers. 

The inside track

Nguyễn Thị Thu Thảo is a team mem­ber at the Asso­ci­ation of South­east Asi­an Social Enter­prises for Train­ing in Hos­pit­al­ity & Cater­ing (ASSET‑H&C), a net­work of voca­tion­al train­ing centres that pro­mote the inclu­sion of vul­ner­able people in South­east Asia.

The weath­er is a ‘spe­ci­al­ity’ of Hanoi. Viet­namese people often joke about it. If you pre­sume that Viet­nam is a wholly trop­ic­al coun­try — that shorts and T‑shirts are good to go all year round — you may be in for a sur­prise if you arrive at Noi Bai Air­port in Decem­ber. And you would not be the only ones (I prom­ised to not give any names). In fact, Hanoi has four sea­sons with chilly win­ters and steam­ing summers. 

Each sea­son has its own beauty and char­ac­ter­ist­ics. My favour­ite is autumn when the sky clears and every street in Hanoi is blanketed with count­less tiny white flowers, cre­at­ing a peace­ful, some will even say romantic, aura in the cap­it­al city. 

When the first wind of autumn blows, it car­ries with it the tart-sweet fra­grance of those hoa sữa (“milk flowers”, named after their milky white petals). It per­meates every corner of the city. While some might find the scent unpleas­ant, hoa sữa is indis­put­ably the sig­na­ture of Hanoi’s autumn and an inspir­a­tion for com­posers and writers alike.

Hanoi­ans are so attached to this sym­bol that the name “Hoa Sữa” is widely used for schools. One of them, the Hoa Sữa School for Dis­ad­vant­aged Youth, is a mem­ber of the ASSET‑H&C net­work. Since 1994, Hoa Sữa School has been help­ing dis­ad­vant­aged and dis­abled youth to gain the skills required for a suc­cess­ful career. The founders named the school after the hoa sữa tree with the hope that when stu­dents gradu­ate, they will go far and wide, mak­ing life more beau­ti­ful with their pres­ence. What an inspir­ing message! 

You can meet some of these stu­dents at the school’s res­taur­ant loc­ated at the Viet­nam Museum of Eth­no­logy. A 30-minute drive away from the city centre, the place is a bit off the tour­ist track. How­ever, the museum is worth the vis­it if you want to know more about the diverse eth­nic groups of Viet­nam. After­wards, enjoy a well-deserved lunch on the restaurant’s ter­race with a view of the museum’s lux­uri­ous garden.

The menu offers a vari­ety of tra­di­tion­al Viet­namese dishes as well as oth­er Asi­an and West­ern dishes. To me, the bánh bao (steamed buns) are a cat­egory of their own. Vari­ously stuffed with char siu (Cantonese bar­be­cue pork), ground pork, chick­en, mush­room, cheese, etc., there is one for every taste. Import­antly, they are all pre­pared and served in a cosy set­ting by lovely stu­dents who are eager to learn. 

If you want to learn more about the train­ing, Hoa Sữa School wel­comes groups to its train­ing centre, where guests can enjoy a tour, cook­ing classes, as well as dance and art per­form­ances by stu­dents who rep­res­ent dif­fer­ent eth­nic groups. This allows stu­dents to intro­duce their cul­ture and helps improve their confidence. 

I took the tour once and, as a food­ie from HCM City, I enjoyed the oppor­tun­ity to meet some of the culin­ary stu­dents. They were out­go­ing, cheer­ful, and look­ing for­ward to start­ing their hos­pit­al­ity careers. I had a strong feel­ing that they all had what it took to really go “far and wide”. The only dif­fi­culty for me was hold­ing back the tempta­tion to try all the food that they were preparing.

One of the reas­ons to vis­it and revis­it Hanoi is that you will always dis­cov­er some­thing new and amaz­ing. The city feels dif­fer­ent every sea­son and is full of hid­den gems for those who are will­ing to look. 

The res­taur­ants of the Hoa Sữa School are among those gems. For their deli­cious food and proven social impacts, they are worth your trip through Hanoi’s busy hoa sữa-lined streets to find. 

Fea­tured image (top of post): Hanoi’s hoa sữa (“milk flowers”, named after their milky white petals). Pic­ture cour­tesy of © Minh Quan.

Where is this?

Hoa Sữa School for Dis­ad­vant­aged Youth (train­ing centre & res­taur­ant)
Số 1118, đường Nguyễn Khoái, phường Lĩnh Nam, quận Hoàng Mai, Hà Nội, Việt Nam
Tel: +84 436 434 731 | E‑mail: hoasuaschool@gmail.com

Baguette & Chocol­at Res­taur­ant (at the Museum of Eth­no­logy)
Tại Bảo tàng Dân tộc học Việt Nam
Đường Nguyễn Văn Huyên, Cầu Giấy, Hà Nội, Việt Nam

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