Luke’s penultimate stop of his train journey is Hanoi, the second largest city of Vietnam located on the Red River. There is one dish Luke always has when he visits Hanoi and that’s bun cha - the dish was made famous by two men, Barack Obama and Anthony Bourdain who ate it together in Hanoi. Space in parts of Hanoi are at a premium so Luke cooks a spectacular pho dish literally on the Reunification Express railway tracks. Next, Luke searches for the famous bun dau mam in Hanoi – this dish has evolved over many years normally renowned as a peasant dish, it now includes ‘rich’ food ingredients such as pork belly as well as the famous crispy fried tofu. Finally, Luke visits the Hoan Kiem lake - arguably the heart and soul of Hanoi, and it’s at this location Luke creates a delicious dish of magenta sticky rice.
