Located on the same street as Bun Cha 34 is Kem Caramen Duong Hoa that has three outlets in Hanoi, located on 29 Hang Than Street, 33 Nguyen Khac Nhu Street and 101 C5 Tran Tu Binh Street. This dessert house is said to be one of the best places for crème caramel in town.
Crème caramel (French custard pudding) has always been a very popular dessert in Vietnam because of French influences in the past and it is still well-liked by locals and tourists alike.
The outlet we visited was the Hang Than one.
Kem Caramen Duong Hoa
29 Hang Than
Ba Dinh, Hanoi
Vietnam
Tel: +84 97 931 41 23
Opening hours: 9.00am to 10.00pm daily
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Caramen29hangthan/
The dining space has no tables so you just need to grab one of these plastic stools to sit down and another one to put your desserts on. Once you’re seated, someone will come over to take order.
There wasn’t any English menu. You can point to someone else’s order as a reference but if no one is around, you’ll have to Google translate the menu board outside. Kem caramen simply meant ‘crème caramel’ if that’s the only thing you’re going for. Anyway, I merely said I wanted two crème caramel and the guy understood me so not a problem at all.
This was the kem caramen (7,000 VND) which was kept in the fridge and then turned out onto a plate upon customer’s order. The side got a little disfigured but wasn’t a big deal.
The pudding was wobbly, smooth and silky and it had a nice eggy flavour too. The caramel was perfectly balanced – neither too sweet nor bitter. Because the pudding was cold, I just liked the refreshing sensation of it sliding down the throat. We had to order a second helping!
Seriously, where else can we get a luscious crème caramel like this at just <SGD0.45? Must try!