Apparently there is a strong “food” theme in my posts. Let’s continue that, shall we?

I had walked past Fanny’s Ice Cream Parlour almost every day on my way to work in Saigon and had always managed to engage my willpower to continue walking past its doors. Price was also a factor – it labels itself as “gourmet ice cream” and prices it as such. If I needed my fix, I’d cheap out and go get a delicious Black Forest Cornetto for $0.75 instead.

Jen and I were in Hanoi, lamenting on the fact that we were back in the traffic and noise of the city after weeks of relative quiet and solitude. We had spent a few hours walking through the French Quarter, where I had hoped to find a giant block of cheese to gorge on. Turns out the French Quarter isn’t as French as I thought it would be and we were headed back to the Old Quarter empty-handed when we passed a Fanny’s Parlour. I noticed a sign outside that announced a relatively new promotion: on the first Friday on each month they do an “all-you-can-eat” ice cream buffet for $4.  ”What day is it?” I demanded of Jen. “Friday” was her reply. “WHAT’S THE DATE?” I shouted, my voice betraying the excitement I felt. “The fifth”, she said, as the realization dawned in her eyes.

Oh, happy day. We decided to forego dinner and consume as much ice cream as humanly possible. It was glorious. It’s actually a really social event, frequented mostly by young Vietnamese folks. Everyone mills about the room, glass dish or cone in hand and chats, giving it the atmosphere of a bar. They have over 30 flavours including chocolate chili, banana and young rice, as well all the regular classics.

In the end, Jen ate 21 scoops of ice cream and claimed that she was close to vomiting. The competitive streak in me came out, bringing my total to 21 scoops plus a scoop in a cone for the walk home. Oh yeah, plus the crepes and the fruit dipped in the chocolate fountain. It caused the tummy to hurt but made us so, so happy.