On the recent national holiday, tourists walking on the pedestrian street around Returned Sword Lake and Reunification Park were drawn by mobile ice-cream stalls selling famous Hanoi ‘icons’-shaped ice-creams. An ice-cream costs VND 20,000 and the favor of ice-creams varies from strawberry, green tea, chocolate, green rice, banana, durian, to mango.
Attentively, these ice-creams simulated 11 renowned landscapes of the capital city of Hanoi such as Tortoise Tower, President Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, St. Joseph's Cathedral, Hanoi Opera House, Long Bien Bridge, Quan Chuong Gate, Temple of Literature, and Hang Dau water tower.
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Ice-cream in the shape of Hanoi’s landscapes (Photo: Gelato Stick) |
The maker of these special ice-creams is Ly Hai Hoang Tan, a Hue native living and working in Hanoi. Tan visited China many times and was impressed by ice-creams in the shape of famous places there. Thus, he wanted to make ice-creams with the shape of hallmarks of the place where he lives at reasonable prices.
Tan shared that he made ice-creams with flavor of local fruits at a cheaper price than those sold in China (nearly VND 70,000 an ice-cream).
He started making ice-creams in 2018. Three years later, he made them in different shapes. In early 2023, he debuted ice-creams in the shape of Hanoi’s landscapes with the aim of popularizing local tourism.
To form these ice-creams, Tan had to visit tourist attractions, sketch them, and make molds.
The main ingredients for these ice creams are ice cream powder imported from Italy, milk powder imported from Thailand, Vietnamese fruits, cocoa powder from Dak Lak, Thai Nguyen green tea powder and some types of jam.
Tan chose landscapes in Hanoi for his first ice-creams since Hanoi is home to famous and long-lasting sites. In the coming time, he will make Hanoi Station and Hanoi Flag Tower-shaped ice-creams. Apart from Hanoi, Tan also creates ice-creams depicting other famous places in Ninh Binh, Ho Chi Minh City, and Lao Cai.
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Ice-creams featuring famous places of Tay Ninh, Da Lat, Ha Giang, and Sword Lake |
Before enjoying an ice-cream bought from a mobile stall near the West Lake, Quang Anh, a 12-year-old tourist, looked at it for a while. He said that “I love this ice-cream.”
According to Tan, he and his teammates will make more ice-creams featuring famous places nationwide to help develop local tourism. He also plans to introduce these ice-creams at domestic events and tourism festivals.
Source: Vnexpress
Translated by Mai Huong