Attraction of 59-year-old ice cream store in Hanoi

 
 
When come to Trang Tien Street, the famous street right around Sword Lake, you can’t miss the Trang Tien ice cream – a trademark  popular among all Hanoians.  The reason ice cream called ” Trang Tien ” is by ice cream is sold and produced in Trang Tien street , the first time was in the house at 35 Trang Tien, Hoan Kiem district. It is so famous that people wonder “Does Trang Tien street makes ice cream known to people or the ice cream there turns Trang Tien into a more popular street of Hanoi?”.

This little gem known little by tourists, although the place is located in the tourist sector. The place seem not just a site for eating ice cream but fabulous for family gather. You rarely see ex-pats or tourists, instead you see Vietnamese couples on dates, families taking their children to their favourite ice cream parlour in town, and you feel like you're really part of Hanoi.  For Hanoians, people find here not just an ice cream shop but a childhood memory reminder. The flavor and price don’t change much from the first day.
For some foreigner, this ice cream shop is special for its motorbike shop look-like. The shop was built backwarkly, creating a small yard in front of the counter for ice cream eater to park their motorbike. You drive your motorcycle inside the store, park it amongst the 50 or so motorcycles already there, fight your way through the crowd to the counter, pay not up to 1 USD to leave with one of 6 flavours of ice cream bars.

The Vietnamese name is called Kem Dac Biet Trang Tien which loosly translates into, "special ice cream on trang tien." Imagine a drive in for a movie, but this is a drive in for ice cream. You literally drive your motobike into the place and park it. Then if there are two of you, one of goes to the counter and gets the goods. All around you the other patrons are sitting on the motobikes and eating ice cream.
First appearing in 1958, Trang Tien ice cream has maintained its reputation thanks to the particular quality and flavors. Despite its fame, the price is very reasonable for everyone to enjoy it. Trang Tien ice cream has special flavour, which a untold number of Hanoi generations have a passion for. Visitors who have an opportunity to stay Hanoi and enjoy Trang Tien ice cream will not forget the unique feature of Hanoi’s culinary culture of standing and eating ice-cream. There are many ways to enjoy Trang Tien ice cream. You can enjoy ice cream cone, ice lolly or a cup of ice cream on a hot summer day. People who want to enjoy Trang Tien ice cream must stand in line beacause it is very crowded, specially in every afternoon. Trang Tien ice cream has become a very popular ice cream brand with Hanoi. This ice cream has many different flavors like chocolate, vanilla, cereal, young glutinous rice, coconut milk. The flavor is tasty and cool.