Eating in Hanoi, Vietnam: Not All Phở & Games

[Updated: 8/13/20] – Eating in Hanoi, Vietnam is an unforgettable experience. The Old Quarter of Hanoi is famous for markets, street food, motorbikes and madness. The food is the real highlight of the Vietnamese capital, but it’s not all phở and games! 

Eating in Old Quarter Hanoi is more than filling your belly between sightseeing tours around the bustling, ancient city. Food, more specifically street food in Hanoi, is taken to another level in this chaotic blend of old world culture and modern mayhem.

Once you gain some confidence to cross the streets of Hanoi and avoid serious injury, start eating. Unless you know the language or have a guide, identifying the food might be a bit of a challenge. But don’t let that discourage you! The odds are in your favor that whatever you eat will likely be good. Really good!

As you navigate the gauntlet that is the motorbikes of the Old Quarter, here are some of the specialties to seek for the best local eating in Hanoi:

Chim Nướng – Eating on Hanoi Beer Street

Streetside barbecue quail. This pile of greasy, boney bird is just what you need. This particular spot is located on the street affectionately known as “Beer Street” in Hanoi Old Quarter. Mostly popular with tourists seeking their thrills in Southeast Asia, the street has a couple of hidden, authentic spots as well.

Chim nuong is a tricky snack to navigate. Quail are not very big, and finding the meat requires a bit of effort and persistence. Somehow, the cooks at this corner shop have perfected streetside barbecue quail. The flavor is worth the challenge.

Chim nuong is the best snack on Hanoi Beer Street. After several $0.25 beers – yes, 25 cent beers – this treat will hit the spot.

Bún Chả – The Best Street Eating Experience in Hanoi

Across the Hanoi Old Quarter, you will see small stands with skillets of hot oil over open flames, frying up a round sausage-like specimen. For street meat lovers, these sausage patties are especially alluring.

Enticing as is, the mystery sausage is not to be eaten plain. It is bun cha, and bun cha is actually served with a bowl of noodles, pickled veggies and greens. Bun cha is a beautiful thing. Fresh made sausage fried before your eyes, served with local produce and the spices to boot. The end result looks like pho, but make no mistake, this is something more. The Vietnamese may not be widely known for pork, but they damn sure know how to serve it.

After several days of eating everything in sight in Hanoi – of all the street food I found in the Old Quarter – bun cha is the best. This is a cheap local food in Hanoi that has no match.

Nộm Giá – Eating Hidden Street Food in Hanoi

Remember how your mom told you not to go down dark alleys? Yeah, well forget about that. Obviously, there’s no need to be careless and put yourself at risk, but Hanoi is a very safe city for reasonably smart and mostly sober travelers. And many of these alleyways lead to better places than what you might imagine.

Down a particular alleyway – there is no point in trying to explain precisely where, as you would never find it and I could not lead you there again – is a fantastic Hanoi street food scene. A true hole-in-the-wall joint – but clean! Do not be afraid, for delicious food lies ahead!

This narrow, dark corridor leads to a restaurant serving some phenomenal chicken salad. There are two variations offered: a sweeter option with cabbage and a savory option with onions and peanuts. There is no point in debating which is better, because they are both really freaking good. The best solution is to cough up a couple extra dollars and just get both! Bring someone to help out – or don’t and be a happy fatty! Get a nice warm beer, pour it over ice and enjoy the secret hideaway of culinary bliss.

Keep your eyes open for nom gia, and if you see (or smell) food coming from an alleyway, go check it out. The worst that could happen is someone yelling strange words at you and pointing at you to leave. Eating in Hanoi is about getting out of your comfort zone. More often than not, curious eaters in Vietnam are rewarded with enduring memories of incredible food.

Craft Beer in Hanoi

Craft beer is not normally something people expect to find in the narrow corridors of Old Quarter Hanoi. To the pleasant surprise of many, the beer scene in Southeast Asia is not so bad. Most of the big beers are potable, and the smaller brews are more than respectable.

The craft beer revolution is taking the world by storm. To the surprise of many, this holds true for Vietnam. The country may still be dominated by regional domestics, each one drinkable and adequate for a hot afternoon refresher, but most big beers in Vietnam are as plain and boring as the next.

If you are searching for a high quality beer, if you really need something that actually tastes good, you can find it. Pasteur Brewing is a good option in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. While expensive in comparison to most other eating and drinking options in the area, this double IPA here was every bit as good as those in the American Northwest.

Bánh Mì – The Vietnamese Street Sandwich

The sandwich of Vietnam. Bahn mi, a result of the days of French Indochina many decades ago, is found all over. Hotels, shops, restaurants, even on random corners of burning coals – you can find this delectable sandwich across the city. No trip to to Hanoi (or anywhere in Vietnam) is complete without eating banh mi.

Bahn mi is more than a tasty sandwich. This sandwich is usually – it should be – very cheap. Locating an awesome, fresh version of this sandwich for around a buck in the Hanoi Old Quarter is not hard to do. Street cooks set up their makeshift grills pretty much anywhere, waiting for hungry pedestrians to give in to the smell of street food heaven. A sizable, fresh-grilled sandwich of meat and veggies for a buck – it might seem hard to believe – is readily availble on the streets of Hanoi.

To make this sandwich even more desirable, many local recipes use a flour that is largely rice based. It sounds unusual to many Western eaters, but the result is a sandwich that is filling but not heavy. The Vietnamese baguette is perfect. It tastes like a traditional baguette but somehow better.

For all of the people who think being gluten-free is cool, health-conscious or whatever diet-restricting fantasy they have concocted, you can eat this sandwich with minimal guilt. Now pat yourself on the back, let out a sigh of relief and enjoy!

Bánh Cuốn

Literally meaning “rolled dough,” this is a very thin rice flour batter rolled up with mushrooms and pork. It is served with the usual dipping sauce seen everywhere: fish sauce with chilies. Garlic vinegar and herbs commonly accompany this one.

Like many Vietnamese dishes, banh cuon is a light food. Hungry travelers may look for something more filling. For what this dish lacks in quantity, it makes up for with freshness and being packed with flavor. The cooking process is interesting too, starting with an extremely thin, delicate layer of rice dough.

Bahn cuon is a fresh way to fill up and hits the spot when you are cold and hungry – yes, Hanoi gets chilly – or when you are in need of a little something more than soup. 

Bánh Đa Trộn

Banh Da Tron is a bowl of awesomeness. At a glance it does not appear much different from your typical bowls of street food in Hanoi, minus the flood of broth. However, once you dig in, you realize you are in for something special. Banh Da Tron is a bowl of noodles, fish sausage patties and crispy, bacon-like strips of squid basking in fish paste.

If none of the aforementioned ingredients sound good, rest assured this works. That’s what they do in Vietnam. Unassuming places take ingredients that seem like strange combinations. Everything is perfectly prepared, and strange mixtures and recipes come together flawlessly. That’s the beauty of eating in Hanoi. The surprises and unknown are best part.

The sausage in Banh Da Tron is not like traditional sausage in texture or taste, nor does it have an uncomfortable fishy characteristic. Rather, it tastes and feels like a unique, savory sausage. You will surely be picking through the bowl in search for more.

The squid strips bring it all together. Adding more savory flavor, and again, not fishy, the crispy crunch is the perfect addition to the bowl.

All in all, Bahn Da Tron is worth your dollar. Well, it is surely worth more, but luckily it is another affordable option, made fresh to order. If you see it, don’t pass up this delicious opportunity.

Eating the Best Hot Pot in Hanoi

Hot pots are popular dining options across much of Asia. A hot pot is fairly straightforward in description. The ingredients of your meal arrive at your table, prepped for cooking. In the center of the table, a pot is placed on a hot plate. That’s where the cooking happens.

Staff at hot pot restaurants are helpful to first-timers and tourists. In Hanoi, there are hot pot shops all across the Old Quarter. They are not all equal. Chả Cá Thăng Long is the best choice. The restaurant is largely popular with locals, but tourists also frequently dine here.

A spread like this in most western cities, of this quality in a nice place, will set you back quite a bit. So when you are eating in Old Quarter Hanoi, at the source, make sure to take time for this experience. “Expensive” by local standards for a meal, this particular setting at Chả Cá Thăng Long cost just over $7 USD for everything. Even the beer! When you decide to “splurge” in Hanoi, make it hot pot. Do it here.

Eating in Hanoi Old Quarter

Eating street food in the Old Quarter of Hanoi is easy and, almost always, very cheap. It is not uncommon for prices to be higher for tourists, but you will know when you are being ripped off. For the most part, you will be charged appropriately and on par with prices for locals. If you are worried or have reservations about trying the Hanoi street food, Mark and Tu from Hanoi Street Food Tours offer a great tour to help you get started. It is not only a filling experience, the information provided about the food and local culture makes it even better.

If you want to do your eating in Hanoi cheaply and solo, it’s not so hard. Make sure you go with an open mind and an empty stomach. Hanoi will take care of the rest.

Old Quarter Hanoi feels as though there are endless options for eating incredible street food. It can be a daunting task at first glance. Once you get going, you will have a difficult time stopping, finding yourself pausing at every stall and cook on the sidewalk to inquire. Hanoi is a foodie’s dream. Come for the sights and history, but come back for the food.