12 Vietnamese Foods and Drinks to Try in Hanoi 

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It’s no secret that Vietnam has some of the best food on the planet! The food offered in this country is unique and hard to forget since it’s so delicious. Hanoi has the best of both worlds when it comes to food: street vendors and high-end restaurants. If you’re a traveler on a budget, you won’t have to worry when it comes to finding a bang for your buck and if you like high scale restaurants, you’re in for a treat as well!

 

 

Here are 12 of my favorite dishes and drinks that I tried while staying in Hanoi:

 

Pho 

Although it originated in Northern Vietnam, Pho has become a staple all over the country. It’s a simple soup consisting of broth, rice noodles, meat and herbs. It can be customized to your liking with the different condiments you’ll find on the table and the meat you choose.

 

The two best places to grab a bowl of pho in Hanoi are Phở Gia Truyền Bát Đàn and Pho Hang Trong. Each provides a different take on the classic bowl of pho. The most popular place for both locals and tourists is Phở Gia Truyền Bát Đàn. This place only has three items on the menu and it specializes in how you prefer your meat cooked.

 

For a true pho experience, visit Pho Hang Trong if you can find it. Nestled on the second floor of a line of store fronts, the only way here is to follow an alley and go up some stairs that look like they are going to fall any second. Once you follow the stairs up, you are not stepping into a restaurant but the chef’s living room! You can only dine here between 3 and 8 PM.

 

Bun Cha 

Similar to Pho is something called Bun Cha. This meal is a combination of grilled pork served in a soup with a side of vegetables and noodles. It can be eaten many different ways but the easiest is to combine everything in the dish once the grilled pork arrives and dig in. To complete the bun cha, it’s often served with a side of nem cua (fried crab spring walls).

 

Bun Cha is available all over the city but the best place to grab this dish is at Bun Cha Hang Quat.

 

Phở Cuốn 

 

If you want an easier way to eat a bowl of pho, try Phở Cuốn. This is a rice noodle roll, filled with beef and fresh herbs, just like pho but without the broth. This dish is most often served with a bowl of sweet fish sauce to dip the rolls in.

 

This dish is popular with both the locals and tourists and there is even a whole neighborhood dedicated to it! Visit Trúc Bạch and you will find the streets lined with stalls, all serving this easy to eat food. 

 

Barbecue Street Chicken 

Barbecue street chicken is another Vietnamese dish with an area dedicated to it, although it’s a street instead of a neighborhood. Different street stalls serve different cuts of the chicken. You can grab a plate at any of them, sit down and enjoy the meal. Before you sit down to enjoy your food, grab a piece of the honey bread! 

 

Bánh Mì

Need a snack but don’t want to stop to sit down and eat? Grab a Bánh Mì! This traditional Vietnamese snack is a flaky baguette filled with meat, mayo, pickled vegetables and some cilantro. You can get the sandwich filled with different ingredients depending on where you go.

 

A popular local spot is Banh Mi 25 in Hanoi’s Old Quarter; the restaurant has both a sit down restaurant and a takeaway stall on the same street. Another famous spot for Bánh Mì is Bánh Mỳ Trâm. Bánh Mỳ Trâm serves the sandwich prepared with their famous secret sauce. 

 

Bia Hoi 

Had a long day of sightseeing and want to relax with a cold beer? Drink a Bia Hoi, which is Vietnam’s famous draft beer, a light, golden lager with a 3% ABV. This beer is brewed daily, matured for a short time, then delivered to bars in steel barrels when ready. There is a corner in the Old Quarter at the conjunction of Ta Hien and Luong Ngoc Quyen Streets called Bia Hoi that has a multitude of bars serving Bia Hoi.

 

Chè (Vietnamese Sweet Dessert Soup) 

 

To finish off your day of eating, have some Chè, a sweet Vietnamese dessert soup. It can be served hot or cold, with enough ingredients and ways to order that you have the choice to never have the same dessert twice.

 

For the basic Chè, you get a base of coconut cream with shaved ice and then add the toppings. From fresh fruit to beans to tapioca, the dish varies widely from place to place. 

 

Egg coffee (Ca phe trung) 

Start your day off with a famous cup of egg coffee. This breakfast drink is a combo of coffee and dessert and consists of coffee, sugar, sweetened condensed milk and of course, egg yolks.

 

During the milk shortage of 1946, Mr. Giang decided to whisk an egg instead of cream into his coffee and voila, egg coffee was invented! Mr. Giang tweaked the recipe just enough to add sweetener and cream before selling it to the Public.

 

The best and the most famous place to get an egg coffee is at Giang’s Cafe, which is currently run by the inventor’s son. When in line at Giang’s Cafe (there always is a line, that’s how good it is!), be careful of the other restaurants and food stalls selling egg coffee, they’re not the same! 

 

Egg beer 

 

Begin your day with an egg coffee and end it with an egg beer! Served at the same Giang’s Cafe as egg coffee, egg beer is beer topped with the same whipped eggs and sugar as the coffee. The combo makes a creamy, sweet beer. 

Vietnamese iced coffee (Ca Phe Sua Da) 

Ca Phe Sua Da is the basic Vietnamese iced coffee. Made to be served cold, it’s made from dark roast beans and made with water, ice and condensed milk. What makes it so special is the way that you brew the coffee. Using a French drop filter that sits on top of the cup, you add coarse grounded beans and then boiling hot water over the beans to let the coffee drip down into a cup with ice. Top with condensed milk and you have your Ca Phe Sua Da. 

 

Dừa Tươi (Fresh Coconut) 

Dừa Tươi is not made of the same coconuts that are available stateside; the ones you get in Hanoi have more flavor. You can get the coconuts everywhere from food stalls to restaurants and are served with a straw and a spoon. 

 

Bia (beer) 

In Hanoi, there’s a pretty wide range of beer to choose from. Bia Hà Nôi is the local beer in Hanoi, which is a pale lager sitting at around 4% ABV. Hanoi has quite a craft beer scene along with the more local divey spots. There are many craft beer breweries popping up all over the place and you shouldn’t leave Hanoi without having a pho beer!

 

Furbrew makes the infamous craft beer that has the same flavors as your favorite bowl of soup. If you are not up for a pho-inspired beer, there’s the famous Pasteur Street, the original craft beer brewery that came from Saigon’s.

 

If you want to get a full experience of Hanoi’s beer scene, stop by Turtle Lake and Fuzzy Logic Brewing Co as well. If you want to take some beer home as a souvenir, stop by Long Bien Brew, where they can make a custom beer from your own recipe!

 

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