Any recommendations on where to find hanoi's famous local food and souvenir gifts? Planning to have a trip to hanoi next month, need some advise guys. Thanks.

You should try some specialties of Hanoi such as :
- Pho (noodle rice) at 45 or 49 Bat Dan st.
- Bun Cha (noodle with fried meat) in Hang Manh st.

All the above restaurants are located in the Old Quarter and the cost is reasonable.

- Quan An Ngon (18 Phan Boi Chau st.) with different Vietnamese dishes .

Besides you can choose some more expensive such as ChaCaLaVong restaurant (Vietnamese traditional fried fish at 14 Cha Ca st.) Hoa Sua restaurant (28A HaHoist.), Lotus restaurant (in Au Co st), Forest restaurant , Tara restaurant ...

* You can find the souvenir gift in the Old Quarter (Hang Gai st., Hang Dao st....)

Have a good time in Hanoi.

Bun Bo Nam Bo: 67 Hang Deur Street - typical Hanoian 'ambience' This eating hole is a long, deep narrow one, smeared stainless steel tables and wooden benches to sit at and carpets of discarded banana leaves to kick at underfoot.....the few moments for your bursting bat (bowl) of Asian flavour. Here's the drum from the bottom up: a decent fistful of lettuce and herbs, the essential noodles, a scoop of beef and bean shoots sauteed with garlic, and the one, two, three of crushed nuts, dried shallots and thinly sliced triangled pickles of young papaya and carrot. A ladle of warm, sweet sauce is tipped over to finish this fine noodle nosh off. This was cheap, delicious and my favorite.

For more ambiance, try the Green Tangerine: 48 Hang Be. In a colonial house from 1928, "a sanctuary for a luxurious meal", frommers.com praises the restaurant. "Modern french dishes with very creative twists", adds myeggnoodles.com. Go there before the dinner rush, advises Chris Mitchell. "You will feel like a character in – and in fact Catherine Deneuve has dined here", knows gus and charlie’s guide to hanoi. This was also very good, but upscale.

just go to old town for plenty of choice of things to buy

Best crafts: Craftlink, a fair trade crafts store. Two locations: at the Ethnographic Museum and across the street from the Temple of Literature.

You'll find good food everywhere.

you will find souvenirs everywhere, but make sure you negotiate the price before you buy anything.

the vietnamese are opportunists and they know that your purchase is a "one time deal" so they will make every effort to make as much money from you as possible, especially when you're a tourist.

ask for way much lower than what they offer and slowly work your way up. i usually start with 50%.

good luck!

ps. a good strategy is to threaten not to buy (pretend to walk away) & watch them throw down the price.

Agree, Craftlink has quality stuffs

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