hanoi eats
 

what were your best food experiences in Hanoi?? all levels

If you were staying at the Metropole on the Club floor you could eat in as we did on 2 nights of our stay there. Research Wild Lotus, Au Lac House and La Badiane. Others on this forum have enjoyed La Badiane and we enjoyed the first two as well (it was a while back). Current TA reviews are mixed, to say the least, but if I were to go there again, I would look at TA's top choices. This has worked well for us, time and again in recent years.

Pho Gia Truyen is a Hanoi institution and served the best pho we could find in the city, if not the world! You may have to queue but definitely worth the wait. The pho with the three different cuts of beef was sublime. Warning, the surroundings are basic!

If in the old quarter try an "Egg Coffee" Carolyn took a Vietnamese friend to this place who said it was the best in town.

http://accidentalnomads.com/2014/12/...oi-egg-coffee/

Our former Japanese exchange student lived in Hanoi for a year, and he sent me to several restaurants during my visit (he had left the previous year). Here is my favorite:

Little Hanoi
9 Ta Hien, Hanoi, Vietnam

It's sort of a Vietnamese version of a coffee shop--they have spring rolls, sandwiches, eggplant dishes, and even smoothies. The service was great. I ended up going there twice, once for lunch, and once for dinner.

thanks, any more??

Little India on Hang Tre St for great, authentic Indian food.

Moose and Roo for high quality western food

Avoid the ubiquitous BBQ restaurant all over the old quarter, tried a couple and really average food.

http://www.elgaucho.asia - guess what they serve!

Some great "street food" served around beer corner in the old quarter. More than a little hectic but go early to sample some unusual snacks. (Served from kitchens rather than stalls)

Minh Thuy at 20 Ngo Huyen was good. Apparently the chef owner is an ex contestant on Vietnam Masterchef.

We had fabulous food in Hanoi. Unfortunately it was long enough ago that I'm not sure how helpful it will be... I have checked to be sure these currently exist and still get good reviews.

We went to the original Little Hanoi restaurant, 23 Hang Gai Street, a few short blocks from the lake, serving excellent VN food. The Little Hanoi sandwich shop (named above by California Lady) was a name copy from the original, but doesn't serve VN food.

Brothers Cafe was charming and an opportunity to try lots of different local foods in a buffet, with cooked to order items as well. It is located at 26 Nguyen Thai Hoc. At the time we were there, they did not take credit cards. They had good French wines at reasonable prices.

We loved Club Opera (basically across the street from Le Metropole) at 59 Ly Thai To. We liked this place so much we had dinner there twice.

Bobby Chinn's was excellent (though quite expensive for Hanoi). They have moved from their previous location, current address I find online is 77 Xuan Dieu Street.

We enjoyed lunch at Koto, across the street from the Temple of Literature, next door to CraftLink (this info for Karen and Linda - great, unique purses and wonderful craft items).

I've checked on several other places we liked, but they seem to be out of business.

Happy eating!

Oh, these are right on time!

I read somewhere--here or another forum--about a place where university students are trained, and serve meals. It wasn't Koto, mentioned by Kathie, although I think that place also trains kids to become chefs.
Sound familiar to anyone?

Here's the food post from our trip report of a few years ago... note that we mostly ate downscale and in the Old Quarter:

Quan An Ngon – A huge and wonderful place, it’s comprised of a large central courtyard with individual stalls around the perimeter cooking local specialties, all surrounded by interconnected buildings. There is a huge seating area with tables in the courtyard, plus even more tables set up inside the buildings. Despite the high volume of seating, there are lines to get in the place during lunchtime and dinner… undoubtedly due to the vast menu, tasty offerings and dirt-cheap prices. We ate here twice, once for lunch with the Hanoi Kids and once for dinner on our own. And I’m fairly confident that you could order randomly from their Tolstoy-esque menu and be satisfied.

New Day – The only other place where we ate twice, this busy three-story restaurant sits directly across the street from the Hanoi Elegance Emerald hotel in the Old Quarter (about a 15-minute walk from our hotel). The service staff is friendly and not shy if you ask for a recommendation, the food is fresh and flavorful, the beer is cold and the price is right. The marinated barbeque pork and Shanghai-style sea bass were memorable dishes. Two appetizers, three mains, drinks & tax… about $15 total.

Bun Cha Dac Kim – This place is definitely nothing fancy, but what an experience! This is a very popular lunch spot, and it’s about 40 yards away from our hotel’s front door. They serve exactly two dishes, bun cha and fried springrolls (nem), and you don’t actually order… they point you to a table and just start bringing you food soon after you sit. You get a massive bowl of grilled pork in a tasty broth, an even more massive plate of fresh greens (including thai basil, cilantro, lettuce, etc.), fresh rice noodles (which they cut up with scissors for you), a bowl of zesty dipping sauce for the nem, a bowl of chopped red-hot chilies and garlic, and an empty bowl for each person to mix stuff up in. How you choose to eat it all depends on your chopstick skills. It’s all delicious, far more food than we could possibly eat, and cost less than $9 for the three of us (including drinks).

Bun Bo Nam Bo – Two or three short blocks away from our hotel was another notable lunch spot, which serves just bun bo… which is a big, savory bowl with thin rice noodles topped with marinated beef slices, cooked torn lettuce, basil, cilantro, lettuce and peanuts. Small pitchers of spicy peanut sauce are also provided (and recommended, btw). You just sit down at a communal table, tell them how many bowls and what drinks you want, and it appears a minute later. Mix it all up with your chopsticks, and dig in! It’s not quite as well known among tourists as the bun cha place mentioned above, but the value and deliciousness are pretty much equal.

Again, this was a few years ago. Caveat emptor.

A few more comments:

Koto is a teaching restaurant, one of the places where we had lunch with Hanoikids. It was fine and CraftLink is definitely worth a stop. Incidentally, there are a couple of locations with different inventory, so you should search out both locations. Also, I neglected to mention (and nobody else here has) Fanny's Ice Cream - definitely worth checking out.

I do know of some of these, but I love the new names for us to try...

mrs HI is a big VN food fan

Our Japanese exchange student that lived in Hanoi recommended three other restaurants, in addition to my earlier post. I tried them all, and enjoyed them:

cha ca la vong

nha hang ngon

ashima (for hot clay pot dishes)

Kathie, please note that the Little Hanoi (9 Ta Hien) restaurant that I mentioned has truly authentic, French-influenced Vietnamese food. One of their best dishes is aubergine (eggplant) served in a hot clay pot. Also, the sandwiches are served on baguettes, which is very popular in Vietnam. We have a huge Vietnamese community here near Los Angeles, and I frequent the restaurants in that area. There is so much more to Vietnamese food than pho, which originates in the south, and is traditionally served for breakfast.

Bob - I dream of Bun Bo Nam Bo. I ate there three times. The first time we went by there, mike said he wouldn't eat there, but I insisted as I'd read reviews. They only serve one dish, but you wont be unhappy here if you like pho.

We will be in Hanoi mid October and will post recommendations if we have any.

thanks

Bob Quan An Ngon was an absolute fave of mine ( and in HCMC) the chilli beef I dreamed of for weeks. I liked the Vietnamese sampler at green tangerine too! I think you went to the Pho cafe we recommended last time. We are in the minority ref Fanny's , didn't like it at all......
Did you go to the original cha ca la vong last time?

i'll have to look back

Hanoi
Cha Ca La Vong for it's wonderful fish and noodle dish, Old Quarter
Ly Club, wonderful service, setting and food, Embassy area
Quon An Ngon, casual, traditional Vietnamese street foods

I know that Trip Advisor doesn't always go down well on this forum, but here's an excellent current thread on food in Hanoi...

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTop...ood-Hanoi.html

So wheres the dining list boss?

surprises, but read above for good choices...oh btw, you will be there 1st, but probably will want to pay the high prices at Sofitel ONLY

It's been three months in Hanoi for me so far and I am still discovering new dishes but here's a short list of my favourites till date: Pho Bo, Banh Cuon, Pho Cuon, Bun Cha and Bun Rieu. Seems like everyone has their favourites on where to find the best version of these dishes but I recommend you sign up one of the street food tours offered by many companies in Hanoi. :)

Best food? EVERYTHING!!!!! Eating with the locals was fabulous. I loved all the little places. We never ate at the hotel (Metropole)

Woa!
I desire Hanoi Cuisine very much.
I love "Pho Bat Dan" the most.
After that, you should try eating "salad roll" in Ngu Xa street (near West Lake).
Moreover, you should walk around The Old Quarters to discover local Hanoi food as street-bread, mix dry noodle, mix salad, etc.

thanks all

Our favorite food experience was the Street Food Tour with Mark Lowerson...

http://streetfoodtourshanoi.blogspot.com/

These are the places we hit and none were duds.

As promised, some links to places we visited:

Bun rieu cha: http://stickyrice.typepad.com/my_web...-rieu-cha.html
Banh cuon: http://stickyrice.typepad.com/my_web...time_luck.html (different vendor at 68 Hang Cot St)
Creme Caramel: http://stickyrice.typepad.com/my_web...6/03/post.html
Fermented Wild Rice w Yoghurt:http://streetfoodtourshanoi.blogspot...l#comment-form
Market: http://stickyrice.typepad.com/my_web...t_meanderings/ (different market)
Pho Tiu: http://stickyrice.typepad.com/my_web...are_not_e.html
Egg Coffee: http://streetfoodtourshanoi.blogspot...gg-coffee.html
Bun ca: http://stickyrice.typepad.com/my_web...fish-dish.html
Cafe Duy Tri: http://stickyrice.typepad.com/my_web...a_artista.html
Banh gio: http://stickyrice.typepad.com/my_web...-giò.html

You should go to Old Quarter. The best street food of Hanoi is served there. :).

I add a original cake in Hanoi. Its name is Gia Trinh cake in Phung Hung street. It is a traditional transparent which often use in Vietnamese wedding.

fyi, this is our 3rd trip to hanoi

Bob, when are you going to be in Hanoi? 90% certain we will be there on our way back fro Australia in Oct/Nov would be nice to meet up for a beer if the dates coincide.

clive, we will be in Hanoi from nov 23-29 and in hoi an nov 29-dec 2.

we will be travelling with the hawaiianTravellers. they love vn food so it would be fun for us to share a meal at one of your favorite places..

let me know.

bob

Quit it, you two guys! You're making me jealous!!

Bob, sadly we arrive mid October and head out in Early November so will miss you and the HTs. A GTG would have been great.

We plan on spending a few days in Hanoi either side of a trip to the far north so will try and scout out a few new eating places and will report back with anything interesting- It's a hell of a job but someone has to do it! :-)

Cheers
Clive

Forgot to add, just spent a while in Hoi An after a 15 year absence ( boy has it changed!) . Had some great food there, notably Mermaid ( the best stuffed squid ever), Miss Ly's - really excellent Hoi An specialities, Morning Glory was also pretty good but exceptionally busy. They also have a cooking school place across the river Kitchen Garden which does an all you can eat buffet for 450k dong from "street stall" inside the school. Didn't try it but it looked very interesting.

Bale Well is an institution in town a fixed menu of Ban Xeo, spring rolls, grilled pork all rolled up with salad in rice papers. Quite an experience, especially as the waitresses insist on showing you how to do it properly.

Marking this so I can find it back.

I often went to a beef steak restaurant in Hoang Hoa Tham str. I forgot its directly address, but you can ask for local to know.
Moreover, I like the kinds of noodle of Vietnamese. It is very easten for the first time.

Two I hope to try in Hanoi next month:
Chim Sao
Home Restaurant

Bob, just ate at Net Hue on Hang Bong St http://nethue.com.vn/en/home.html . Excellent food - will be returning - which doesn't happen often! Not sure where you are staying but they have several places around the city. Great sharing plates, especially if there are a group of you.

thanks, will try

leaving monday

looks yummy....can't wait! Wish we were leaving Monday but see you soon!

Aloha!