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From curbside feasts on Lilliputian plastic chairs to superb fine dining, Hanoi’s restaurant scene has something for everyone. Locals are fiercely proud of their street food culture and this is where the essence of Hanoi’s food scene can be discovered. Signature northern dishes include bun cha (vermicelli with minced pork burger
From curbside feasts on Lilliputian plastic chairs to superb fine dining, Hanoi’s restaurant scene has something for everyone. Locals are fiercely proud of their street food culture and this is where the essence of Hanoi’s food scene can be discovered. Signature norther
From curbside feasts on Lilliputian plastic chairs to superb fine dining, Hanoi’s restaurant scene has something for eve
From curbside feasts on Lilliputian plastic chairs to superb fine dining, Hanoi’s restaurant scene has something for everyone. Locals are fiercely proud of their street food culture and this is where the essence of Hanoi’s food scene can be discovered. Signature northern dishes include bun cha (vermicelli with minced pork burgers), banh cuon (steamed rice rolls stuffed with minced pork, mushrooms, and shallots), and the ubiquitous pho, Vietnam’s nominal national dish, which comes in chicken and beef varieties. These classics represent just a tantalizing taste of what is on offer in the city. And with a seemingly endless array of vendors slaving over hot grills, simmering alchemy in large pots, or doling out pillow-soft steamed buns from a ramshackle cart, opportunities to eat like a local are limitless. In the past, Hanoi’s restaurant sector has suffered in comparison to its Kingly Street dining scene. That has changed significantly over the past decade or so. There is now an eclectic selection of interesting (and often excellent) eating spots that run the gamut from simple French bistros and laid-back cafés to opulent venues for multicourse blowouts and cutting-edge options that would not be out of place in the world’s major gastronomic hubs.
This simple eatery compensates for its lack of sophistication with giant-size portions of the delicate banh cuon, steamed rice rolls stuffed with ground pork and chopped wood-ear mushrooms. Watch the resident cooks painstakingly roll out their sheets of rice noodle and spoon on the filling and feel your mouth start to water. There are three options: chicken, pork, or shrimp and pork. All three are worth trying.
This venue is spotlessly clean, and despite its popularity with tourists is still very much the real deal. Like all the best restaurants purveying local favorites, this place specializes in one dish only: bun bo nam bo (a southern beef and noodle dish). Translated as "southern style rice noodles with beef," this mixture of vermicelli noodles, beef, lettuce, cucumber, shallots, bean sprouts, cilantro, and chopped peanuts is more commonly found in Ho Chi Minh City. Be sure to mix the concoction thoroughly with your chopsticks to experience the alchemy created by the small serving of broth-drenched greens at the base of the bowl.
Serving creamy cappuccinos and delicious lattes in calm and quiet surroundings, Habakuk might be the best spot in the city for withdrawing from Hanoi's chaos with a book and a drink. Though best known for its excellent coffee, Habakuk morphs into a bistro serving delicious lasagna in the evenings.
When it comes to street food, Hanoians don't go in for much ostentation and the eating area here is decidedly prosaic; just a few communal tables under a couple of bare lightbulbs. What matters is the expertly judged broth, the light rice noodles, and the delicious meat, which is peeled in strips from hulking slabs of brisket then dunked in the broth for seconds to cook. Don't worry too much about identifying the restaurant: you'll recognize it from the long lines of people waiting outside.
Full of bricks, books, and artistic locals and expats, Bluebird's Nest is a quiet oasis where you can work, study, or kick back and get some leisure reading done. This café often hosts intimate events, like film nights or acoustic music shows, and you might overhear a private English or Vietnamese lesson if you stay the afternoon. They don't serve a full menu, but their coffee and cakes are enough for a light breakfast or snack.
Drawing crowds with enormous servings of bun cha (grilled pork with rice vermicelli), Bun Cha 34 does not fail to deliver good quality bowls for a mere 40,000d per dish. Customers rave over the charred pork and fragrant herbs. You can also order a serving of fried spring rolls on the side. Be prepared for a street food experience, as the tiny tables and chairs regularly spill out onto the sidewalk.
Bun Cha Huong Lien has wholeheartedly embraced the alias Bun Cha Obama since 2016, when the erstwhile president visited Hanoi and dined here with celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain. The bun cha (grilled pork and rice vermicelli noodles) and nem hai san (seafood spring rolls) are decent, but it's worth visiting just for the photography documenting the occasion. It's plastered all over the eatery.
Loading T won fame in 2017 when CNN featured their egg coffee, a unique cinnamon-infused take on the Hanoi specialty drink. The cafe is notable for its extraordinary architecture; it sits within a grand colonial-era house that was appropriated and partitioned by the government in the 1950s. Other segments of the building house boutiques, such as Hien Van Ceramics.
Colloquially known as "Chicken Street," this is the place to come for delicious barbecued poultry served right off the street. The street is lined with vendors working near-identical alchemy with a limited menu of grilled chicken wings, legs, and feet; sweet potatoes; and bread that's been brushed with honey before being toasted. The resulting dish is served with chili sauce and pickled cucumbers in sweet vinegar and washed down with icy bottles of local beer.
More of a snack and less of a fully fledged meal, pho cuon (fresh spring rolls with beef) is a Truc Bach specialty. This family-run eatery serves up some of the freshest and tastiest rolls in the neighborhood on a handful of tables that occasionally spill out onto the street.
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