19 Best Restaurants in Hanoi, Vietnam

This simple eatery compensates for its lack of sophistication with hearty portions of delicate banh cuon, steamed rice rolls stuffed with meat or seafood. 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. Come with an appetite as all three are worth trying.

This venue is spotlessly clean, and despite its popularity with tourists and the airbrushed makeover, it 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-style beef and noodle salad). 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 broth-drenched greens at the base of the bowl.

Bun Cha Huong Lien has wholeheartedly embraced the alias Bun Cha Obama since 2016, when the erstwhile president visited Hanoi and dined here with the late 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.

More of a restaurant than a bar but still good for evening drinks, this stylish spot specializes in Vietnamese rice wine, which is sometimes used in traditional medicines. Bring your game face and try the insect dishes and creative rice wine cocktails. The liquor, sold under the restaurant's own Son Tinh brand, is quite strong, so avoid drinking it on an empty stomach. 

Serving countryside dishes with a refreshing modern twist, Luk Lak is a welcome addition to Hanoi's dining scene. Many of the dishes are head chef Madame Binh's take on recipes from a particular part of the country, such as the ga nuong Tu Le (grilled chicken with sticky rice from Yen Bai Province). The minimalist design with flashes of Hanoi's colonial heritage serves to enhance an already exceptional dining experience.

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. Don't worry about identifying the restaurant: you'll recognize it from the long lines of people waiting outside.

One of a number of large and popular bia hoi (fresh beer) halls named Hai Xom that serves all the Vietnamese favorites, including stir-fried meet dishes, deep-fried tofu dishes, and plenty of fresh green vegetables.

Drawing crowds with enormous servings of bun cha (grilled pork with rice vermicelli), Bun Cha 34 does not fail to deliver good quality bowls at affordable prices. 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.

This fine-dining modern Vietnamese restaurant draws from the recipes and flavors of far-flung corners of the country for a creative tasting menu. There's an emphasis on the grill, but also attentive service and storied dishes. This is a worthy splurge option to round off a few days of street food and cheap eats in the capital.

This hole-in-the-wall serves only one thing: che, a sweet green bean concoction that is part drink, part pudding. Especially popular with Vietnamese youngsters, che is a typical treat on sultry summer afternoons. Walk to the end of the alley and look for the shop on your left.

This restaurant has plenty of gluten-free options, specializes in cooking classes, and is popular with travelers. They operate two farms near Hanoi and grow most of their own food. They have a special vegetarian menu, and the setting is cozy, with exposed brick and bamboo furnishings. It's a nice place to sit down and enjoy a break from the frenetic pace outside.

A new establishment tucked away on a high floor in an Old Quarter corner building, La Lot has excellent views of the busy, tangled streets below. But the rotating playful displays also offer visual nourishment. Highlights on the menu include the succulent ribs and any of the spring rolls on the appetizer page. Request a table by the window when making a reservation.

Colloquially known as "Chicken Street," this is the place to come for delicious barbecued poultry served right on the sidewalk. 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.

Aimed more at tourists than at local clientele, this restaurant within a renovated French villa provides a good introduction to Vietnamese cuisine. Just bear in mind that portions of the tasty and beautifully presented dishes, such as beef in coconut milk, can be disappointingly small. The restaurant's claim to fame is serving Shinto Abe in 2006, and they still offer a menu commemorating the event.

Popular with tourists and native Hanoians alike, this is one of the few restaurants in the Old Quarter that manages to unite the two demographics. There is an à la carte menu as well as set menus, but locals usually prefer to go for the "popular" dishes, which involves pointing at steaming vats containing dishes such as chicken with mushroom, eggplants with spring onion, and fried pork ribs. The food is freshly cooked and regularly replenished, and is reliably delicious whichever way you order.

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 often spill out onto the street.

Known among Hanoi locals for its vast menu, this eatery has specialties from northern, central, and southern Vietnam. It's almost as popular for the old courtyard setting as for the decent food. The restaurant has additional branches in Ho Chi Minh City and elsewhere in Hanoi. Note that the restaurant prizes quantity and choice over quality.

Quan Cu means "old shop," which is a misleading title for this clean, efficient, and well-organized Vietnamese restaurant. The staff speak little English but an attractive picture menu makes ordering easy; try the grilled chicken, any dish with tofu, and the fresh morning glory stir-fried with garlic. Strangely, the dish for which Quan Cu is most famous for is bun thang (a chicken noodle soup dish different from pho), and yet it is decidedly mediocre.

This modern restaurant serves traditional cha ca (pan-fried fish with rice vermicelli) to multi-generational tables of lively locals. Reservations are almost essential, but if you can't get a table confirmed you can find a handful of other Vua Cha Ca locations across the city.