What to eat in Hanoi: 9 dishes and where to find them

What to eat in Hanoi starts before 7am with a bowl of phở bò and a broth that has simmered since midnight, and ends past 10pm with egg coffee down a doorway alley — nine dishes worth building a day around sit in between.

Hanoi's food runs on broth, rice and a French-colonial hangover: baguettes and dripped coffee sit next to herb-heavy noodle soups, lighter and less sweet than anything from the south. The Old Quarter's 36 guild streets, each loosely tied to the trade it's named for, concentrate most of what matters within a square kilometre of Hoàn Kiếm Lake.

Pork and freshwater fish do more work here than beef; turmeric, dill, fermented shrimp paste and nước mắm carry the flavour. Family-run stalls open for a single dish and shut when the pot runs dry — as good a guide to what to eat in Hanoi as any guidebook.

Hanoi's broths do not shout; they repeat themselves quietly from one plastic stool to the next.

What to eat in Hanoi: phở bò at Phở Gia Truyền, Old Quarter

Phở bò is Hanoi's dish before it's Vietnam's: beef broth built on charred ginger, star anise and oxtail, poured over flat rice noodles with scallion and lime — no bean sprouts, no hoisin, habits Hanoi leaves to Saigon.

Phở Gia Truyền, a Michelin Bib Gourmand pick on Bát Đàn, sells only beef phở — tái, chín or the two together — and nothing else. Diners queue onto the street, pay at the counter, then carry their own bowl to a stool.

49 Bát Đàn, Cửa Đông. Roughly 6am–10pm, midday gap; 60,000–80,000 VND. Go before 8am or after 7pm to skip the worst of the queue.

Bún chả at Bún Chả Hương Liên, Old Quarter

Bún chả is grilled pork — patties and belly slices — lowered into sweet-sour fish-sauce broth with pickled green papaya, eaten with cold vermicelli and raw herbs. It's a lunch dish; most stalls shut by mid-afternoon.

Bún Chả Hương Liên, on Lê Văn Hưu, is where Barack Obama and Anthony Bourdain ate together in May 2016 — the table and stools now sit behind glass. The "Combo Obama" still runs: bún chả, nem cua bể (crab spring rolls) and a Hanoi beer.

24 Lê Văn Hưu, Hai Bà Trưng side. Combo around 120,000–130,000 VND; a regular bowl closer to 50,000–60,000 VND. Lunch only, busiest 12pm–1pm.

Chả cá Lã Vọng at Chả Cá Lã Vọng, Old Quarter

Chả cá is turmeric-and-dill grilled fish, usually catfish, finished tableside in a sizzling pan over charcoal with spring onion, peanuts, shrimp paste and vermicelli — the dish the street was renamed for, over a century ago.

Chả Cá Lã Vọng has run a single-dish menu at the same address since the family that created the recipe began serving it in 1871 — now multi-storey, loud and fast rather than intimate, but the pan at the table hasn't changed.

14 Chả Cá, Hàng Đào ward. Around 350,000 VND per person. Daily, roughly 10am–9pm.

Bánh mì at Bánh Mì 25, Old Quarter

Hanoi's bánh mì is denser, less sweet than Saigon's: a short, crisp baguette with pâté, chả lụa (pork sausage), pickled carrot and daikon, coriander and chilli, held together with mayonnaise rather than built as a salad.

Bánh Mì 25, on Hàng Cá, works off a numbered ticket because the queue rarely breaks; order at the counter, find a seat across the street, say "takeaway" if it needs to travel.

25 Hàng Cá. 25,000–35,000 VND. Roughly 7am–9pm; cash only.

Xôi at Xôi Yến, Old Quarter

Xôi is sticky rice, breakfast as much as snack in Hanoi: xôi xéo — turmeric-yellow rice with mung bean paste, crisp-fried shallots and pork fat — is the default order, topped with Chinese sausage or shredded chicken on request.

Xôi Yến, on a three-storey corner of Nguyễn Hữu Huân, has built its reputation on that one bowl: ground-floor cooking, low-stool seating upstairs, parcels in banana leaf to go.

35B Nguyễn Hữu Huân. 20,000–50,000 VND depending on toppings. Early morning through late evening.

Bánh cuốn at Bánh Cuốn Bà Hoành, Hai Bà Trưng

Bánh cuốn is a steamed, near-translucent rice-flour sheet, made to order and wrapped around minced pork and wood-ear mushroom, served with a light fish-sauce dip — a gentler way into Hanoi's street food than the noodle soups.

Bánh Cuốn Bà Hoành, a Michelin Selected pick for 2024–2026, steams the sheets to order rather than pre-rolling them — the difference between a good plate and a soggy one.

66 Tô Hiến Thành. 30,000–55,000 VND. Roughly 6am–8pm, busiest at weekends.

Bún riêu at Hàng Bạc, Old Quarter

Bún riêu is the dish Hanoi diners often rate above phở: a tomato-red freshwater crab stock, tangy with fermented crab paste and tamarind, poured over vermicelli with tofu, pork blood jelly and herbs — heavier and funkier than most visitors expect.

The corner shop at 11 Hàng Bạc, in the old silver-trading street, keeps it simple: crab, snail, beef or tofu, the diner's choice.

11 Hàng Bạc. Around 35,000–45,000 VND a bowl. Best in the morning, before the broth is topped up too many times.

Cà phê trứng at Cà Phê Giảng, Old Quarter

Egg coffee — cà phê trứng — is a Hanoi invention from a 1946 milk shortage: egg yolk whipped with condensed milk into a foam, spooned over strong robusta and kept warm in a water bath. It reads like dessert, drinks like coffee.

Cà Phê Giảng, founded by the man credited with the recipe, is still run by his family down a narrow alley off Nguyễn Hữu Huân — look for the lane, not a storefront.

39 Nguyễn Hữu Huân. 35,000–60,000 VND. Roughly 7am–10pm.

Street food after dark at Đồng Xuân Market, Old Quarter

Đồng Xuân is Hanoi's largest covered market by day — textiles, produce, dry goods — and from Friday to Sunday evening its streets turn into a walking night market, carts around Hàng Đường selling grilled pork skewers, fresh spring rolls and sugarcane juice.

It's the easiest stop for grazing rather than sitting down, a fair test of what to eat in Hanoi beyond the addresses above.

Đồng Xuân Market and Hàng Đường. Friday–Sunday, roughly 6pm–midnight; most snacks 15,000–30,000 VND.

Markets, neighbourhoods and when to go

Hanoi fits the pattern AMUSE has mapped in Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong: the best eating happens on a plastic stool, within a few hundred metres of a market.

• Đồng Xuân Market — covered market daily, roughly 6am–6/7pm; weekend night market Friday–Sunday, roughly 6pm–midnight, stalls along Hàng Đường.
• Old Quarter (Phố Cổ) / Hoàn Kiếm — the 36 guild streets around Hoàn Kiếm Lake; highest concentration of the addresses above, walkable in a day.
• Tây Hồ (West Lake) — quieter, lakeside, better for an evening away from the crowds; look for bánh tôm (shrimp cake) stalls near the water.
• Hàng Bạc / Hàng Buồm — late-opening bún riêu and bia hơi corners, busiest after 6pm.

What to eat in Hanoi: frequently asked questions

When is the best time to eat in Hanoi? October to December and March to April are cooler and drier, better for walking between stalls than the humid summer; phở and xôi suit the morning, bún chả lunch, egg coffee and night-market snacks the evening.

Is Hanoi street food safe to eat? Stick to stalls with fast turnover and food cooked to order in front of you — the places listed here fit that pattern — and drink bottled or boiled water, not ice from an unknown source.

Do I need cash? Yes. Most stalls, including Bánh Mì 25, don't take cards; carry small VND notes, since a large bill is hard to break on a 30,000 VND bowl.

What should vegetarians order? Options are thin, but xôi without the meat topping, meat-free bánh cuốn at some stalls and tofu-based bún riêu work; ask for "không thịt" (no meat).

Where to book first

For a first pass at what to eat in Hanoi, plan around these three.

Chả Cá Lã Vọng: the multi-storey dining room fills fast at lunch and dinner. 14 Chả Cá, Hàng Đào ward.

Phở Gia Truyền: no reservations, so arrive before 8am or after 7pm and queue regardless. 49 Bát Đàn, Cửa Đông.

Bún Chả Hương Liên: lunch-only, busiest around the table where Obama once sat, now behind glass; arrive by 11.30am. 24 Lê Văn Hưu, Hai Bà Trưng side.

To book a table rather than a stool, see our list of the best restaurants in Hanoi in 2026, from the four Michelin-starred rooms to the Bib Gourmand phở shops.