Hai Bà Trưng
The southern district, less touristy. Where many Hanoi office workers live and eat — including some of the best lunch-only stalls in the city.
15 guides cover Hai Bà Trưng
Cold-weather Hanoi: xôi khúc, bánh đúc and the winter street cries
Hanoi gets genuinely cold, and a whole set of foods only appears when it does. Herb-wrapped sticky rice sold by shouting vendors, hot ginger syrup, and why winter may be the best time to come.
Chả rươi: Hanoi's six-week sandworm season
For a few weeks each autumn, handwritten CÓ RƯƠI signs appear across Hanoi. What is in the omelette, why the tangerine peel is essential, and whether you should order it.
Dishes Hanoi borrowed: bún bò Huế and bánh xèo in the north
Two dishes from central and southern Vietnam that Hanoi has adopted and quietly rewritten. What changes on the journey north, and whether the Hanoi versions are worth ordering.
Cơm bình dân: how to eat lunch like a Hanoi office worker
A counter of twenty home-style dishes, a plate of rice, and you point. The most useful thing on this site for anyone eating in Hanoi on a budget for more than three days.
Duck and goose: bún măng vịt, bún ngan and the ginger sauce
Two duck noodle soups that Hanoi does very well and visitors never order — plus mắm gừng, the raw-ginger dipping sauce that makes both of them work.
Five quiet Hanoi bowls visitors walk straight past
Bún mọc, bánh đúc nóng, miến gà, cháo sườn and bánh giò — the everyday dishes Hanoians eat constantly and no guidebook lists. None of them cost more than two dollars.
Bia hơi: finding a corner that isn't for tourists
Unpasteurised beer brewed and drunk the same day, poured from a keg on the pavement for about forty cents. The famous corner is the worst one — here is how the system works and where to go instead.
Chè: how to read the twenty-cup glass case
A glass case of twenty numbered cups in colours that mean nothing to you. Here is what is actually in them, and the four to order.
Nem rán, not chả giò: spring rolls in the north
What Hanoi calls them, what goes inside, why the wrapper is different, and where you actually meet nem rán in the wild — which is almost never as a dish of its own.
Xôi: the best two-dollar breakfast in Hanoi
Sticky rice from a basket on the pavement, with mung bean crumble and fried shallots. Xôi is the cheapest genuinely great breakfast in the city, and it is gone by nine.
Miến lươn: eel three ways
Hanoi does more with freshwater eel than anywhere else in Vietnam — in broth, dry and tossed, or in porridge. Here is how the three versions differ and which to order first.
Bún riêu cua: the tomato-and-crab bowl to order after phở
Sour tomato broth, rafts of pounded paddy-crab curd, fried tofu and pork sausage. Bún riêu is what to eat on day three, when another bowl of phở feels like a chore.
Bún đậu mắm tôm: an honest guide to the shrimp paste
A tray of cold noodles, hot fried tofu and fermented shrimp paste. Bún đậu is the Hanoi dish visitors are most likely to bounce off — here is how to give it a fair try.
Bánh cuốn: the twenty-second rice sheet
Bánh cuốn is made in front of you — a ladle of batter spread over stretched cloth, lidded, lifted, filled and rolled in under half a minute. Here is how to order it and where in Hanoi to look.
Best bún chả in Hanoi: where locals queue at lunchtime
The best bún chả in Hanoi: charcoal-grilled pork in sweet-tart broth, eaten at lunch only. Which stalls are worth the queue, what a portion costs, and how to eat it without giving yourself away.