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The Chinese-Vietnamese kitchen: mì vằn thắn and bánh bao

Hanoi has a Cantonese inheritance that mostly goes unremarked — wonton egg noodles with a quail egg in the bowl, and steamed buns sold from misted glass carts in winter.

7 min read

Hanoi’s food is usually described as Vietnamese with a French accent — the baguette, the coffee, the pâté. The Chinese layer gets much less attention, and it is older and arguably deeper.

Cantonese and Teochew families have been trading and cooking in the Old Quarter for centuries. Two dishes from that inheritance are still everywhere, and both are worth ordering.

Mì vằn thắn

The name is the Vietnamese rendering of wonton noodles — 雲吞麵, “cloud swallow noodles” — and the dish arrived with Cantonese cooks.

It has since become something distinctly Hanoian, mostly by addition. A bowl in Hanoi contains, typically:

  • Mì — yellow egg noodles, springy, thinner than Italian pasta
  • Vằn thắn — wontons, pork-filled, in a thin wrapper with a ruffled tail
  • Xá xíu — char siu, red-edged roast pork, sliced thin
  • Tôm — a whole prawn, shell on, often split
  • Trứng cút — a hard-boiled quail egg. The most Hanoi addition of all.
  • Gan lợn — sliced pork liver
  • Cải cúc / rau cải — chrysanthemum greens or similar
  • Sometimes sủi cảo — larger dumplings
  • Fried wonton skins on top, for crunch

Broth: pork and dried seafood — usually dried flounder or shrimp — simmered long, clear, and sweeter than a Vietnamese broth would normally be. That dried-seafood sweetness is the Cantonese signature.

The dry version

Mì vằn thắn khô — the same components, no broth in the bowl, tossed in a light soy-and-oil dressing, with the soup served separately in a small cup.

This is the better order. The egg noodles stay springy instead of swelling, the fried wonton skins stay crisp, and you drink the broth on its own where you can actually taste it.

Say: “Mì vằn thắn khô”. “Có nước riêng” — with the broth on the side.

Where and when

The Old Quarter and the French Quarter, in shops that tend to be older, tiled, with Chinese characters somewhere on the sign or the wall. Many are run by families who have had the same premises for three generations.

Lunch and dinner, roughly 10am to 9pm. Not a breakfast dish.

Price: 50,000–90,000 VND. More than most noodle soups, and you are paying for the number of components.

Bánh bao

Steamed buns, and a winter institution.

The Vietnamese version has drifted a long way from the Cantonese original. A standard Hanoi bánh bao contains:

  • Minced pork, seasoned and slightly sweet
  • Wood-ear mushroom and glass noodle
  • Half a hard-boiled egg — usually chicken, sometimes quail
  • Often a slice of lạp xưởng, Chinese sausage

The dough is white, soft, faintly sweet, and steamed rather than baked. It is a full meal in one hand.

Where you meet it: glass-fronted steamer carts on street corners, lit from inside, with the glass fogged from the steam. They appear in the cold months and largely vanish in summer.

The test is the glass. Condensation means the steamer is running and the buns are turning over. A clear, dry cabinet means the buns have been sitting.

Variations:

  • Bánh bao chay — vegetarian, mushroom and vegetable.
  • Bánh bao trứng muối — with salted duck egg yolk. Richer, and worth seeking out.
  • Bánh bao kim sa — the newer custard-filled sweet version, molten inside. A dessert.

When: early morning and from early evening into the night. Cold months especially. Price: 15,000–30,000 VND. Say: “Một cái bánh bao”. “Nóng” — a hot one.

Elsewhere in the same kitchen

A few other things in Hanoi come from the same lineage and are easy to spot once you know to look:

Xá xíu — char siu, sold sliced by weight at shops with red-glazed pork hanging in the window. Goes into bánh mì, rice plates and mì vằn thắn.

Quẩy — fried dough sticks, from the Cantonese youtiao. Eaten with cháo sườn and sometimes with phở.

Sủi cảo — larger boiled or fried dumplings, sold at the same shops as mì vằn thắn.

Chè trôi tàu — hot glutinous rice balls in ginger syrup, from the Chinese tangyuan. One of the best cold-night sweets in the city; see the chè guide.

Vịt quay / ngan quay — roast duck hung in a window, Cantonese style, carved to order over rice.

How to spot a Chinese-Vietnamese shop

Not an exact science, but the markers cluster:

  • Chinese characters on the sign, a plaque, or a wall shrine
  • Red-glazed roast meat hanging in the window
  • Tiled walls and metal-topped tables rather than plastic
  • A shrine with an incense pot near the door or the till
  • Menus that pair mì with sủi cảo and xá xíu rather than with phở

These tend to be older businesses, and they tend to open later and close later than Vietnamese noodle shops.

If you only do one thing

Order mì vằn thắn khô at an old tiled shop in the Old Quarter at lunchtime. Drink the broth from the side cup first, before you touch the noodles.

Then, on a cold evening, buy a bánh bao from a cart with fogged glass and eat it walking. It is a dollar and it is the right thing to be holding in a Hanoi January.

Next: cơm bình dân — how to eat lunch like a Hanoi office worker.