Where to eat in Hanoi

As mentioned in previous blogposts, we spent five days in Hanoi, did a two day trip to Halong Bay and one to Sapa. For our food experiences while in Halong Bay and Sapa, we refer to our blogposts dedicated to those trips. On our second day in Hanoi, we did a food tour in Hanoi, which deserved its own blogpost as well. In this blogpost we will share our experiences about where to eat in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.

Upon arrival at  Little Hanoi Hostel, where we stayed for five nights, they handed us a map of Hanoi and gave some tips about where to eat and what to visit. So on our first evening in Hanoi, we immediately tried out Bun Bo Nam Bo, a small restaurant suggested by David from our hostel. They only serve Bun Bo Nam Bo, a local street food dish. When you arrive, you get seated, order some drinks and in a few minutes a bowl gets put in front of you, without ordering anything. In the bowl are thin noodles, lettuce, beef, bean sprouts and some broth, topped off with shopped roasted peanuts and dried shallots (60,000 VND per bowl). It was our first experience of local Vietnamese food and atmosphere. We were sitting on small chairs, shoulder to shoulder with some locals, trying to get some noodles on our chopsticks. It was not bad at all. We didn’t like all the tastes in our bowl (there’s some coriander in it), but overall we were satisfied with our first Vietnamese dish. At the entrance of the restaurant, you can see the production line of the Bun Bo Nam Bo: a couple of ladies, each putting one ingredient in the bowl. They don’t seem to get any rest, as the bowls are carried away the moment they are finished.

Countryside Restaurant, one of the stops of the street food tour, was close to our hostel, so we returned a couple of times to try some other dishes. We tried the shrimp cashew nuts with rice (110,000 VND) and the chicken cashew nuts with rice (100,000 VND) among others. The food was ok, nothing special. When you go there, you must try the roasted fish with vegetables in rice paper, the dish we had on the street food tour, that one was really nice!

October 20 they celebrate Vietnamese Women’s Day. We couldn’t let that pass unnoticed, so we spoiled ourselves with the lunch menu at the chic French restaurant La Badiane. You can enjoy the lunch menu deal between 11h30 and 14h00. You get a starter, a main dish and a dessert for 375,000 VND per person. We really enjoyed our lunch here and were so stuffed we only shared a small Banh Mi Kebab for dinner. We tried the fresh crab meat spring rolls Badiane style and the Chef’s seasonal vegetable soup for starters. The spring rolls were the least from all the dishes we had, but the pumpkin soup was delicious! For the next course we chose beef carpaccio Tahitienne style, lime dressing with French fries and pasta with Parma ham, rucola, roasted pine nuts, Parmesan cheese and pesto sauce. As a dessert we chose the exotic fruits salad with lemon sorbet and mango and strawberries skewer with chocolate sauce. Must try when you have some money to spend.

Banh Mi is another Vietnamese street food dish you must try: a baguette with pork, pate and some fresh vegetables. There are lots of stalls to choose from, scattered across the sidewalks of Vietnam. We tried some Banh Mi at the  Banh Mi 25 stall. Some people saw us staring at the options and told us to try the Banh Mi Pork Pate Jambon. They loved it and came back for it every day. So we ordered this Banh Mi with everything (25,000 VND) which was very nice and Banh Mi Pork (20,000 VND) which wasn’t as good, but still tasty. Of course we asked to leave the coriander out, which was no problem at all. We enjoyed this Banh Mi squatting on those typically tiny chairs at cute little tables. We even got free iced tea and bananas. Our tummies where not full yet, so we ordered another round, trying the vegetarian Banh Mi Egg Cheese (20,000 VND) which was nice, but not as good as the Banh Mi with everything.

We really liked those baguettes, so decided to try them at another place as well:  Banh Mee. We ordered Banh Mi meatballs (32,000 VND) and the Banh Mi tofu (32,000 VND). The little restaurant was cozy, but their food not that great. We liked the Banh Mi from Banh Mi 25 better.

Last but not least:  New Day Restaurant, our favourite! The restaurant stretches out over several floors and was always close to full when we ate there. Everyone gets these little bowls to fill up with the dishes ordered for the table, we love this way of eating out. Too bad there are only two of us, which limits the number of dishes we can try in one meal. Everything we tried was good! Each time we ordered spring rolls, two small dishes or one large, some fried rice and some steamed rice, enough to stuff the both of us for less than 100,000 VND per person.

We recommend to do a street food tour when you visit Hanoi, to get to know the local dishes. Don’t forget to try Banh Mi and definitely stop by New Day Restaurant. That about sums up our food experience, gained during five days in Hanoi. Enjoy!