Back when I thought we were going to go to Vietnam the first time in 2024, before Scott poked a hole in his spinal canal, I spent a long time going through Instagram posts and guide books and blogs finding all sorts of delicious food places to try and saving them all onto a Google Map. This very much came in handy for this trip because it gave us options when we didn’t know where to eat. We ended up checking off a lot of the ones I had saved in Hanoi.
Scott tried all sorts of different coffees. He had this classic Vietnamese coffee very early in the morning on the street with people on their way to work. It came out of an esky. Rated it 10/10.
(Since our trip was so short, and we had to go straight back to work after getting back, we mostly stayed on Melbourne time, so we were up early a lot.)
Couple of egg coffees. The first time he didn’t know it had two layers so he kind of ate the top part by itself, and thought it was too rich, but then realised there was super strong coffee underneath. The second time he mixed it a bit. He said he liked egg coffee but it was more of a dessert than a drink.
The other drink was one of the most delicious mocktails I have ever had, it was a iced peach tamarind drink, that came with crunchy peanut and toasted coconut bits on top. It was a flavour and texture sensation.
Scott also tried coconut coffee, which he liked, said it wasn’t too sweet, and salt coffee, which wasn’t that salty.
A bowl of beef pho that I added too much chili to, and some stir fried morning glory with garlic.
Bún Cá. Fish noodle soup with two different types of noodles, and a deep fried fish nugget on the side. The soup was loaded with fish chunks. It is funny trying to eat long noodles with chopsticks in front of a strongly blowing fan.
Bún Đậu. This restaurant was hidden away in an alleyway. We weren’t given any menus, just told to sit down, and then about 3 minutes later they brought out this big platter for us with a little ticket saying 80k ($5AUD). Fine with me! It came with all sorts of fried bits, some tofu-y, some fish-y, some meat-y. We bundled the pieces up with herbs and noodles and dunked in the sauce. Delicious. Although as I’m looking this dish up now, I think it is supposed to come with shrimp paste dipping sauce and they didn’t give us that. I guess they decided that whiteys wouldn’t like it. Ah well, still very good without!
Sticky rice with pork and fried shallots. We didn’t really understand how this restaurant worked… in hindsight I think we were supposed to add more toppings.
Our hotel had an expansive breakfast buffet but we didn’t eat there often because there was more delicious stuff to be found outside!
Like Bánh cuốn!! Freshly made rice sheets rolled with pork and mushrooms, generously sprinkled with fried shallots, bundled with herbs, and dunked in nước chấm. Eaten on tiny stools on the side of the street.
We had it twice! The first one was huuuuuge and also came with fatty delicious sausage. The second one was smaller, but cheaper, and we also got a fried egg. Fried shallots are the best.
Bánh mì. Slightly different than Melbourne-style banh mi. It had lettuce and egg, no cucumber, and was more saucey, and they smush the bread in a press at the end. Pretty tasty, especially for a couple of dollars.
We bought a small segment of durian to try. I actually kind of like the smell of durian on the street, but once it gets close to your face it smells wayyyyy worse. It has a real hint of gasoline and bin juice to it. Neither of us liked it at all. I think there are much better creamy things to eat in the world.
Now this is a fruit I can support. I loooooove mangosteen. We bought a kilo of it for about $8 AUD, which seemed very expensive at the time, but we went to the Queen Vic Market the other week and I saw it for $60/kg!!! LOL! The lady selling them picked out all small ones for me, which I thought was rude at first, but then I found out the small ones have less chance of having those big seed segments and she was actually being kind. Delicious.
Big bowl of soup with a crunchy thing to break up and mix in. Don’t remember what that was called.
Bánh Khọt. Lil savoury shrimp pancakes. Wrapped in herbs and dipped in nuoc cham of course. (Everything is dipped in nuoc cham.)
Nộm thịt Bò khô. Dried beef salad. This popular restaurant was very big and busy. But actually I didn’t like this salad that much. Too sweet.
Bún chả. A Hanoi specialty and I understand why. This was my favourite meal of the trip. Delicious fatty pork pieces in a delicious broth. Grab a piece of pork, some pickled vegetables and herbs, some noodles, and shove it in your mouth, delicious sauce dripping down your chin and splattering all over your clothes. Worth doing extra laundry. We also had some epic spring rolls. And all for like $5 or something ridiculous.
We had it again at a different restaurant. This place the pork was even thicker and fattier. Washed down with ice tea. Incredible.
A friend saw that we were in Hanoi on Instagram and sent me a message saying I need to go find this doughnut lady on her behalf, because she still dreams about these (vegan) doughnuts. They did not disappoint. We got two of each: glutinous rice savoury, glutinous rice sweet, sesame, and sugar. They were perfectly crispy on the outside, chewy like mochi on the inside, and had crunchy bits in the middle. Amazing. Also they were ten to fifteen cents each.
Bánh xèo is not popular in Hanoi but I still really wanted to have it so I found one restaurant that specialised in it. We just got the base model, with pork and prawns, and it was huge and delicious. For this one you take a sheet of rice paper, add a piece of crispy rice pancake and some herbs, fold it up, dunk in nuoc cham, and shove in mouth. Crunchy and yum.
One last thing we had to check off our Hanoi Food Bucket List was Bia hơi, a fresh draught beer that they brew up every day without preservatives, and sell for about $0.50 a glass on the street. It is not very strong. Comes with peanuts. I didn’t mind the beer but there was a very annoying American guy there that made the experience kind of annoying.
We didn’t eat at this lady’s shop but I was very impressed by her mise en place.
So much veg prep required every day. Back breaking work.
It looks like we ate so much stuff but most of the time we only ordered one dish at a time and split it, so we could try more things at different places. The fresh vegetables balance out the fried food well and overall it didn’t feel super unhealthy. Luckily we didn’t have any GI problems either.
Writing this post has made me very hungry!! Please forgive me if I made any mistakes with the names. And let me know if you are going to Hanoi and want some specific restaurant details!
