Food in Hanoi has been incredibly delicious. We originally thought we’d do a food tour of the city but have since revised that decision; because we’ve been here for awhile, we’ve been able to try a huge variety of food on our own. Many of the restaurants here exist on the sidewalk, nothing more than a scattering of small plastic tables and chairs. We’ve inhaled numerous bowls of tasty things, hunched over these tables, our knees up past our elbows.

The best restaurants seem to specialize in only one or two dishes which are advertised out front. The chef has all the ingredients spread around her. After you tell her your order, she’ll grab a handful of cooked noodles to toss in a mesh basket hanging in the broth. Into your bowl go greens and meat, a spoonful of seasoning, and the now warm noodles, and she’ll finish it off with a large ladle full of broth, complete with all the other goodies that have been stewing. The whole process is streamlined, and you get your food only a couple of minutes after ordering.

Phở

Commonly advertised as either phở gà or phở bò (chicken or beef), the phở in Hanoi has typically contained just a single cut of meat. According to the internet, this is typical of northern phở. In south Vietnam, the emphasis is on the variety of meat types packed into a single bowl (tripe, meatballs, flank steak, etc), whereas in the north, the emphasis is on the delicious broth.

Bún Riêu

This is a delicious soup with tomato, crab meat, noodles, green onions, sliced greens, fried tofu, etc. Basically, a smorgasbord of tasty things.

Bún Chả

This dish consists of pieces of grilled pork and pork meatballs, rice noodles, a tasty dipping sauce with some kind of presumably picked vegetable, and fresh greens (lettuce, mint, basil, shiso, and a couple of others I couldn’t identify), and is often served with a plate of Vietnamese fried spring rolls.

Báhn Mì

This is a sandwich made from, at a minimum, some kind of meat, coleslaw, and sauces (mayo and chili sauce), all tied together in a French baguette. We’ve had one báhn mì with grilled pork and fish balls, and another with scrambled egg, chicken, char siu, and grilled onions. There are street carts scattered all over the city selling báhn mì, sometimes two or three carts located on a single busy intersection. They do brisk business, with customers often waiting on their idling scooters as the meat is heated up or cooked and the whole delicious concoction is assembled.

Döner Kebab

This is not something that I was expecting to see here in Vietnam, but they are as delicious (albeit slightly different) as in Germany or the US. In addition to slices shaved off a rotating cone of meat (typically chicken), the döner includes tomato, lettuce, coleslaw, mayo, and chili, all wrapped in a large pita or other type of bread.

Cháo

This is the Vietnamese version of rice porridge (akin to congee or jook). When we ordered it, the rice had been cooked in chicken broth, and came ladled on top of a bed of sliced greens. Ground pepper and chili powder were on the table to use as seasoning.

Gà Tằn

The one time I ordered this, I got a whole small chicken that had been cooked in some kind of savory broth until the skin turned black. It was very tasty, albeit time consuming to eat (because of all the small bones), and it was at first unnerving to see the chicken’s head staring up at me out of the bowl.

Bánh Cuốn

These are rice noodles filled with pork, chicken, egg, or some other delicious thing we have yet to try. The cook will slap some of the rice batter onto the flat cooking surface, cover it with whatever innards you requested, then roll it up into a long tube. The end result is served cut up on a small plate, and is paired with a dipping sauce and fried shallots.

Mỳ Vằn Thắn

The bowl of egg noodles is served with wonton, boiled vegetables, green onion, and a boiled egg. We ordered this for our first lunch in Hanoi, and it came with a large crispy wonton filled with piping hot ground meat and a basket of fried dough sticks (I think of these as Chinese doughnuts, since I first had them there for breakfast, paired with a glass of soy milk).

Bánh Rán

These small fried donuts are sold by women carrying them in large open baskets. Many of them are filled with a savory egg yolk paste, and make for a tasty breakfast.

Xúx Xích

These fried sausages are sold all around Hoan Kiem by women who have set up small cooktops on the sides of pedestrian walkways.

King Roti

This kiosk is located just off Hanoi’s busy traffic circle by the lake, and it sells piping hot buns straight from the oven. Our favorites have been the bánh matcha and bánh bơ sữa.

Circle K

This is the convenience store chain we’ll occasionally visit for packaged snacks, in addition to the small family-run convenience stores located on every block. Our most recent haul (pictured below) cost all of 55,000 VND (with the exchange rate of 22,700 VND = $1, about $2.42).