
Hanoi Food Guide 2025
Hanoi’s Street Food: A Symphony Of Taste On Every Corner
When you think about Hanoi, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? The chaotic traffic, the famous Old Quarter or perhaps how do people cross the street? But … the best part about Hanoi is Hanoi’s food culture.
When you visit Hanoi, you’ve probably chosen to come because of the famous attractions, to see the chaos and experience it all first hand. However, with the development of tourism, these places are already so popular. There are other reasons to explore this higgledy piggely city, and that’s to experience it’s food.
Hanoi Street Food
Exploring Hanoi means discovering its street food. Fresh ingredients, refined traditions, and secret family recipes are hallmarks of Hanoian cooking, and Hanoians don’t mess around when it comes to good food. So …. get your chopsticks ready! Here are ten iconic dishes in Hanoi you don’t want to miss!
What Makes Hanoi’s Food Culture Stand Out?
Hanoian food is more than just street food. While it has gained worldwide popularity thanks to social media platforms such as Instagram, street food is only one aspect of the Hanoi’s rich gastronomy. Not just Hanoi, but the whole of Vietnam. It would be a mistake to think that trying three or four iconic street dishes would give you a full picture of Vietnamese cuisine. For many Hanoians, some dishes are best enjoyed on the street, whilst others are more suited for home cooking.
Yet, The hustle of the city, the simple charm of roadside stalls and the perfect flavours define Hanoi’s street food culture – simple, yet unforgettable.
Hanoi has you questioning – can a meal enjoyed on a plastic table with steaming bowls of phó, on a humble plastic stool be as memorable as dining at a Michelin-starred restaurant? The simple answer to this question is …. yes. With the city’s hustle and bustle, the rustic charm of the street stalls and the perfect flavours … this is exactly where Hanoi’s soul is found – in it’s street food.
Hanoi’s Best Street Foods
If you’re in the touristy Old Quarter, stall owners are unlikely to speak much English … if any at all. So just be prepared. If you speak zero Vietnamese like us, we usually point at the menu or if we’re feeling brave … type it into our translating app and have a go at confusing the poor vendor with our pronunciation!

Phò Gà (Chicken Noodle Soup)
This is Hanoi’s … and Vietnam’s … most iconic dish. There are plenty of options in and around town. Traditionally, phò is eaten for breakfast or lunch. However, due to high demand from both locals and tourists, many of the “famous places” are now open in the evenings too.
Phò gà is only one version of pho, the other is phò bò, beef phò. Phò Gà is made of fresh rice noodles with shredded chicken and chicken broth. The broth for each phò is different, therefore a good phò restaurant in Hanoi serves only one of them on the menu – either chicken or beef.
Your phò will usually come with condiments such as kumquat (not to be mistaken as a lime) and chilli on the table so that you can customise the phò soup to your taste. Additionally, you will be given a bowl of fish sauce, as well as there being soy sauce and chilli sauce. It’s useful being able to change up the palate a bit if you have eaten a lot of phò.
Bún Chả (rice vermicelli dipped in soup with pork)
Almost exclusively a lunch dish, bún chả consists of chunks of marinated pork patties and pork belly slices which are charcoal-grilled before being put into a bowl of cooked dipping sauce. The dipping sauce is a colourful array of pickled carrot and kohlrabi. All of this yumminess comes with rice vermicelli noodles and an oversized medley of lettuce, cilantro and purple perilla. To eat all this, you dip your rice noodles into the fish sauce bowl, add spices and herbs, then try to get a little bit of everything in one bite. For a hearty upgrade, go ahead and order some nem (fried spring rolls) with your bún chả.
Of course, bún chà became famous in Hanoi when Anthony Bourdain and Barack Obama ate the dish. Where did they have it … Bún chả Hương Liên – the table that the two sat at is now encased.
We didn’t eat bún chà here, as with everything made famous in either the press or Instagram, it is packed with tourist. Instead we just followed our noses and at at the a small eatery packed with locals.


Bánh Cuốn (Steamed and Rolled Rice Flour Pancakes)
Traditionally enjoyed for breakfast, these steamed and rolled rice flour pancakes are a staple of Hanoi street food.
Bánh cuõn is made of rolled up thin sheet of hot steaming rice flour, which is stuffed with a mixture of cooked minced pork, wood ear mushroom and finely chopped shallots. A portion is then topped with some fried shallots and coriander and served with its own dipping sauce.
We tried this delicious dish whilst on a walking food tour. Our guide was a local Hanoian and she shared some brilliant facts about Hanoi and it’s food culture. The tour was a lovely small group of 8 people and we were soon laughing and joking … creating a connection over the love of food and trying new things.
Bánh Mì (Vietnamese Baguette)
A crunchy bánh mì in Hanoi includes a fresh crunchy baguette stuffed with grilled pork (or chicken), homemade pork-liver pâté, pickles, a generous sprinkling of cilantro leaves, slices of cucumber and chilli sauce. However, if you want a true Hanoian bánh mì, then you need to go for the signature bánh mì which includes barbequed pork, paté and smoked sausage … a true taste sensation. In some places the inclusion of egg is added into the signature bánh mì.
Obviously, we went had got our obligatory Instagram shot and báhn mí from the famous Báhn Mí 25. We tried the signature báhn mí – grilled pork, pâté, smoked sausage and all the trimmings. It was delicious, however, it was our first taste of a Hanoian báhn mí.
There were better bánh mís to be had …
The best out of them all was at Bú Bánh Mí. Run by a local Hanoian family – the logo is the youngest child of the family – the brother told us they chose him because he has a cute chubby face! Again, we had the signature, except this time egg is added … mmmhhhmmm …. sooo good!

How To Choose The Best Street Food In Hanoi
Street food is wildly popular in Hanoi and you’ll likely walked past hundreds on your way yo where ever you are wandering along to. But how do you pick the best place to eat? This is entirely a personal choice … are you following the Instagram influencer reels or are you looking for a true street food experience? Because, honestly, they will lead you down different paths.
Vietnamese street food is very different from the rest of the world. For a true experience, sit and eat where you see only locals. As you walk the streets of Hanoi, you’ll find streets littered with tiny restaurants. These Hanoi street food restaurants are filled with plastic tables and tiny plastic seats that are so low to the ground you’ll feel like you’re eating at the kids table. But I can assure you … these are the most authentic and best street food stalls to eat at.

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Wendy is a traveller, writer, and photographer with an insatiable curiosity for the world. Her journey, spanning South Africa, the UK, and now Australia, infuses her work with a rich tapestry of experiences. Join her on Getting Lost Again as she shares her creative perspective and passion for overland travel alongside Dan.