The “Quán Ăn Ngon”, meaning a “delicious restaurant”, is a Vietnamese restaurant at 18 Phan Boi Chau Street in Hanoi’s French Quarter. Its extensive menu featuring authentic cuisines from the north, central, and south Vietnam has made it one of the busiest restaurants in the city.
The “Phở Thìn Lò Đúc”, or Pho Thin, is a renowned family-run “Phở” restaurant at 13 Lo Duc Street, in the southern fringe of Hanoi’s French Quarter. Opened since 1979 by Nguyễn Trọng Thìn, his place serves only one dish – pho bo tai lan, or half-done stir-fried beef noodle soup.
The “Café Giảng” is one of the most famous traditional coffee shops in Hanoi, located on the east side of the Old Quarter. Opened since 1946, the café was named after its founder – Mr. Nguyễn Giảng – a bartender at a colonial hotel in the French Quarter.
The “Bún chả Hương Liên” is a prominent family run restaurant, situated in in the south east of Hanoi’s French Quarter. The place is now commonly referred to as “Bun Cha Obama”, as it was where Barrack Obama and Anthony Bourdain ate their $6 dollar dinner.
The ‘Bánh Mì 25’ is a typical Vietnamese sandwich eatery, located at 25 Hàng Cá Street in the northwest of the Old Quarter of Hanoi. Any Google search for the best banh mi in Hanoi will result this address, there’s no doubte it’s one of the city’s most visited places by locals, foreigners and tourists.
It’s been more than a year since the the onset of the COVID pandemic, business travel remains blocked. But the capital of Vietnam still has some life. There’re still stories to tell, observations to make and, clearly, plenty of street food to devour in Hanoi.
