The street food of Hanoi (look out for copycats!)

Do one thing great

It was amazing to be back in Hanoi and once again pop a deep squat on a tiny red stool before biting into legendary street food. Every dish tasted fresh and delicious. The cup runneth over with flavor. I think if there was a street food final four Mexico and Vietnam would very likely be in the championship with Thailand a very close 3rd.

The beauty of Vietnam street food was that each places tends to focus on one dish and do that dish especially well. You don’t even need to think about what you are going to order, you go to the pho spot for pho, you go to the bun cha spot for bun cha etc…We didn’t have a single bad meal on the street. In fact, the only bad meal we had in Hanoi was when we did a day pass at the 5-star Metropole who served up some unripe fruit and probably the blandest fried rice in the country, all at a super-premium.

One of the best bowls of pho we’ve ever had was about 50,000 dong or ~$2. Apparently the Northern Vietnam pho is distinguished from Southern Vietnam and the true pho heads have their preferences. We overheard one guy doing a instagram video saying that this was real “Northern Pho without any of those trash bean sprouts.” Go off king! Served along side the pho were these delicious fried donut sticks called ‘Quẩy.’ Dipping the crispy dough into the savory broth was the added bonus I didn’t know I needed.

Beautiful Pho at Phở Gia Truyền Bát Đàn

You can’t go to Hanoi without eating bun cha. I LOVE BUN CHA!

So what is bun cha? Seasoned pork patties with a nice char, caramelized pork slices, rice noodles, a big plate of fresh herbs/lettuces, and a gingery, garlic-y dipping broth. You can also order some some lovely fried spring rolls which brings it all together.

We had bun cha at Tuyết Bún Chả 34 whose pork patties had just the right amount of char. It’s that fatty char, think of the edges of some good Texas brisket, combining with the gingery broth and fresh noodles that really makes everything hit a harmony like Boyz II Men in their prime.

I’m down on bended knee for this Bun Cha.

Here’s where it gets interesting. Places are known for their famous dishes and people line up for the specialty. But because there are known leaders, competitors set up shop across the street or next door. They copy their logo with a slightly different wording and sow confusion (chaos!). Bun Cha Dac Kim’s crafty competitor has nearly identical signage across the street. This happens all over Hanoi and there are even TripAdvisor reviews warning people not to fall for subpar competitors.

Sneaky! Go to Bun Cha Dac Kim though.

Tiffany fell in love with the dessert chè in Vietnam. Chè is essentially dessert soup. You take a bowl, add coconut milk, ice, sometimes ice cream, and a range of toppings from jellies, fresh fruit, even corn. The quirky combo some how works as the mouth is greeted with a range of textures from the fruit and candy.

Tasty fruit and jellies swimming in ice and coconut milk combine to make chè

We were on our way to a highly reviewed chè spot but when we arrived we found not one, but three chè spots with identical signage and barkers out front trying to recruit people to eat their superior dessert soup. One aunty was chastising her employee for not barking hard enough. We ended up eating at one of the copycats by accident (still slapped though).

Will the real Ché ngon 93 please stand up?

Copycats aside, I love this way of eating. You decide what you want to try be it bun cha, bún ốc (snail noodle soup), pho ga etc…pick one of the leaders and go eat their perfect version of that dish. Its effectively a menu-less system. There’s no trying to figure out “the move” on a menu. You just walk in, place your order, and slurp it down as the scooters whiz on by.