Top 10 Street Food in Hanoi - Oc Luoc – Boiled Snails

Best Street Food Hanoi: Top 10 Hanoi’s Delicacies

Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, is famous for its centuries-old architecture and rich culture with Southeast Asian, Chinese, and French impacts. Best Street Food Hanoi, in addition, is considered one of the essential features when it comes to this thousand-year-old capital. Below is a list of best foods in Hanoi. Embark on a Hanoi food tour and explore all of these delicacies with Asia Legend Travel right now!

Best Street Food Hanoi: Pho –  Vietnamese Noodle Soup

When it comes to Best Street Food Hanoi, Pho is the first dish that comes to people’s mind. Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup, often made with beef or chicken and topped with fresh herbs like scallion, lime wedges, and chilies. It is arguably a popular street food in Hanoi City and one of the most well-known Vietnamese dishes, which people enjoy throughout the year, and any time of day, especially for breakfast and lunch.

Best Street Food Hanoi: Pho - Vietnamese Noodle Soup
Best Street Food Hanoi: Pho – Vietnamese Noodle Soup

Banh Mi – Stuffed Baguette

Originally a dish of French origin, the quintessence of Banh Mi has made it identified and indelibly marked on the world culinary map. The Banh Mi is an airy and crunchy French baguette stuffed with a combination of Vietnam’s popular ingredients, such as liver pate, cold cuts, marinated vegetables, cucumber slices, cilantro, and so on. With this fascinating mix of Western and Vietnamese cuisine, Banh Mi is quite similar to the sandwich but more sophisticated and mysterious, thus still renowned in its own way.

Best Street Food Hanoi: Banh Mi - Stuffed Baguette
Best Street Food Hanoi: Banh Mi – Stuffed Baguette

Bun Cha – Grilled Pork and Noodles

Speaking of Best Street Food Hanoi, Bun Cha can be found at every corner in Hanoi, from restaurants to street food stalls. This dish consists of grilled pork, rice noodles, a heap of marinated vegetables and pot herbs. The dipping sauce is the unmissable part of this dish, including fish sauce, vinegar, sugar, garlic, hot chili, and black pepper, which determines the dish’s quality. People in Hanoi often eat this dish for either lunch or dinner, sharing and eating with family.

Best Street Food Hanoi: Bun Cha - Grilled Pork and Noodles
Best Street Food Hanoi: Bun Cha – Grilled Pork and Noodles

Cha Ca – Grilled Minced Fish Pie

Besides the three above suggestions of Best Street Food Hanoi, Cha Ca, grilled chopped fish pie, is indeed a remarkable cuisine in Hanoi. Hanoi now has several areas that produce Cha Ca, but none can be equal to the Cha Ca La Vong in terms of quality and flavor.

Best Street Food Hanoi: Cha Ca - Grilled Minced Fish Pie
Best Street Food Hanoi: Cha Ca – Grilled Minced Fish Pie

Banh Cuon – Steamed Rice Rolls

Banh Cuon is delicious as a light breakfast or afternoon snack for people in Hanoi. It includes thin, wide sheets of steamed rice batter filled with a cooked, seasoned combination of ground pork, chopped ear mushrooms, and minced shallots. The side dishes usually consist of Vietnamese pork sausage, sliced cucumber, and bean sprouts, with sweet and sour dipping sauce from fish sauce, lime wedges, sugar, garlic, and maybe chilies.

Best Street Food Hanoi: Banh Cuon - Steamed Rice Rolls
Best Street Food Hanoi: Banh Cuon – Steamed Rice Rolls

Hanoi BBQ

Hanoi BBQ or Hanoi Barbecue is not traditional in Hanoi, just appearing in recent years. However, it is quickly becoming popular among the capital’s citizens, especially young people. Along the old streets, visitors see BBQ stalls or BBQ restaurants everywhere. There are different types, but the most popular is the roadside BBQ stall. There is a mini stove on the table, and customers choose and roast what kinds of meats, seafood, or vegetables they want.

Best Street Food Hanoi: Hanoi BBQ
Best Street Food Hanoi: Hanoi BBQ

Bun Dau Mam Tom – Rice Noodles with Fried Tofu and Shrimp Paste

A plate of Bun Dau Mam Tom consisting of soft rice noodles, fried tofu, and fermented shrimp sauce has also earned its place in the capital’s culinary history. With its simple ingredients and reasonable price, it was a favored dish that helped residents of the capital overcome a rough time of the subsidy period. Nowadays, more items, such as green rice pork pie, pork rind, sliced pork, and so on, are added to this Best Street Food Hanoi to meet more demands from locals and foreigners.

Best Street Food Hanoi: Bun Dau Mam Tom - Rice Noodles with Fried Tofu and Shrimp Paste
Best Street Food Hanoi: Bun Dau Mam Tom – Rice Noodles with Fried Tofu and Shrimp Paste

Banh Goi – Vietnamese Crispy Dumplings

Another well-known street food in Hanoi’s dish is Banh Goi. Banh Goi is a crispy cake or dumpling eaten in autumn and winter when it is getting colder. The main structure of Banh Goi has commonly seasoned ground meat, mushrooms, vermicelli, and grated vegetables such as carrots, kohlrabi, or jicama, sometimes also added boiled eggs. This mixture is wrapped into a thinly rolled dough sheet and then deep-fried. The dish is served hot with leafy greens, marinated salad, and sweet and sour dipping sauce.

Best Street Food Hanoi: Banh Goi - Vietnamese Crispy Dumplings
Best Street Food Hanoi: Banh Goi – Vietnamese Crispy Dumplings

Bun Thang – Hanoi Rice Vermicelli with Ham, Chicken and Shrimp

Bun Thang is a traditional dish that will give you a taste of Hanoi cuisine with bold flavors and is famous for its sophisticated and elegant cooking style. It is a light and delectable soup with an eye-catching appearance and charming colors from over 20 kinds of ingredients: green from the herbs, white from the rice vermicelli, yellow from the egg, light pink from ham, red from shrimps, and so on, blending well with the clear sweet broth boasting the combination of aromas of dried shrimps, chicken and shiitake mushrooms.

Best Street Food Hanoi: Bun Thang - Hanoi Rice Vermicelli with Ham, Chicken and Shrimp
Best Street Food Hanoi: Bun Thang – Hanoi Rice Vermicelli with Ham, Chicken and Shrimp

Oc Luoc – Boiled Snails

Oc Luoc is well-known not only in Hanoi but also in every province in the whole country. It is a dish of hot-boiled snails dipped in sweet and sour sauce with chopped ginger and sliced lemongrass. It may be a bit strange and exotic to eat snails, but it is so tasty that everyone likes to eat and share them with friends and family.

Best Street Food Hanoi: Oc Luoc - Boiled Snails
Best Street Food Hanoi: Oc Luoc – Boiled Snails

If your travel bucket list includes trying worldly cuisine, there should be room for those all Best Street Food Hanoi above. These dishes are absolutely delicious and are perfect for enjoying with others. Embarking on a street food tour Hanoi, with the assistance of a knowledgeable tour guide, will undoubtedly create unforgettable memories of this city and its one-of-a-kind cuisine.


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