Street Food in Hanoi: Lesser-Known Spots Worth Adding to Your List

If your idea of a fulfilling meal is a large portion of rice with a nice piece of meat, this place is for you.

Cơm 123 is a long-standing address that remains very popular with Hanoians, serving rice with ribs, cutlets, and other classic options at reasonable prices.

Do not expect anything fancy. This is the kind of place where families and groups come to enjoy simple but filling rice dishes without any fuss. If you want to avoid trendy spots full of influencers taking photos, this is a good place for you.

A testament to its popularity, the restaurant has three floors, and all of them were packed when we visited.

We tried during our visit:

• The bestseller ribs: Good, as long as you are not expecting juicy, smoked-style ribs.
• Pork fried rice: Satisfying and generous.

Eel is a Vietnamese delicacy too often overlooked by foreigners. Vietnamese cuisine has found multiple ways to make use of it.

My favorite one is miến trộn, where the dish is served with glass noodles but without soup. It is a particularly approachable way to get familiar with this local specialty.

A good venue to give it a try is Quán Miến Lươn Đồng. They serve a few variations of field eel dishes, from soup to cháo and trộn.

We tried during our visit:

• Miến Lươn Trộn: Exactly what I expected from this dish.
• Miến Lươn Nước: Equally satisfying.

Worth noting: in both dishes the eel is served deep-fried, making it very crispy and very approachable. Do not be afraid of the texture.

I mentioned in this article that I wanted to go beyond Phở and Bún chả. That said, I completely understand that a great bowl of Phở is a must for many visitors.

The famous phở spots, especially Phở Lý Quốc Sư, seem to get busier every time I pass by. So I wanted to add another good address in the Old Quarter, one I tried recently and would happily recommend.

Phở Phong Ông Vui is famous among locals but has remained low key, and the broth is excellent.

Simply order a classic bowl (60k)  with the fried dough (Quẩy – 10k).  Be aware that their special version (90k)  contains offal and less common beef cuts that you may not like.

With Phở Gà Nguyệt becoming increasingly popular and located in the more touristy part of the city, I wanted to include a more low-key Phở Gà option in this guide.

If you’re looking for a “more local” spot, I recommend Phở Hà on Hàng Hòm Street. The Phở Gà here is obviously great—otherwise, it wouldn’t be on this list—but in addition to several variations of this specialty, you’ll also find Bún Thang, another must-try Hanoian dish.

If you’re hesitant to try it as a foreigner, don’t worry: there’s an English menu available, and we found the staff very friendly during our visit.

Opening hours: 6 AM–11:30 PM

Bánh cuốn is a popular speciality in northern and central Vietnam. Many tourists discover the Hanoi version at Bánh Cuốn Bà Xuân, which made it into the Michelin Guide. What people often overlook is that there are many regional variations of the dish, all of them worth trying.

The version I particularly recommend comes from Cao Bằng Province. An egg is incorporated into the rice pancake, which is served with a bowl of broth. This makes it an ideal breakfast dish.

Bánh cuốn Cao Bằng phố cổ Hà Nội serves a traditional version of this speciality in a central location. The shop is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., making it a great place to give the dish a try.

Opening hours: 6 AM–10 PM

This place has a long history, stretching back to the 1930s, when the family began selling phở from baskets carried on a shoulder pole around Hanoi’s Old Quarter. Their customers mainly ate phở for breakfast, with bowls delivered to them and collected, along with payment, in the late afternoon or evening.

Today, one of the founder’s descendants runs this shop in the heart of the Old Quarter. Some regulars say the phở isn’t as good as it used to be, but we still found our meal more than satisfying, with generous portions of beef. Another plus: despite its central location, the place still seems to fly under the tourist radar.

FYI : I wrote a long article about phở that also covers the history of these street vendors.

Opening hours: 5:30 AM–12 PM / 5–9:30 PM