How Four Things Will Change The Way You Approach Best Food In Hanoi

For most residents of Hanoi tourist news, Western-style restaurants are prohibitively expensive. As motorbikes zoom by, you'll see off-duty taxi drivers and multi-generational families slurping from big bowls of noodle soup and scooping up plates of fried rice. Locals congregate on low plastic stools scattered on the sidewalks.

The city's best meals all take place within a stone's throw of the curb, at food stalls and casual, open-walled restaurants. Look for the chalk name to find the entrance. We had an excellent cold coconut coffee.

The menu is naturally stamp-pressed into leather, the chairs are leather-cushioned, decorative features include typewriters and rotary telephones, and it all smells divine. If you're in the market for a lovely leather wallet or anything else, tie in a cup of coffee (25,000-45,000 dong) with a browse at Fuku, a leatherworks studio with attached retro-style cafe. Take a seat near the windows overlooking the street and the mood is positively Parisian.

Coffees (40,000-55,000 dong), cocktails (75,000 dong), breakfasts, Vietnamese and international standard meals and desserts (try the banana bread!) are all on the menu. We went day time, when its many nooks and crannies jammed with eclectic furniture, pot plants and fabulous art were quiet and just made for a spot of chilling between pagoda hopping. Back in the centre of the Old Quarter, Cafe Nola is found down a little alley/hall dripping with colourful water-bottle lamps.

The menu is focused on healthy vegetarian dishes, but we should have been more adventurous than toast with extra avocado—the avocado was sad and the fact the kitchen even served it up was disappointing. This chilled spot is a great pick for a relaxed breakfast or lunch, and they have an interesting evening events calendar, too. Popular nearby Hanoi Social Club is set in a delectable mint and yellow colonial-era villa with cool old tiles underfoot, low-slung lounge chairs and eclectic art on the walls.

Another sweet snack to look out for is banh ran, deep-fried balls of green bean and sticky rice coated in sugar, honey or sesame seeds. One portion of bo bia ngot, keo keo or keo nha costs 5,000 dong. Another option, keo nha, is like a hard caramel with peanuts and sesame seeds.

Traditionally the dish was just sugar, but nowadays it's often filled with peanuts. Some of the bikes also advertise keo keo, another sweet treat of pulled sugar formed into a crispy stick. Look out for the bicycles parked at the side of the road with white boxes on the back marked bo bia" in red.

Though you might come across a roving vendor anywhere, they can usually be found along Thanh Nien Street, which runs between Truc Bach and West Lakes and is home to both Tran Quoc and Quan Thanh temples. How to find bo bia ngot? If you're out in Ba Dinh, then Ngoc Hieu, on the corner of Doi Can and Van Cao streets, is a great spot though a bit pricier than the other options.