Foods and Drinks in Hanoi

Hanoi is widely known by being a capital of Vietnam with more than 1000 years of history, which has many cultural and historic aspects that attract foreign tourists. Famous for its cuisine, it has impressed tourists worldwide by the traditional, elegant, various and delicious food. Besides the luxurious food that served in the restaurant, the city is a wonderland of street foods and drinks, with endless variety of noodles, rolls and baguette as well as original fresh beer. Tourists actually could spend a week eating their way through the street restaurants along narrow streets of Hanoi’s Old Quarter and never eat the same meal twice. An American famous chef - Anthony Bourdain, who has tasted plenty of dishes around the world, said when he had chance to taste traditional food in Hanoi’s Old Quarter: “This is a realistic cultural valuable of Vietnamese people, cannot compare it with elsewhere.”

Here are some of the traditional food that deserved to be at must-try-list of many tourists who have come to Vietnam:

(Source of photo: http://www.vietnambread.com/ )

Baguette (Bánh mì)

The baguette is one of the world’s best street food. As The Guardian: “A little-known secret is that the world's best sandwich isn't found in Rome, Copenhagen or even New York City, but on the streets of Vietnam”. It begins with light baguette grilled over coal, served with pâté, mayonnaise, cold cuts and fresh herbs, sometimes egg or sausage is added. Nowadays, each vendor has changed the original flavor of baguette and put their own secret ingredients into it to make the baguette special on their way.

Beef/chicken noodles (Phở bò/gà)

It is one of the most classical Vietnamese noodles that very popular around the country. The broth is typically made from shimmered beef or chicken bones and spices, such as star anise, cinnamon, grilled ginger and onion. Traditionally, Vietnamese people eat Pho for breakfast and sometimes lunch, however Pho is served throughout the night nowadays.

(Source of photo: http://www.hoidaubepaau.com/ )

(Source of photo: http://vietnamgreentourism.org/ )

Grilled pork noodles (Bún chả)

The taste of grilled fatty pork is perfectly fit with the white rice noodles thought the combination of them is dipped in seasoning sauce and fresh vegetables. Hang Manh is the most famous stop for this attractive and elegant dish

Spring/Summer rolls (Nem)

Tourists can enjoy the delight flavor of those different kinds of rolls in both luxurious restaurants and street restaurants. Spring rolls refers to cook-in-oil rolls with pork, mushrooms, onion, vegetables and noodles inside; while summer rolls indicate the raw rolls with noodles, vegetables, cooked pork and shrimp inside. Though the difference of the two names, you can easily know that Vietnamese people usually eat  them in different seasons.

(Source of photo: http://www.hotcourses.vn/ )