VietNamNet Bridge – Culinary art is one of the most interesting things for visitors’ discovery in Hanoi. The city’s most famous cuisine is Pho (noodle) but there are many other cuisines that visitors should not miss to taste.

Bun Oc (noodles and snails)

This is a special cuisine of Hanoi. Anyone who used to live in Hanoi cannot forget this cuisine, which has sourish flavor of thickened vinegar, moreish and brittle snails, dried tofu, raw vegetables…

It is quite easy to process this cuisine but it needs secrets to have a delicious bowl of bun oc.

You can enjoy this cuisine at Ms. Sau’ bun oc restaurant at 73A Mai Hac De, Ms Luong’s bun oc restaurant in Khuong Thuong Street, Co Beo restaurant at No. 1 Hoe Nhai or at Nguyen Cao market, No. 5 Dong Mac, Hai Ba Trung district.

A bowl of bun oc is from VND20,000 ($1).

Nom bo kho (Sweet and sour grated salad with dried beef)

The main materials to process this cuisine include green papaya, dried beef, raw vegetables and sweet and sour fish sauce.

Nom bo kho is sold everywhere, but to enjoy the best Nom bo kho, you should visit the Hue nom restaurant on Ham Long Street and Long Vi On restaurant at No. 23 Ho Hoan Kiem Street. The price for a dish of nom bo kho is from VND20,000 ($1).

Nem Tai

This is a folk cuisine of Vietnam. It is processed from steamed pig ears, which are sliced and mixed with roast rice powder. Nem tai is accompanied with girdle cakes, fig leaves and salted fig, raw vegetables and sweet and sour sauce.

Coming to Hanoi, visitors should remember to enjoy this cuisine at Ms. Hong’s nem tai restaurant at No. 35 Hang Thung Street.

Oc luoc (boiled snails)

Hanoi’s oc luoc is the post special for its sauce. Some boiled snail restaurants are famous for their sauces, which have special flavors. Boiled snails are taken with minced ginger, lemon leaves and sometimes with cucumber and pachyrrhizus.

To taste the best boiled snails, visitors should go to a boiled snail restaurant on Luong Dinh Cua Street, No. 1 Dinh Liet, Lan Binh restaurant at 18 Hang Ba and Trai Gang market. This cuisine is usually available from late afternoon to midnight.

Bun Cha (vermicelli and grilled chopped meat)

Hanoi’s bun cha is now available in many provinces and cities in Vietnam. Among Hanoi’s juice cuisines, bun cha fits the taste of visitors from everywhere.

Slices of pork are soaked with spices and grilled on live coals, then put in sweet and sour sauce and be tasted with vermicelli and raw vegetables. It is completely delicious.

However, Hanoi’s bun cha is more special because it has hung lang, a specialty herb of Lang village, Hanoi.

You can enjoy bun cha at No. 34 Hang Than Street.

Trang Tien ice-cream

The ice cream shop that was established in the subsidized period has become a symbol of Hanoi. Located on Trang Tien Street, Hanoi’s center, the shop is crowded all time, even in winter days.

The Trang Tien ice-cream shop is at No. 35 Trang Tien Street.

 La Vong fried fish

Cha ca La Vong is a unique specialty of Hanoi people, therefore one street in Hanoi was named as Cha Ca Street.

Cha ca is made from mud-fish, snake-headed fish, but the best one is Hemibagrus (Ca lang). Fish bone is left away to keep fish meat only, then seasoning, clipping by pieces of bamboo, and frying by coal heat. An oven of coal heat is needed when serving to keep Cha ca always hot. Cha ca is served with roasted peanuts, dry pancakes, soft noodle soup, spice vegetables and shrimp paste with lemon and chilly.

The Cha ca La Vong Restaurant on No.14 Cha Ca Street is the "ancestor restaurant" of the dish.

Pho (Vietnamese noodle)

If any visitor, especially international visitors, is asked that what cuisines of Hanoi that they remember the most, the answer would be “Pho.”

Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup, usually served with beef or chicken. The soup includes noodles made from rice flour and is often served with Asian basil, saw tooth herb, rau om (rice paddy herb), cilantro, thinly sliced green onion, lime juice, and bean sprouts that are added to the soup by the person who is dining.

The dish is associated with the city of Hanoi, where the first pho restaurant opened in the 1920s. Pho is a popular street food, and night-food, and is, alongside gỏi cuốn, one of "the world's 50 most delicious foods," according to CNN.

Hanoi’s Pho is not served with raw vegetable.

There are many famous pho restaurants in Hanoi, such as Pho Co Cu on Lieu Giai Road, Thin restaurant on Lo Duc Street, Suong restaurant on Dinh Liet Street, etc. The price for a bowl of pho is from VND25,000 ($1.2).

Dishes from duck

There are a lot of cuisines processed from duck meat, for example duck simmered with dracontomelum, sauté duck, duck with bamboo shoot, etc.

Visitors can enjoy these cuisines at duck meat restaurants on Kim Ma or Lang roads.

Nem cuon

Raw vegetables and beef are rolled by rice pancake, served with sweet and sour sauce. This is a wonderful cuisine in the hot summer.

To taste this dish, you should visit restaurants on Ngu Xa or Quan Thanh Street.

Compiled by P. Linh