The Old Quarter is one of the great street food neighbourhoods of Southeast Asia. Within a few square kilometres of tangled lanes, you’ll find some of Vietnam’s most iconic dishes served from carts, plastic stools and shophouse kitchens that have been doing the same thing for generations.
The hard part isn’t finding food — it’s knowing what to look for and where to find the best version of each dish. We’ve been hosting guests in the Old Quarter for years at The Urban Quarter, and these are the places we send every guest who asks where to eat.
“The Old Quarter is one of the great street food neighbourhoods in Southeast Asia. The hard part isn’t finding food — it’s knowing what to look for.”
The dishes you can’t miss
01
Phở Bò
Vietnamese beef noodle soup
The national dish and the one most people come looking for. A bowl of phở at 7am in the Old Quarter — standing at a cart, broth poured over rice noodles with thin slices of beef, fresh herbs and a squeeze of lime — is one of the defining experiences of any Hanoi trip. Don’t add too much hoisin or sriracha on your first bowl. Taste it plain first.
📍 Where to go: Phở Gia Truyền on Bát Đàn Street — opens at 6am, usually sold out by 10am. Get there early.
02
Bún Chả
Grilled pork with vermicelli & dipping broth
Bún chả is Hanoi’s other great noodle dish — and arguably its most distinctive. Grilled pork patties and sliced pork belly, served in a sweet and sour dipping broth with rice vermicelli noodles and a plate of fresh herbs on the side. The smoke from the charcoal grills drifts through the streets at lunchtime — follow your nose.
📍 Where to go: Bún Chả Hương Liên on Lê Văn Hưu — made famous by Anthony Bourdain. Still very good, always busy.
03
Bánh Mì
Vietnamese baguette sandwich
The Vietnamese baguette is a legacy of French colonialism and one of the great street foods of the world. In the Old Quarter, you’ll find carts on almost every corner. The best ones layer pâté, cold cuts, pickled vegetables, fresh chilli and coriander into a crispy baguette. A full bánh mì rarely costs more than 30,000 VND.
📍 Where to go: The carts on Đinh Liệt Street — open from 6am. Look for the longest queue of locals.
04
Chả Cá Lã Vọng
Turmeric fish with dill
One of Hanoi’s most distinctive and least-exported dishes — turmeric-marinated fish, pan-fried at your table with masses of fresh dill and spring onion, served over vermicelli noodles with peanuts and shrimp paste. There’s an entire street named after it (Chả Cá Street) and the restaurant that made it famous has been serving the same recipe for over 100 years.
📍 Where to go: Chả Cá Lã Vọng, 14 Chả Cá Street — tourist prices, but the original. Worth it once.
05
Cà Phê Trứng
Egg coffee
Not a meal but essential. Egg coffee was invented in Hanoi in the 1940s when milk was scarce — beaten egg yolk whisked with condensed milk and sugar, spooned over strong Vietnamese coffee. It tastes like a warm, liquid tiramisu. The original recipe is still made at Giảng Café, a tiny shophouse in the Old Quarter that’s been serving it since 1946.
📍 Where to go: Giảng Café, 39 Nguyễn Hữu Huân — upstairs, through a narrow passage. Worth finding.
A few things worth knowing first
Go early, go hungry
The best street food in the Old Quarter is a morning and lunchtime affair. Many of the best spots — particularly phở carts — open at 6am and sell out by mid-morning. If you’re staying at The Urban Quarter, you’re already positioned perfectly for an early morning food walk.
Follow the plastic stools
The best food in the Old Quarter is almost never in a restaurant with an English menu and photographs on the wall. Look for the places where locals are sitting on tiny plastic stools, eating fast, paying cash and leaving. That’s where you want to be.
What things cost
A bowl of phở or bún chả from a street cart should cost 40,000–70,000 VND (roughly $2–3). A bánh mì is 20,000–35,000 VND. Egg coffee at Giảng is around 30,000 VND. If you’re paying significantly more, you’re in tourist territory — which isn’t necessarily bad, just worth knowing.
Vegetarian options
Hanoi’s street food is heavily meat-based, but there are vegetarian options if you know where to look. Buddhist Vietnamese restaurants (look for quán chay) serve meat-free versions of most classic dishes. The 1st and 15th of the lunar month see many locals eating vegetarian — more options appear on these days.
Staying in the Old Quarter?
The Urban Quarter puts you steps from all of this. Our team will give you a personalised list of where to go based on what you want to eat. Best price when you book direct.
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