1. Explore local flavors in the most simple way
The more people fall in love with Hanoi’s street food, the more they seem to love this land. This is what I have to say when you come here. In the small alleys, there seems an endless flow of history, showing the way locals eat and drink. A charming and fasted beauty are still remained until so far in the small corners behinds the main street encircling the Sword Lake. Hanoi’s alleys are interlaced like cobwebs, within which is a rich culinary culture, just begging for us to join in. Food stalls in the alleys are a bigger form of the mobile street vendors. People sit on the low chairs, don’t care much about formal eating manners.
- The foodie heaven with different various kinds of food
With more than thousands years of history, Hanoi has been able to preserve the flavors and cultural features of such dish by its own. The Old Quarter with its 36 streets is where to find Hanoi’s culinary cuisine. Let’s start your street food tour by strolling around the Old Quarter, looking for a small restaurant, sitting down on a plastic chair and asking the old lady making whatever she is serving in order to fill your hunger. A bowl of Vietnamese noodles (Pho) would be the best choice for you. As soon as being served, the bowl arrives full of steaming flavors that will make you fall in love in the first bite. After tasting the fresh taste of the broth, you will see clearly a juicy peach of the city is being presented in front of your eyes. Pho in Hanoi is a definitely great combination of modern and traditional cohesive values.
Besides Pho, Hanoi seems to a true foodie heaven with Vietnamese spring rolls, grilled pork noodles, fried dumplings or crispy Vietnamese crepes, etc. The only thing you can to do is come in and try it!
- Where money is no object
If budget is your consideration, Hanoi street food tour is actually the best choice for you to follow “get what you pay for”. Street food vendors are an essential part of the daily life. The old ladies move around by bike or their foot, serve the great variety kinds of street food 24/7 at a reasonable price. Type of food is changed according to the rhythm of each season and it seems to be like fast food because the food is often ready in no time. People can sit or stand around the vendors, enjoy some spicy pieces of mango and listen to some stories about the daily life.
- The various cultures are discovered
Hanoi is home not only to people loving this place but also the gastronomic delight of diverse regions in the country. To explore the different variety regional cultures, let’s continue your cuisine discovery in Hanoi by visiting Ta Hien Street, one of the most crowded streets in Hanoi. It not only acquires a reputation as the backpacker area but also has been listed as one of the destinations not to be missed in street food tour. Mentioning about Ta Hien, people say it is a place you can immerse yourself at a crossing point for old and new, oriental and the occidental. Strolling around here, you get to face your eyes on the variety eye-catching street food whether it is a kind of beer, fermented pork rolls or grilled chicken feet. Visitors from many countries in the world, no matter where are they from, what color of their skin, what language they speak, gather and enjoy together.
- Amazing desert time to finish your journey
After wolfing down that delicious food, no better way to finish your tour than the desert time. Locals have something called “Banh troi tau” which is a kind of Vietnamese pudding, made of bits of brown sugar wrapped in glutinous rice paste and cooked by scalding in boiling water. With more than 12 kinds of hot sweet soups which are both in traditional Vietnamese soups and the Chinese soups, you can easily choose the one for your own taste. Sweet sticky rice balls in ginger syrups, ground-bean pudding, ground black sesame pudding or sweet soup comprised of many kinds of tropical fruits are the most-favored ones.
Enjoy street food in Hanoi as the way to find the authentic side of an old Hanoi and explore its variety of cuisine during your travel to Vietnam. Despite the war and the many difficult times thereafter, Hanoi street food still has a place in Hanoians soul and added an incalculable value to local cuisine. It is a part of their deep-rooted tradition, lasting longer than houses or money.
