Pho – Noodle Soup with beef or chicken

“Pho”-noodle soup can be seen as the most typical dish for Hanoi capital gastronomy. Hanoi Pho appeared from early 20th century with such names as Pho Thin, Pho Giang, Pho Dong My street vendors… The Hanoi people now even eat chicken noodle but for many stylist people, only eating well-done beef noodle soup can it be Hanoi style. The main ingredients of noodle soup are noodle and broth together with thinly chopped beef or chicken. Besides it is also accompanied with spices for example: chili sauce, pepper, lemon, fish sauce, fresh chili…
The broth is made by stewing beef bones, the meat used for Pho dish is beef or chicken and spices includes cinnamon, anise, ginger, cardamom close (a kind of spice coriander seeds… “Pho noodle”, according to tradition is made from rice flour, spread cooking into thin layers then cutting into stripes. Today one can find quite delicious noodle soup restaurants in Bo Ho, Bat Dan, Ly Quoc Su, Lo Duc; Le Van Huu…
As time goes by, the Hanoi people invent further kinds of noodle soups with its peculiarity in the processing style, serving manners such as: Pho Cali, Pho 24, Pho Vuong (Square)…

Pho Cuon – Vietnamese rice noodle rolls

Together with such ingredients as beef, rice noodle sheets, herbs… but the rice noodle sheets do not have to slice into thin strips, added with the broth but they are cut into square sheets and rolled up like spring rolls.
Beside rice noodle rolls with beef and herbs, people can eat rice noodle rolls with salted shredded shrimp and fried eggs dipping into the sauce. Putting the piece of fried eggs into the rice noodle sheet, putting salted shredded shrimp and roll it tight with your hands. After rolling them, put them onto the plate and put herbs onto it. When eating, people serve rice noodle soup with sauce and pickles. 

Pho chay – Vegetarian Noodle Soup

The main ingredients are rice noodle, the broth for the vegetarian dish is processed from sugar cane, star ani-seed, white beets or other herbal plants; using an addition of other popular spices such as seasoning, pepper…
The frequent used spices are leafy onions, herbs (cinnamon), ginger, pepper, star aniseed; combined with such materials as field mushrooms (or straw mushrooms), wood ears, fresh chili (hot chili or sweet chili options). For semi-vegetarians, they can use an extra of vegetarian meat pie, chicken meat pie…
Not only to serve Buddhists but in modem society, vegetarian foods are also among many people’s favorites.

Bun Thang – Noodle soup with thicken, fried egg, mushroom

The gastronomy of the Hanoi people is expressed sophisticatedly through ‘ladder’ noodle, a gastronomy taste which is as delicate as street- wise, gentle characters of Trang An people. It is not too exaggerated to say that ‘ladder’ noodle is the delicate interference between flavors and aestheticism in the gastronomy talent of the Hanoi people.
Making ‘Ladder’ noodle is a sophisticated process, from preparation section to cooking. It is estimated that there should be up to 20 ingredients to be enough to cook ‘Ladder’ noodle. Flagrant knotweed, thinly fried egg, tom chicken breast thinly sliced meat pie spread evenly on the white noodle background. Noodle should be small threads.

Above is sprinkled with finely crushed shrimp and spread with several slices of Chinese sausages. The broth should be dear, hot and pour into the bowl at above medium level. Eating ‘Ladder’ noodle accompanied with spices such as vinegar, chili, garlic, pepper or adding a little shrimp sauce. To have a delicious boiler of broth is also a generalization with good selection from chicken bones and prawn.
It will be a big shortcoming if writing about Hanoi capital ladder’ noodle without mentioning the most special part of it belostomatid essence. Only as little as a toothpick end dose sprinkled into the bowl, ladder’ noodle will have a special strong delicious smell.
A sufficient’ Ladder’ noodle bowl cannot be lack of pickled beet.

Bun Cha – Vermicelli with grilled chopped meat and minced grilled pork

There is a very delicious, popular Hanoi people dish that everyone likes to eat, that is noodle and grilled meat.
Grilled meat is made from a little thinly sliced fat and lean pork (grilled chopped meat) or well-chopped should lean meat (grilled well- chopped meat) grilled a little well-done over charcoal. The sauce is made from very high quality fish sauce, vinegar, pepper, adding a little boiled water, a little sugar, and several slices of chili whose seeds are left out, a little belostomatid essence… that bowl of sauce is virtually the soul of noodle and grilled meat.

Eating together with noodle having a dish of fresh vegetables, inducing young fresh lettuce together with Vietnamese herbs, Chinese herbs, Lang basil, three-leaf coriander, marjoram, perila… Hanoi noodle and grilled meat is delicious partly because of the way to process the bowl of sauce, in addition because there is a enough variety of such fresh vegetables. Besides, it is possible to have carrot pickles, vinegar soaked kohlrabi to make the pieces of grilled meat tasty without being feverish. Several decades ago, noodle and grilled meat is often sold by street vendors as afternoon snack. The saleswoman wore long blouse, being bare-footed, rolling around their head with velvet scarf, pengularia peach blossom belt. Nowadays, Hang Manh noodle and grilled meat is visited most frequently by Hanoi people customers.

Bun Oc – Snail Noodle

The traditional snail noodle of the old Hanoi is the cold snail noodle dish which has won the passion of so many diners. Today, the Hanoi people process snail noodle with broth poured into and it becomes the typical dish of Hanoi people. The main ingredients are noodle and snails, snails are often caught in West Lake because the snails living in West Lake is very tasty, fat and have little viscosity.

The spices to process snail noodle include many things such as: tomatoes, wood ear fungus, alcoholic thickened vinegar, fat, pepper, seasoning, salt, sugar, chili… and a variety of fresh vegetables, spices accompanied for eating such as: lettuce, perilla, maijoram, Lang basil, herbs, thinly sliced young banana trunk. When customers order snail noodle, the seller just puts snails into the bowl, putting noodle which has been dipped into boiling water then pours in with broth then it can be ready to eat An interesting dish of fresh vegetables, a dish of red stewed chili laid on the table will increase appetite.

Bun Ca – Fish Noodle in Hanoi

That is a popular dish that can be eaten at any time and is suitable to every taste. However, fish noodle should be in the right season to be delicious.

That is the season of water dropwort, in December at the end of the year to January, February in spring. Water dropwort combined with fish noodle arouses a fragrant of a countryside dish.
When eating; the seller puts into the bowl just an enough amount of noodle, use chopsticks to pick up 2/3 rare stir-fry of water dropwort, 1/3 of fresh water dropwort cover them onto the noodle surface, finally she spreads pieces of fried fish with powder pepper onto and scoops up and pour in hot boiling broth to nearly full of the bowl, serve it hot When putting into the mouth, the crispy and greasy taste of fish, the delicate fragrant of the two ingredients, rare cooked water dropwort fresh water dropwort the strongly sweet taste of the broth secreted from stewed bones and fish head… all will mix up with one another to create a typical, attractive and unique of this dish.

Bun Dau Hanoi – Rice Noodle with Fried Tofu

In the past, Hanoi rice noodle with fried tofu was seen as a very popular food. And now, if one wishes to sip snow-white rice noodle cakes dipped together with shrimp sauce squeezed in with lemon and stirred until they produce some foam, there is Phat Loc hamlet “serves” gourmet people with one of the loveliest characteristics of the old Hanoi City. Each snow white rice noodle piece is arranged on the dish. Different from other noodle dished with broth, when mentioning shrimp sauce rice noodle with tofu one has to use small thread rice noodle. The pieces of fresh lemon squeezed directly into the bowl of shrimp sauce, and then it is stirred until there is thick soft shining brown layer of foam fragranced, different from the original taste. These days, gourmet people also add a little white alcohol before stirring. Marjoram is an important spice for rice noodle with fried tofu, one has to choose small leaves of marjoram, and the fragrant is strong so that It bring about intriguing for the dish.

Tofu should be apricot soybean cakes, once being fried well-done they still linger with meaty and delicious taste. When eating, the diners gently pick up with chopsticks the rice noodle cake and dip it a little into the bowl of sauce, pinching off some branches of vegetables, pick up a hot piece of tofu chew slowly so that the fatty taste of tofu, the cool taste of vegetables, the cold taste of rice noodle seeping deeply into each angle of the diners ‘stomach.
Actually, Hanoi not only has Phat Loc hamlet to be famous of rice noodle with fried tofu and shrimp sauce. There are so many fixed restaurants and street vendors, traditional or newly- opened restaurants… all of them contribute to gourmet people easy-to-find, easy-to-remember addresses. All are different from each other about the locations; however, they are similar in general features – the simple attraction and very modesty prices.

Bun Reu Cua – Rice Noodle with Crab and Tomatoes

If you want to eat rice noodle with crab, you cannot find it in the menu of restaurants and hotels, it is only available in the market or street restaurants of Hanoi. Different from Pho – beef noodle soup which has fatty taste, rice soup with delicate, cool taste, rice noodle with crab has strong sweet taste, the broth is a little sour, floating in the air the smell of field crab.

The noodle to eat with simmered crab and tomato mixture is intertwined rice noodle; sometimes it is whiter than the enamel color of china bowl. Rice noodle with crab is always eaten together with a bowl of mixed salad vegetables.
Although it is a popular breakfast dish, rice noodle with crab is also ranked among the “gastronomy” pursuit of the Hanoi people.

Bun Bo Hue – Hue Beef Noodle Soup in Hanoi

Those who have ever enjoyed once the dishes of Hue should agree a thing that Hue people eat deliciously but it should be beautiful, delicate; eating is not just to be full of the stomach but also to enjoy, satisfying a pastime, a philosophy in the soul. It is probably because of that, Hanoi people absorb Hue dishes more easily and it is also because of that in many comers of the markets, on the street of Hanoi we still see Hue silhouette “gentle mixed with thoughtfulness”.

The most popular Hue dish in Hanoi is Hue beef noodle soup. With gourmet customers, Hue beef noodle soup often lingers in them the hot taste of chili, the smoothly sweet of the simmered broth, the fatness of the piece of beef and the heat of the smoky hot noodle soup broth.
In the cold north-easterly wind of Hanoi, the hot, spicy and fragrant taste of Hue beef noodle soup suddenly becomes a soul mate. For the Hanoi people, seeking Hue food are to enjoy (delicious dishes with strange taste, besides also to feel the fragrant, specialty of strong Hue characteristic and to be closer to Hue.

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