Street Food in Hanoi: Where to Eat, What It Costs and How to Pay

Where to start with street food in Hanoi

The tourism authority calls the Old Quarter a maze of 36 historic streets, each traditionally given to its own crafts and trades. That maze of streets is far easier with a map open. Set up a HelloRoam Vietnam eSIM before you fly and you'll have data from landing for directions, Grab rides and translating menus that are only in Vietnamese.

Get your Vietnam eSIM before you flyInstall it at home, then switch on data roaming for it when you land. From £2.60.See Vietnam plans

We read every source in this guide on 27 October 2026, among them the MICHELIN Guide, TravelHealthPro, the NHS, the UK Foreign Office (FCDO), Vietcombank, Three, O2 and our own Vietnam plan page.

Travel blog The Sensible Fay calls Hanoi "the birthplace of pho and egg coffee".

Iconic and local street food dishes in Hanoi

Many places in Hanoi are named after the one dish they are known for, along with the street number, and many have no printed menu, just a few dishes written on the wall, as The Sensible Fay notes. The same blog also recommends banh cuon, steamed rice rolls filled with minced pork, and xoi, savoury sticky rice. Bia hoi, the tourism authority says, is enjoyed on low plastic stools along street corners.

The essential noodle dishes: pho bo, bun cha, and bun rieu

Pho Gia Truyen is at 49 Bat Dan Street in Hoan Kiem. The MICHELIN Guide calls it "one of Hanoi's most iconic eateries" and lists three beef options: rare flank, medium rare round or well-done brisket. It gives the opening hours as 06:00 to 11:00 and 17:00 to 21:30, every day, so a late start still gets you a bowl. Hours can change, so check the listing before you go.

Bun cha is charcoal-grilled pork patties and pork belly with rice vermicelli, fresh herbs and a warm dipping sauce, as Vietnam's official tourism site describes it. Barack Obama and Anthony Bourdain ate it at Bun Cha Huong Lien, 24 Le Van Huu Street, in May 2016. The MICHELIN Guide says most guests order the "Obama Combo" of a fried seafood roll, bun cha and a Hanoi beer. It lists the restaurant as open every day from 08:00 to 20:00, and you pay in cash at the entrance as you leave.

Bun rieu, the third noodle dish to know, is rice vermicelli in a crab and tomato broth. As for timing, The Sensible Fay says pho is usually a breakfast dish and bun cha a lunch one, though you can eat pho at any time of day.

Cha ca, banh mi sot vang and egg coffee

Vietnam's official tourism site describes cha ca La Vong as pan-fried, turmeric-marinated fish with dill, spring onions, peanuts and vermicelli.

Banh mi sot vang is beef stewed in red wine with spices such as cinnamon and star anise, served with bread to dip in it. Vietnam's tourism site says you can find it on the sidewalks of Hanoi.

Egg coffee, ca phe trung, is dark drip coffee topped with whipped, creamy egg yolk, and the tourism site calls it "a legendary Hanoi creation". The Sensible Fay credits Cafe Giang with creating it. Cafe Giang says it has served the drink since 1946, and its cafe at 39 Nguyen Huu Huan opens every day from 07:00 to 22:00.

Street food prices in Hanoi and paying in cash

We found no official price list for Hanoi street food, so these figures come from travel blogs, with their dates. Madison's Footsteps, first published in July 2022 and updated in January 2026, paid about 55,000 dong for a banh mi and a bottle of water at Banh Mi 25, and 150,000 dong for bun cha with a Saigon beer at Bun Cha Ta.

The Sensible Fay, published in March 2025 and updated in December 2025, found cha ca at Cha Ca Thang Long pretty expensive at 250,000 dong a person. Prices change, so treat these figures as a rough guide.

To turn dong into pounds, use the rate on the day. When we checked, Vietcombank would buy £1 in cash for 33,600.96 dong, so 100,000 dong came to a little under £3. Rates change every day, so check Vietcombank's rate page or your own bank before you change money.

Change money only at official exchange counters with a clear sign showing this. The FCDO says changing money anywhere else is illegal in Vietnam and you risk losing your money. It also says you must declare cash over 15 million dong or 5,000 US dollars, or the same value in other currencies, when you take it into or out of Vietnam.

The Sensible Fay notes that at street stalls you pay when you order, while most restaurants take payment after the meal.

Eating street food safely: UK health advice

TravelHealthPro, the travel health site the FCDO's Vietnam advice links to, lists food from street traders among foods to avoid, unless it is thoroughly cooked in front of you and served hot on clean crockery. It names recently prepared, thoroughly cooked food served piping hot as a good option.

The same factsheet says that in countries with poor sanitation, it is not advisable to drink tap water or use it to brush your teeth unless it has been treated, and that ice should also be avoided. It lists salads, uncooked fruit and vegetables, and raw or undercooked meat among foods to avoid too. Its Vietnam page tells all travellers to take care with personal, food and water hygiene. To order a drink without ice, ask for it "khong da".

For alcohol, the FCDO warns that drinks containing methanol have caused deaths and serious illness in Vietnam, including drinks bought in licensed bars, shops and hotels in tourist areas. You cannot detect methanol by taste or smell, and the FCDO says to get urgent medical help if you or a friend show signs of methanol poisoning after drinking.

Wash your hands with soap and clean water before you eat, as TravelHealthPro advises, and carry alcohol gel for stalls with nowhere to wash.

A UK GHIC or EHIC cannot be used in Vietnam: the NHS lists where the cards work, and Vietnam is not on the list. The FCDO advises travel insurance that covers local treatment or unexpected medical evacuation. It also says to check TravelHealthPro's vaccine recommendations for Vietnam at least 8 weeks before your trip, so read the FCDO's Vietnam travel advice and TravelHealthPro's Vietnam page well before you go.

Street food tours in Hanoi: guided experiences versus going it alone

A guide orders for you and explains each dish, which helps on a first evening. HanoiKids, a volunteer club run by Hanoi students, runs an English-language food tour of about two hours with no charge for the tour itself. Its FAQ says you pay the costs on the day, such as food, drinks and any transport, for yourself and the student guides.

Going it alone works too. Point at what the next table is eating, or hold Google Translate's camera over the menu. Download Vietnamese and English in the app before you fly, and Google says camera translation then works offline.

Mobile data for a Hanoi food trip: eSIM or UK roaming

Data matters most for getting around. Grab, the ride-hailing app, needs a connection to book a ride, and Foody.vn, a Vietnamese site with diners' reviews, needs one to load them. Google also says its Maps app gives no walking directions offline.

Whether your UK plan includes roaming in Vietnam depends on your network and plan. Where it doesn't, roaming charges apply, and the costs set out in the next section add up quickly over a 14-day trip.

Install HelloRoam's Vietnam eSIM at home and it connects as soon as you land at Noi Bai, so Grab and maps work before you leave the airport. The Vietnam plans used the Viettel, Vinaphone and MobiFone networks on our last check, and the plan page lists the current ones. Our step-by-step eSIM install guide walks through the setup on iPhone and Android.

Roaming in Vietnam on Three and O2

Check your network's own roaming page, or our rundown of UK network roaming charges, before you fly, because charges vary by network and plan.

Three lists Vietnam in its Go Roam Around the World zone. It's included on plans with Go Roam built in; on other plans you pay £5 or £8 a day, depending on your plan and when you joined or upgraded, or buy a Go Roam pass. O2's Travel Inclusive Zone and Travel Inclusive Zone Ultimate don't list Vietnam.

At Three's £5 or £8 daily charge, a fortnight comes to £70 or £112 if you pay it every day. Three's 14-day Go Roam Around the World Pass costs £60.

A dual SIM phone keeps both lines working. Leave the UK SIM on for texts from your bank, and pick the Vietnam eSIM for mobile data with its data roaming switched on, as our install guide shows. Before you fly, check your phone supports eSIM. If Hanoi is one stop on a longer trip, a regional plan for Asia covers Vietnam and other Asian countries on one eSIM.