Top 10 Amazing Foods for Breakfast in Hanoi

Travelling to Hanoi never makes you disappointed when it comes to food and drink. If you are seeking the best breakfast in Hanoi, here are some suggestions for the best food for you.

Hanoi makes foreign tourists fall in love not only because of the bustling environment here but also because of the excellent cuisine. Many people claim that they visit and stay in Hanoi because of their love for food here. In the article, we will reveal the top 10 best breakfast in Hanoi that you should miss.

Top 10 Amazing Foods for Breakfast in Hanoi

 

1. Vietnamese noodle soup (Pho)

Pho is no doubt the first dish that anyone will think of when it comes to not only breakfast in Hanoi but also Hanoi food. This traditional dish has been here for years and been a healthy and delicious yet reasonable breakfast for citizens here. Vietnamese noodle soup is a magical combination of broth, rice noodles, herbs, and meat (usually beef or chicken).

Noodle soup

Visit these restaurants for the best Vietnamese noodle soup:

• Pho Gia Truyen. Address: 49 Bat Dan, Hoan Kiem. Opening Hours: 6 am – 10 am And 6 pm – 8:30 pm. Price: VND30,000 – VND55,000
• Pho Thin. Address: 13 Lo Duc, Hai Ba Trung. Opening Hours: 6 am – 8:30 pm. Price: VND40,000 – VND60,000
• Pho 10 Ly Quoc Su. Address: 10 Ly Quoc Su, Hoan Kiem. Opening Hours: 6:30am -10:30pm. Price: VND50,000 – 70,000

 

2. Vietnamese bread (banh mi)

Banh mi is no doubt a popular and favourite breakfast in Hanoi. If you go around Hanoi in the early morning to seek a fast yet delicious breakfast, you will see many people enjoying banh mi on the street, especially students who need something to remain full all morning. Banh mi is an airy and crunchy French-style baguette that has different kinds of stuff inside such as meats, vegetables, and sauces.

Traditionally, a Vietnamese banh mi has pate, homemade mayo, fresh herbs, pickled carrots and daikon, cucumber slices, and a light sprinkle of soy sauce. However, these days, Vietnamese people put different types of fillings and recipes into Vietnamese bread so that we can choose the ones we want.

Banh Mi

Vietnamese bread varies according to the main filling inside. You can find banh mi with pork roll, cured pork cold cuts, headcheese, grilled pork, pork meatballs, shredded pork skin, grilled pork patties, sour pork, grilled chicken, grilled beef, pate, sardines, fried egg,…Depending on your favour, you can choose the type you want.

For the best Vietnamese bread in Hanoi, go to:

• Banh Mi Pho Co. Address: 38 Dinh Liet. Price:VND 20.000 –VND25.000
• Banh Mi Ba Dan. Address: 34 Lo Su.
• Banh Mi Nguyen Sinh. Address: 19 Ly Quoc Su
• Banh Mi Tram. Address: Dinh Ngang Street

 

3. Kebab rice noodles (bun cha)

When it comes to the best street food in Hanoi, you can never dismiss kebab rice noodles – a dish that makes former President Obama fell in love with. Bun cha is originated in Hanoi, meaning that coming here, you can experience the best kebab rice noodles in Vietnam. This dish may seem simple, served with a plate of vermicelli, a bowl of broth with grilled pork, and a small basket of fresh herbs. However, the complicated step is preparing the broth and marinating pork. It is a trade secret that many sellers even not reveal to their husband, wife, or children.

Bun Cha - Best street food in Hanoi

 

Normally, an excellent bowl of bun cha will cost you only from VND30,000 – VND50,000, and your suggested bun cha restaurants list in Hanoi include:

• Bun Cha Huong Lien. Address: 24 Le Van Huu, Phan Chu Trinh, Hai Ba Trung. Opening Hours: 8 am – 8.30 pm. Widely Known As Obama Bun Cha Restaurant Because Former President Obama And Anthony Bourdain Used To Enjoy Bun Cha Here.
• Bun Cha Ta. Address: 21 Nguyen Huu Huan, Ly Thai To, Hoan Kiem. Opening Hours: 8 am – 10 pm
• Bun Cha Sinh Tu. Address: Ta Quang Buu, Hai Ba Trung. Opening Hours: 7 am – 10 pm
• Bun Cha Tuyet. Address: 34 Hang Than, Nguyen Trung Truc, Ba Dinh

 

4. Vietnamese steamed rice rolls (Banh Cuon)

Banh Cuon is a must-try dish and a candidate for the best food in Hanoi. The traditional often includes rice cover, fillings insides, and sauce. The fillings are various types of mushrooms, especially the wood ear mushroom, pork (or shrimp), and onion. These kinds of stuff are minced and mixed together with spices. The rice cover is made perfectly thin and in a round shape, then the fillings are put carefully on the steaming layers before being rolled. The long piece is cut into smaller pieces ones and guests can enjoy them with sauce. Accompanying with a dish of Banh Cuon, you will find fried onion toppings, fresh herbs, and veggies as well as pork roll or grilled tasty pork.

Banh Cuon - must-try breakfast in Hanoi

 

For the best Banh Cuon in Hanoi, try these restaurants:

• Banh Cuon Phuong. Address: 16 Dao Duy Tu, Hoan Kiem. Opening Hours: 6 am – 9 pm. Price: VND15,000 – VND40,000
• Banh Cuon Ba Xuan. Address: 15 Hoe Nhai Slope, Ba Dinh. Opening Hours: 7am – 12am And 4pm – 0:30am. Price: VND15,000 – VND45,000
• Banh Cuon Nong. Address: 54 Trieu Khuc, Tan Trieu, Thanh Xuan. Opening Hours: 7:30 am – 9:30 pm. Price:VND25,000 – VND50,000

 

5. Vermicelli and chicken soup (bun thang)

Bun thang is no doubt a definition of Hanoi food and cuisine. The dish is quite complicated with many ingredients. People often claim that bun thang is what demonstrates Hanoi cuisine. This is because of the sophistication and complication in cooking, bringing the perfect balance and delicate taste. If you try a traditional bowl of bun thang, you can expect the number of ingredients up to 20. Normally, the main ingredients include rice vermicelli in small strings, scrambled eggs (thin and sliced evenly), chicken (tender and shredded with skin), Vietnamese pork roll, dried shrimps, shiitake mushroom, dried picked radishes, spring onions, and laksa leaves.

What differentiating different restaurants is the broth – the heart of the Hanoi food. A perfect broth is clear, fragrant, and has a bit of lingering sweet taste of shrimps and dried mushroom. The dish is now made less complicated; however, its unique taste coming from the combination of different ingredients still brings it to the list of best breakfasts in Hanoi.

Bun Thang

For a bowl of bun thang, visit:

• Bun Thang Ba Duc. Address: 48 Cau Go, Hang Bac, Hoan Kiem. Opening Hours: 7 am – 11 pm. Price: VND30,000 – VND55,000
• Bun Thang Thuan Ly. Address: 33 Hang Hom, Hang Giai, Hoan Kiem. Opening Hour: 6 am – 10 pm. Price: VND30,00 – VND40,000
• Bun Thang 144 D2 Giang Vo. Address: 144 D2 Giang Vo, Ba Dinh. Opening Hours: 7 am – 11 pm. Price: VND30,000 – VND40,000

 

6. Pork rib porridge (Chao Suon)

Pork rib porridge is a healthy and delicious breakfast in Hanoi. Pork rib porridge, with its warmth and scent, is nothing but a perfect choice when Hanoi weather becomes cold. The main ingredients are white rice and spare ribs. First, the ribs are stewed for about an hour. Then, they take the ribs out, put the rice into the broth, and cook it until it is porridge. Pork rib porridge is served with pepper, ginger, spring onion, and “quay”.

Pork rib porridge 

For a bowl of pork rib porridge in the coldness of Hanoi in the morning, visit these addresses:

• Chao Suon Hang Bo. Address: 32 Hang Bo, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi. Opening Hours: 6:30 am – 10 am. Price: VND10,000 – VND20,000
• Chao Suon Bach Khoa. Address: 17 Ta Quang Buu, Hai Ba Trung. Opening Hours: 4:30am -7:30pm. Price: VND10,000 – VND20,000
• Chao Suon Ly Quoc Su. Address: 39 Ly Quoc Su, Hoan Kiem. Opening Hours: 6 am – 9 am. Price: VND10,000 – VND20,000

 

7. Crab paste rice vermicelli soup (Bun Rieu Cua)

Another name in the list of the best food in Hanoi is Bun Rieu Cua. Healthy, delicious, full and reasonable are what you can describe this dish. Bun rieu has four main ingredients, including crab paste, broth, rice vermicelli, and meatballs. When enjoying the Hanoi food, you can find many different ingredients such as blood tofu, fried tofu, tomatoes, shrimps, dried shrimps, fried shallots, and sometimes snails. Like many Vietnamese best dishes, the secret of this dish is from the broth. Preparing the best broth requires time and dedication because they stew pork bones, or rib bones in a big pot of water for hours to achieve its naturally sweet flavor. To make crab paste, they prefer paddy crabs living in Vietnamese paddy fields more. The paste does not look attractive, but it is not the point because you enjoy the creamy texture and its rich taste but not its appearance.

Bun rieu cua

Go to these restaurants to enjoy bun rieu

• Bun Rieu Huyen Thu. Address: 2F Quang Trung, Hai Ba Trung, Hoan Kiem. Price: VND35,000 – VND50,000
• Bun Rieu Hang Luoc. Address: 16 Hang Luoc, Hoan Kiem. Opening Hours: 6 am – 9 am. Price: VND25,000 – VND35,000
• Bun Rieu Bat Dan. Address: 25A Bat Dan, Hoan Kiem. Opening Hours: 6am – 11:30am. Price: VND25,000 – 50,000

 

8. Steamed sticky rice (xoi)

Steamed sticky rice is a reasonable Hanoi food for your breakfast. The pure steamed sticky rice includes sticky rice only. However, Vietnamese people have been innovating different types of steamed sticky rice to sell. They combine sticky rice with a different one of these ingredients to make different sticky rice dishes such as gac fruit, peanut, green bean, split green bean, cassava, coconut, sesame,…The, these sticky rice will be served with different toppings to become Huangpu sticky rice, five-colour sticky rice, paddy sticky rice, durian sticky rice, chicken sticky rice, fish sticky rice, mango sticky rice.

Sticky rice

Visit these addresses for a bowl of sticky rice:

• Xoi Yen. Address: 35B Nguyen Huu Huan, Hoan Kiem. Opening Hours: 6 am – 1 am. Price:VND15,000 – VND50,000
• Xoi Suon Cay 628 Truong Chinh. Address: 628 Truong Chinh, Dong Da. Opening Hours: 4pm – 10pm. Price: VND25,000 – VND50,000.

 

9. Pyramidal rice dumpling filled with meat, onion and mushroom (Banh Gio)

The pyramid rice dumpling filled with meat, onion, and mushroom has become a favourite breakfast of many Hanoians. It is delicious and healthy yet cheap. You can find this food in many small vendors on any street in Hanoi. The food is made from some simple ingredients, including rice flour, minced lean meat, onion, and mushrooms. The process of stirring and kneading flour, which decides how delicious the food is, as well as the dumpling flour process, is a trade secret that family sellers keep from generation to generation. If you eat the dish only, it is only 12,000VND but it is suggested to have toppings such as Vietnamese pork sausage, pork sausage with fried nuggets, cucumber, fluffy pemmican, kebab,...For a full topping pyramid rice dumpling, you might pay less than 30,000VND

Banh gio

Where to enjoy pyramid rice dumpling filled with meat, onion and mushroom in Hanoi?

• Banh Gio Thuy Khue. Address: 5, Thuy Khue, Tay Ho
• Banh Gio Dong Cac. Address: 33 Dong Cac, Dong Da
• Banh Gio Nguyen Cong Tru. Address: Nguyen Cong Tru, Hai Ba Trung
• Banh Gio Dao Duy Tu. Address: 16 Dao Duy Tu, Hoan Kiem

 

10. Steamed “pho” paper rolls (Pho Cuon)

Pho Cuon is a popular dish in Vietnam that is fresh, healthy and delicious. Pho rolls have made foreigners crazy because of their amazing flavour. Pho rolls used to be served in the Smorgaburg food fair of New York City in 2017 and was considered one of the must-try foods in the food fair.

Pho rolls are made by wrapping different cooked materials together. Normally, the traditional pho rolls made in Vietnamese families often include meat (pork or beef is fine), Vietnamese pork sausage, fried eggs, vermicelli, rice noodle (the one used to wrap these pieces of stuff together), carrot, cucumber, herbs (usually lettuce, Coriandrum, sativum, basil,...), garlic, lemon, chilli, soup, sugar, oil,...(to make the dipping sauce). Quite complicated, right? The excellent combination of different ingredients gives a unique flavour to the dish.

The servers will bring you a dish consisting of all the ingredients above and a bowl of dipping sauce. All you need to do is to get a rice noodle, put things in it, wrap them tightly, dip the roll in the sauce, and enjoy this mouth-watering roll. Most restaurants will roll them for you, but you can ask them not to do so to try to roll the pieces of stuff or choose the ingredients you want to eat.

Pho Cuon - Fresh, Healthy & delicious breakfast in Hanoi

Where to go for the best pho rolls in Hanoi?

• Pho Cuon Huong Mai. Address: 25 Ngu Xa, Truc Bach Ward, Ba Dinh District. Price: 30,000vnd – 50,000vnd
• Pho Cuon Hung Ben. Address: 33 Ngu Xa, Ba Dinh. Price: 20,000vnd – 55,000vnd
• Pho Cuon Ngu Xa. Address: 66 Duy Tan, Cau Giay Ward. Price: 30,000vnd – 45,000vnd
• Quan Choen – Pho Cuon Ngu Sac. Address: 156 O Cho Dua, Dong Da. Price: 50,000vnd – 100,000vnd

Nothing simpler than finding a restaurant for a breakfast in Hanoi. In the same ward or the same road, you can get many healthy, delicious yet reasonable choices for your breakfast. You also can discover more dishes by joining our Hanoi Food Tours which bring you a deep understanding of the food culture of local here.

Jenney Tran

Image source: Internet