Where to eat delicious nutrition, cheap in Hanoi

You will be amazing that’s some streets in Hanoi that its name is also brand street foods name. So you only need to know what you want to taste so you will know where you will to go. Get there and taste your favorite foods.

Sweet soup at Dao Duy Tu street

Sweet soup is very popular street foods in Hanoi but most favorite is at Dao Duy Tu street. There are many kind of sweet soups that you can be choosen such as: banana sweet soup, sweet potato sweet soup , corn sweet soup… The common feature is the sweet soup  in little cup, cute decoration and very good smell.

Fried Nem Chua at Tam Thuong alley

Tam Thuong is a small alley cross Hang Bong street, this place is most favorite with street food name fried Nem Chua ( a food made of pork with light sour taste ). For 10 years ago,  this place had only 1 vedors but now there are more than 10 vendors for your choice.

In the evening, especial weekend days, the alley is full of people who love this food ( almost girls love this food ). Step in the alley, you can smell and taste food very attractive, so you can not walk through without taste one. The tip cause of fried food so you should call for green mango will make you forget fat taste.

Fresh spring scroll at Ngu Xa

Walking through Thanh Nien street at West lake, Ngu Xa is the best destination, you can sit down call for fresh beer and fresh spring scroll. This is a simple food, fried beef, green salads and rice paper, roll and dipping in sauce. The secret is in the sauce, you can not find anywhere place have the taste of this sauce.

Fresh blended fruits at To Tich

To Tich is in Hanoi old quarter near swordlake, there are so many foods there include fired Nem Chua but this street famous with blended fruits. This food is depend on season, in Vietnam each season has its own fruits season.

People otfen taste this food in summer and in the evening. Notice that you should find some motorbike park and walk to this place.

Street seafood at Cau Go

Cau Go mean Wooden bridge – surprise? ! . Cau Go famous with seafood such as: snail, shrimp, sea shell, crab… with reliable cost.

Just only walking around, you can see the way Hanoian show their seafood in many pot, they want to advertise that their seafood is fresh. And many funny way to talk to customers this message for ex: Swimming seafood They are swimming seem they are fresh J)

Most popular way to cook seafood are steam and grill with lemongrass or lemon leave. You can smell the taste at beginning of street.

Dried beef papaya salad at Ho Hoan Kiem street

The street is same name with most famous lake in Hanoi – Hoan Kiem lake (sword lake ). Fantastic food for your girl friend ! They will love it. As its name the main ingredient of this food is dried beef and fiber papaya and some herb make this food crispy and a little hot. Greater if you put some lemon juice, the hot and sour taste in a food is the way Vietnamese making many famous food and this is awesome combination. You should try it at home, if you have some hot food, put some sour taste in there and taste. Don’t forget to tell me how it taste!

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The favourite desserts in summer, Hanoi

Hanoi ancient cuisine has long been famous for the richness and diversity. At any time, visit the bustling and crowded streets, tourists can find attractive and characteristic food of each street easily.

Hang Than Crème caramel

Referring to Hang Than Street, many people will think about the famous Crème caramel and vice versa, when refer to this food, many people also think about Hang Than Street as an immutable address to enjoy.

The reason for Hang Than Crème caramel becomes the most attractive customers but not at any other place is the greasy, bold and coffee aroma, to which other places are difficult to keep up. Not only that, Crème caramel here is famous for smooth, sweet and attractive taste, extensive and diversified menu. Visitors come here can offer for themselves a traditional Crème caramel but can also pay attention to the modern dishes, which have many variations with different foods to become more attractive as fruit Crème caramel, purple rice caramel or yogurt Crème cramel…

Hang Than Coconut Ice-cream

Beside Crème caramel, Hang Than Street has the cool coconut ice-cream which has cooling effect in hot summer days. This is ice cream placed in the coconut with eye-catching decorations. Inside the fresh coconut stripped out of green crust, the seller cleverly place prepared fresh ice-cream then sprinkle a little grated coconut fiber, crushed peanuts and chocolate sauce. Coconut Cream attracts clients at first glance and coolness when enjoys. Fresh cream has light taste, not too sweet and when mixed with chocolate sauce grated coconut fibers, this food becomes a perfect taste makes visitors want to eat more and more.

Hang Cot Coconut jelly

Having the origination in Ben Tre, the coconut jelly in Hanoi has been quickly loved by many people. And the location is famous for this dish is the Hang Cot Street, which becomes more crowded and busier during the hot summer days.

Characteristics of Hang Cot coconut jelly is that coconuts are carefully chosen from the Siamese young coconut flesh thin and easy to abortion. Next, the jelly layer is very limpid, attractive inside. Coconut jelly in here has moderate hardness, not too soft, melt in your mouth quickly and always cool. On the top of the jelly layer is an aromatic and fatty thin layer that clients have enjoyed just by looking.

Dao Duy Tu Street Chè (Sweet soup)

Chè is probably genuine dishes of summer days and in the Old Quarter, you can easily find for yourself a delicious bowl of Che in Dao Duy Tu Street. Be famous for lemon tea in Hanoi, but when summer comes, this place has become even more attractive and eye-catching with plenty of sweet soups.

The reason Dao Duy Tu Street is loved by many people is the delicate decoration. Besides having a good taste, each bowl of Chè here is as a work of art that everyone wants to see. Each bowl of Chè before moved to client is decorated by sellers to be more attractive. Depending on the type of sweet soup that will be decorated by various ways such as sweet potatoes Chè with five flower petals on the surface or red bean Chè is simply with a bunch of white coconut sauce on top…

To Tich Mixed fresh fruit

Only less than 100m-long, To Tich Street has nearly a dozen different shops and restaurant always crowded. It demonstrates the attractiveness of this delicious dish.

Mixed fresh fruit here is pretty simple processing. Includes only material available for the summer as watermelon, pineapple, plum, apple … but thanks to ingenious way of processing that this place always attracts many people. Fruit after bought are washed, sliced in to ​​small pieces then mixed with condensed milk, coconut milk and ice; and we already have a glass of delicious and fresh mixed fruit. Clients also get a glass of cool mixed fruit easily and ready to dispel the heat outside.

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What to eat in Hanoi, Vietnam?

Hanoi is not only thousand year capital, traditional culture center but also famous with its cuisine.
There many kind of food from the North of Vietnam, the cuisine is remembered with name of streets. Hanoi’s cuisine is Simplicity but luxury and sophistication. It’s a part of Vietnam’s cuisine.
The first foods is also the symbol of Hanoi is Pho. Pho began be in Hanoi from 20 century with old brands such as: Pho Thin, Pho Giang, Pho Dong My. Now a day, you could see some brand of Pho : Bo Ho, Bat Dan, Ly Quoc Su, Lo Duc. Pho Thin have been in Hanoi for 50 years and now it’s 7 shop in Hanoi. Only beef Pho is really Hanoi’s Pho.
The traditional Hanoi’s Pho has soft Banh Pho, and delicious soup with good beef.
Bun Cha ( grilled pork Bun) is also the unique food of Hanoi. It’s simple with grilled pork but what make the best Bun Cha is the special sauce. You could cook Bun Cha yourself but never has the taste like in Hanoi. Famous place to eat Bun Cha are in Dong Xuan market, Hang Than street, Lac Long Quan…

With nearly 20 ingredients, bun bun thang is the way recipe requires meticulous, careful, the period from the cooker, and also is one of the typical dishes containing numerous quintessences ‘s culinary capital Hanoi. Location: Cầu Gỗ, 11 Hàng Hòm, 11 Hạ Hồi…

La Vong fried fish dish is the perfect combination of spices typical of Vietnam such as turmeric, cumin, shrimp paste, fish sauce. All blended into a unique dish, extremely delicious and attractive. Cha Ca La Vong is always in the list of dishes not to be missed when the foreign visitors to Hanoi. Restaurant is located at 14 Cha Ca.

Thanh Tri pancake are a delicious ancient land of Ke Cho. Hien Thanh Street is where you can enjoy the thin pancake, transparent, fragrant rice is topped with fried onions, fragrant sauce and some Cha Que for the meal.

Cha Ruoi is valuable unique food of Hanoi, coz Ruoi only appear in a shortime. People in Hanoi often buy Ruoi and save them in freezer. Cha Ruoi taste crispy outside, soft inside, fat and good smell. You could find Cha Ruoi at O Quan Chuong, Lo Duc or Gia Ngu.

Bun Oc Nguoi ( cold snail Bun ) is a popular food and only have in Hanoi. It’s easy to find where to eat this food and also don’t have many cooker could make it delicious. Its taste sweet, cool, light sour and spicy of ginger and peper. An elegant food, where to eat? 202F Doi Can street, no 3 Phu Dong or begin of O Quan Chuong.

Have you ever taste frog meat? It’s very very delicious. Hanoi’s gourmet make frog meat become an unique foods of Hanoi. Chopped frog meat and mill with spices, lemon grass, lemon leave… and fry with cooking oil. This a food for drinking with rice wine. Where eat? Com Cha Nhai at Khuong Thuong.

Do you know Com? The smell of Com that you never forget. Com of Vong village, Com Cake in Hang Than,  fried Com Dinh Liet, Cha Com Phat Loc, Com sticky rice at Hom market…you must remember when visit Hanoi.

The foods of Hanoi is not  saved in any parper but they are in Hanoi people hearts and follow the time.

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Ta Hien Street,Hanoi

Located in the heart of Hanoi Old Quarter, Ta Hien Street, in the French colonial time called Géraud, is two-hundred-meter street, intersect with Hang Bac Street and Hang Buom Street. This street was named the “international crossroads” because there are many foreign tourists and has been included in the list of “places have to go in Hanoi” when traveling overseas of the foreigners. People reminds to it as a place for tourists to be able to feel the soul of Hanoi, which is simple and the intersection of the old and the new, of the East and the West.

“Western Street” – but the popular dishes in this street are completely Vietnamese. From the luxury restaurant chain to the sidewalk shops, go to anywhere, visitors can feel the essence of Vietnamese cuisine in general and Hanoi cuisine in particular.

In the morning, at the beginning of Ta Hien Street, there is a noodle soup shop which has sold for long time. The bow is full noodle and tasty broth with delicious meat balls, fragrant mushroom, a bit pepper will bring to the visitors the first experience of an extremely rustic dishes.

In the lunch time, Ta Hien Street is suddenly crowded with a little strange. Because here, there is a good restaurant of noodle soup with beef, which is not least than the Bun Bo Nam Bo shop in Hang Dieu Street. The visitors pass though the restaurant, who were not intended to eat, find out that it is difficult to resist the aroma emanating from the garlic and beef pan.

The noodle bowl is simple with fried onion, fresh vegetables, fried beef with the seasoning, add a few teaspoons of roasted peanuts and the sour, sweet sauce. The five-spice powder is harmony, made the appeal cannot be denied.

Going to the afternoon, visitors will surely impressed by a unique and rare cuisine: Grilled Quail with honey sold only in this street. The meat quails are marinated, stacked look very nice. The meat is processed in place right in front of the restaurant attracts countless tourists gaze over here.

Quail marinated ingenuity, along with technical virtuosity barbecue not only have fragrant scent of spices but also retain the natural sweetness of the meat quail, and the bones are also brittle that can be eaten. Adding some basil leaves for the taste up, a fresh and cool fruit disk, so that customers have pleasant memories to share their friends about Hanoi, Vietnam.

And mention Ta Hien Street, it cannot fail to mention the beer sidewalk. Every afternoon, the pubs’ signs are close to each other along the streets. Every beer shop here is always crowded, both the foreigners and the domestic customers.

Unlike other street in the Old Quarter, even at night, Ta Hien Street is more boisterous. Known as the “international crossroads”, foreign guests choose this place where to sip the specialty “Cool Beer” and talk to friends with a very affordable price, with the right price for the domestic customers.

The “characteristic snack” of Ta Hien Street is basil roasted peanuts, enjoyed with the fresh beer is the wonderful way. Besides, you can order the fried fermented pork and fried potatoes with sugar also sold in this street.

In addition to the amazing food, the busy life style, especially at night, make the characteristic, the bustle and the attraction of this street. If suddenly, one day you want to enjoy a bit of the life of the residents’ international crossroads “, go to Ta Hien Street, it will give you a new feeling about the life and the people.

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Simmered Fish with Mushrooms and Tomatoes Vietnam

Simmered Fish with Mushrooms and Tomatoes comes from many stunning Vietnamese Cuisine. Using with boiled rice and hot soup you can create a traditional Vietnamese meal. Moreover, eating fish is much better with any meat.

The natural sweetness from mushrooms and tomatoes when is combined with fish will great a stunning flavor for your family meal. 

Ingredients

- 1 fish (You can choose scad or mackerel fish)

- 1 – 2 tomatoes

- 150g straw mushrooms or king oyster mushrooms

- Sugar, fish sauce, salt, pepper, Magi’s stuff

Garlic, spring onion

- 1 teaspoon tapioca starch, vegetable oil

Process

- Clean carefully fish in 2 – 3 times in water added salt. Next, clean again in fresh water. Use paper napkin to absorb all water and use knife to slice gently some lines on its body. Add 1 teaspoon salt on your hand to spread around fish. Wait in 30 minutes. 

- Next, use your hand again to spread well tapioca starch around fish. Make sure it will cover all face of fish. 

- Heat the oil (1 tablespoon), fry fish (2 faces) in 5 – 7 minutes. Next, put on plate added paper napkin to absorb wasted oil. 

- Clean tomatoes, slice fiber and use knife to grind preliminarily. 

- Cut off the root of mushrooms, clean well and slice into medium pieces. Wait to dry. 

- Heat 3 teaspoons oil, add minced garlic and fry until it is fragrant. Next, add more sliced tomatoes and fry until it is soft. Season with 1 teaspoon salt. 

- Next, add more sliced mushrooms into pan and fry quickly in 3 – 5 minutes. 

- Add fried fish in step 3 and cook more 10 – 15 minutes. Season with 2 tablespoons fish sauce, 2 teaspoons sugar, ½ teaspoon Magi’s stuff, cover the pan and continue to cook until they all combine together. Season for the last time to suit your flavor is here. When simmer, if water is nearly ran out, you should add more hot water instead of cold one. 

- Turn off the heat and sprinkle more sliced spring onion and pepper on face of food. 

- Serve Simmered Fish with Mushrooms and Tomatoes with boiled rice and hot soup as you told above is a great choice

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Fried Salmon with Quail Egg Filling Recipe

Fried Salmon with Egg Quail Filling. You can eat as a snack or using with boiled rice is all great. As you may know, salmon not only is delicious, but also is good for health, especially for your eyes.

Ingredient

- Salmon fillet: 200 gr 

- Eggs: 12 quail

- 3 yolks

- Wheat flour: 200 gr

- Bread crumb: 100 gr 

- Spices: salt, sugar, pepper, Maggi’s stuff.

Fried Salmon with Quail Egg Filling Recipe

1

(Trứng cút tẩm bột chiên xù) - Fried Salmon with Egg Quail Filling. You can eat as a snack or using with boiled rice is all great. As you may know, salmon not only is delicious, but also is good for health, especially for your eyes.

Ingredient

- Salmon fillet: 200 gr 

- Eggs: 12 quail

- 3 yolks

- Wheat flour: 200 gr

- Bread crumb: 100 gr 

- Spices: salt, sugar, pepper, Maggi’s stuff.

Vietnamese Fish Recipe

Process

- Boil quail eggs until they are cooked. Wait to get cool and peel off the cover.

- Mix salmon fillet with pepper, salt and sugar. Wait about 30 minute. Separate into 12 small balls.

- Roll quail eggs through wheat flour

- Use your hand and press salmon ball thinly. Next, add quail egg on the center and cover into circle shape. Continue until you finish 12 balls.

- Then, roll one by one salmon ball from wheat flour, yolks which are stirred to bread crumb.

- Pour oil into small pot (make sure it can cover all salmon balls). Wait to hot, add salmon balls into pot and fry until they turn yellow with medium heat. Next, put salmon balls on plate added paper napkin to absorb wasted oil.

- You can eat Fried Salmon with Egg Quail Filling with boiled rice or bread is all delicious. Moreover, serving with ketchup or sweet and sour sauce can bring an amazing flavor in your mouth.

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Best for the fest in Hanoi

As always there’s a wide choice of moon cakes available in Hanoi for the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival.

Gentle breezes blow, yellow leaves fall from the trees and dance to the music of the cool wind. Autumn is coming to town and one of the most popular events for both adults and children during the season is Tet trung thu, or the Mid-Autumn Festival.
A colourful time, the festival comes but once a year, every year, year after year, and this year falls on Sunday 27 September.
At midnight the moon is at its fullest, showering its bright light on to the earth, with streets turned into playgrounds lit by red lights beaming out from lanterns of all shapes and sizes. Masks, drums, paper flutes and toys are stacked everywhere and children and adults alike jostle each other as they shop.
In its partial phases, the moon represents the incompleteness of life and potential for completeness, fullness and prosperity. The festival is therefore a celebration and a prayer for the fullness and completeness of life.
Together with fairytales, plentiful fruit and cheerful dragon dances, moon cakes are a feature of the festival. Some cakes are round and white, called Banh deo (white soft variety), while others are square and golden brown, calledBanh nuong (oven baked cake).
There is also another type, in the shape of a carp; a fish that traditionally represents the soul of the moon.
Moon cakes are unleavened and were originally filled with lotus seeds, orange peel, ground beans, egg and flavourful pork fat.
The modern varieties made by chefs at big hotels are usually filled with a range of sweet fillings, from durian, taro, coconut, sour sop, and green tea to chocolate and caramel.
These connoisseur couplings are packed in eye-catching boxes and sometimes accompanied by premium tea or spirits and sell at unbelievable prices.
Buying expensive moon cake as gifts has become the fashion among Vietnam’s wealthy.
Moon cake shoppers eagerly hop, skip and jump Olympian-style from one bakery to another seeking the best in town. 

Market leaders include Nhu Lan, Kinh Do, Brodard and Givral in Ho Chi Minh City and Thu Huong, Hanoi Hotel, Bao Phuong, Ninh Huong, Fortuna Hanoi Hotel and Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi Hotel, while recently the JW Marriott, Daewoo and Sofitel Plaza have also joined in.
Following its tradition of offering Chinese-style moon cakes made by the Chef at the May Man Chinese restaurant, Fortuna Hanoi Hotel this year has four authentic flavours - lotus, green tea, taro and red bean.
All-time favourites include Lotus seed paste with a single yolk, four happiness-assorted moon cakes and seven enchanting stars. Making their debut this Mid-autumn Festival are Green bean with a single yolk and Pandean with a single yolk, rounding out the luscious collection.
Along with classic favourites, the exclusive VIP editions, Prosperous with Red Chilean wine, and the Imperial collection, with Johnnie Walker gold bottle limited edition, are delightful treats for those who prefer a taste of luxury. These Mid-Autumn treasures are priced from VND600,000 and available until 27 September at the hotel.
The  Hanoi Daewoo Hotel  has introduced four different types of moon cakes this year, ranging from Lotus seed and young sticky rice to Fresh taro and chestnut in Basic, Deluxe, Premium and Luxury packages priced from VND660,000 to VND13,600,000 (for a luxurious box of six moon cakes and 18 year-old Macallan wine) based on the type of package.
The Crystal Jade Palace restaurant at the JW Marriott Hotel Hanoi is celebrating its first Mid-Autumn Festival in Vietnam by offering exquisite, signature moon cakes.
Customers can enjoy six different types, from the mellow touch of green bean paste and the buttery taste of red or white lotus paste with double egg yolk to the richness of almonds and melon kernel seeds in the mixed nuts and ham.
Prices start from VND585,000 per box of four (180 grams each) or VND648,000 per box of eight (60 grams each), with various discounts on large quantities.
Amid the fierce competition, moon cakes baked with traditional Vietnamese flavours still outsell their more modern counterparts.
Around a month before festival Hanoians begin flocking to several moon cake shops aselling those with traditional flavours. For people who want to buy luxurious yet elegant Vietnamese traditional moon cakes as special gifts, the
Mid-Autumn treasures should be the first choice. They’re a very special ‘traditional mix’, filled with sausage, ham, and marinated pork fat combined with a variety of fruit candy and nuts, each a convergence of heaven and earth and wrapped in grapefruit flower scented dough.
In addition to the Metropole’s traditional varieties such as Traditional Mix and Lotus with Young Rice, there are now five new flavours - Red bean and mango, Caramel with dry fig and candied orange, Black sesame and coconut, Chocolate and cookie crumble, and Green bean and dried apricot, presented in red lacquered wooden boxes.
Those for children include Banh deo (white soft variety) in the shape of a sophisticated moon or a carp shape at VND950,000. Its very special moon cakes weigh 250 grams each and are accompanied by a bottle of wine in a luxurious lacquer box, at VND3,680,000.
All of these moon cakes are preservative-free and hand-baked by Executive Sous Chef Nguyen Thanh Van and her team from authentic recipes and infused with the Metropole’s gourmet touch

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Sword Lake through the my lens

A photo exhibition featuring 12 photos of Hoan Kiem Lake (Sword Lake) sceneries is opening at Hoan Kiem Lake Cultural Information Centre in downtown Hanoi.

Titled Sac Mau Ho Guom (The Colours of Sword Lake), the exhibition, which showcases photos taken by Ha Hong, a journalist, is expected to bring visitors the images and exquisite views of the Sword Lake in different seasons.



A native of the central province of Ha Tinh but born and raised in Hanoi, Hong is currently head of Nhan Dan (The People) newspaper's Science and Education News Desk as well as head of the newspaper's Photography Club.
With a passion for Hanoi, especially Hoan Kiem Lake, Hong launched his own website on the lake (www.hohoankiem.org) in 2006 to tell lovers of the thousand-year-old-city the stories of Hanoians around Sword Lake and introduced his photos.
"Every day after work or at weekends, I often go for a stroll around Hoan Kiem Lake to capture the colourful moments of this place, a bouquet of flowers in the heart of the city," said Hong.
He added that that bouquet of flowers changes its colour with the arrival of each season: the pinkish white of ban (mountain ebony) flowers in spring, the bright red of phuong (flamboyant) flowers, the purple of bang lang (giant crape-myrtle) flowers in summer, the flaming-red of loc vung (Barringtonia acutangula) flowers in early autumn and the giant crape-myrtle leaves turn from green to red warning the approaching cold days of winter.
Hong engrossed to capture these changes of colours of Sword Lake for all seasons, and in the last nine years, over a thousand news articles and more than five thousand photos taken by the journalist have been published on his website.
This photo exhibition aims to celebrate the 61st anniversary of Hanoi's liberation (October 10, 1954) at the Hoan Kiem Lake Cultural Information Centre, 2 Le Thai To Street, and will end on October 19.

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Sugar cane juice in Vietnam

Sugar-cane juice is a type of drink commonly found in Vietnam as a refreshing drink during the hot Vietnamese climate.

In the hot weather like Vietnam, people know sugar-cane juice as a natural beverage that is delicious and cheap. Therefore, sugar-cane juice is so popular in Vietnam and is available at most small street stalls, often sold alongside other popular beverages. The juice is served from distinctive metal carts with a crank-powered sugar cane stalk crushers that release the juice.

There used to be a vendor that would make freshly squeezed sugar-cane juice. Previously, sugar-cane juice was sold in small plastic bags filled with ice and tied at the open end with an elastic band around a straw. Buyers could then suck the drink out through the straw. There has been movement to selling sugar cane-juice in white foam cups and it’s got a slight lime taste to it as commonly seen in Vietnam today.

Moreover, at the present, there is a system of 20 high quality sugar-cane juice stores named Fruit Shake has  been occurred in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. After March 2007, There appears a lot of super-clear sugar-cane juice stores  with price from 7000VND-8000VND (about 0.5 USD). Sugar-cane juice in Fruit Shake with many flavors becomes a high-class beverage in Vietnam.

Now, you can feel free to enjoy a glass of sugar-cane juice (considered the second best drink in the world after the orange juice) and you do not have to worry whether it meet the standard of food safety or not.

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10 Reasons to Try Beer in Vietnam

It's a foamy, light-alcohol beer found mostly in northern Vietnam. Made fresh each day with few preservatives, the dregs are chucked down the gutter at close of business each day.

This quick turnover and easy brewing means it's exceptionally cheap -- about 20 cents a glass, though Vietnam's rapid inflation may see that rise before publication -- and the establishments that serve it are also relatively basic.

1. Bia hoi is cheaper

Far, far cheaper  than its Czech-inspired counterpart. Though both cost peanuts compared to most places back home, there's a certain satisfaction in knowing your dozen beers cost only US$3.

2. People are friendlier

It's a rare night you'll spend with friends clustered round the low-slung plastic stools of a bia hoi where some blinking, red-faced bloke won't lurch up to your table to repeatedly grasp your hand and yell, "Helloo! Hello! Helloh?" then invite you to join his mates for some rounds of cheap, rice-based spirits.

3. You can relax

Smoking, slurping, dumping chicken bones on the floor -- all are acceptable behavior here. Nay, they're encouraged. 

4. The food

Some bia hoi's serve execrable rubbish, but plenty serve excellent, freshly prepared dishes for very little cost. Banana flower salad (nom hoa chuoi), barbecued chicken (ga nuong) and fried rice (com rang) are stalwarts. Just watch out for the mixed hotpot (lau thap cam) or pig stomach (da day).

5. Interesting local spirits

Vodka Hanoi (cheap, rice-based vodka with a slightly greasy aftertaste) is a standard but many places also stock ruou ong den -- rice wine infused with the whole bees' nest, not just the nectar -- or ruou dua, rice wine left to ferment in a coconut shell (it tastes a hell of a lot better than Malibu, believe us).  

The hangover's never worth it, mind.

6. Street life

Usually these beer barns are open-walled and tables and chairs often spill onto the street. You may get a lungful of motorbike exhaust with your fried spinach, but you get a nice view as well. Others back onto lakes or parks, or the Mausoleum.

7. Watery, weak, but unique

It's rare in the south but unheard of in the rest of the world. Fresh, brewed daily and cheaper than any other beer, anywhere. That has to count for something in a world of generic, international brands. And it's no more watery than Bud or Coors, anyway.

8. Colonial heritage

Think of this: the French colonial oppressors brought bia to Vietnam to stop people wrecking themselves on dodgy rice spirit.  This is where bia hois originally came from. The pilsner beer halls are a result of people studying in former communist nations back in the days when everyone still knew the words to the Internationale.  But the leftovers of colonial rule -- the bia hois -- are still working men’s brew halls while the results of the egalitarian international brotherhood are there mostly for the rapidly emerging middle class.

9. It's egalitarian

Bia hoi gets more egalitarian yet. A bia hoi can be nothing more than a tiny grandmother sat roadside with a table, chairs, a keg and a few glasses.  Using technology no more complicated than a rubber pipe she sucks some frothy beer from the keg, so you can usually have a drink morning, noon or night. As Vietnam modernizes, beer for breakfast has become less common, but it was once a grand tradition.

10. No hangover

Though some drinkers will vehemently disagree, bia hoi doesn't usually leave you with a pounding hangover. It's low alcohol content means it takes a concerted effort to get drunk enough to feel dreadful the next day. Most problems come from people getting a stale batch, something you have to watch out for. Drinking at busy places is a better idea.

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