Hà Nội's Specialties

Well-known Vietnamese writers of the 20th cen-tury such as Thạch Lam, Nguyễn Tuân and Vũ Bằng have written many articles praising Hà Nội specialties. “Hanoians take food daily but never pay atten-tion to it. 

However, if they go to other provinces for some time or even to Hải Phòng, Nam Định, they will realize how delicious Ha Noi foods is” (Thạch Lam). “Even the most delicious specialties are all available in Ha Noi Old Quarter” (Vũ Bằng).

In this booklet, we wish to review the most popular foods of Hanoians.

Phở (Noodle Soup)

In Paris, Geneva, Montreal, Sydney, and throughout the world wherever there is a Vietnamese community, there is phở. But only in Hà Nội can you fully taste its peculiar flavor. We don’t know when phở came into being but early in the 20th century the well-known phở restaurants in Hà Nội already appeared. The noodles, made from rice flour, are cut into thin and narrow strands. Before serving eaters, the seller would parboil them to make the noodles resistant but not breakable. At the request of clients, meat can be prepared separately or together with the noodles. 

Noodle Soup

Tái means thinly sliced fillets of beef, mixed with ground ginger, dipped into the boiling soup for a moment and served immediately. The fatty meat from the chest of the cow called gầu is favoured by young men. Nam means sinewy beef. Pho Ha Noi must be served with all the necessary spices: pepper, lemon, chili, onion, coriander. 

When having phở, we can feel the hotness of pepper and chili; taste the particular flavor of the other ingredients and that of tender fresh beef. All these spices are mixed and produce and particular taste of the delicious hot soup flavored with stewed beef bones, ginger and roasted onions.

That is phở served with stock. As for fried phở, the noodles must be fried until they turn yellow, mixed with fried beef and then served on a plate along with onions, spring onions, coriander, etc. Phở sốt vang is a kind of stew in which the beef, marinated in liquor, is stewed with ingredients such as anise, cinnamon, Tasaki, etc.

Noodle Soup

Beef noodle soup is traditional phở. In the early 1940’s in Hà Nội, chicken phở began to appear. In a number of phở stalls, beef was substituted with chicken. At first chicken phở was not popular. However, this food has gradually attracted the people with its peculiar taste. Some slices of lean chicken with yellowish skin are mixed with thin strands of fragrant lemon leaves, some green spring onion, coriander and red chili. “All the above ingredients are dipped into a very clear soup, giving the dish of phở a special flavor, as sweet as a Virgo, if beef phở is to be compared with a young man full of strength and spirit” (Vũ Bằng).

In Hà Nội, almost all quarters have phở restaurants but gourmets usually select a regular one for themselves. However, well-known stalls last for dozens of years only. Today in Nam Ngư Street (linking Lê Duẩn avenue to Phan Bội Châu Street), there are many phở stalls with different kinds of phở. And in Bat Dan Street, there is a “traditional Pho' stall which is favored by lots of gourmets.