Two 'small but mighty' alleys in Hanoi, customers with 100,000 can comfortably eat delicious food

Dong Xuan Alley

Dong Xuan Alley (Hoan Kiem, Hanoi) is fondly named " culinary paradise" in the heart of the old town with dozens of stalls selling countless dishes such as shrimp cakes, snail noodles, bamboo skewer noodles, sweet soup, beef salad, etc. The prices of the dishes here are very cheap. With a few tens of thousands of dong, visitors can eat until they are full.

Dong Xuan Alley is only 200m long, quite narrow, located next to the market of the same name.

The shops here usually have only one stainless steel table, a few benches or a dozen plastic chairs placed around.

Right at the beginning of the alley is a famous and crowded shrimp cake shop. Here, the cake dough is not only made of wheat flour and tapioca flour, but also mixed with eggs and turmeric powder, beaten until smooth and elastic, then julienned sweet potatoes are added.

Sweet potatoes are hand-cut into thin strips, so when fried with flour, they will be crispy. The potatoes help the cake taste sweeter, richer, and more fragrant than other places. The restaurant carefully selects the shrimp to ensure that when fried, it is still fresh, the meat is sweet and firm.

At the restaurant, shrimp cakes are served with sweet and sour sauce, papaya and carrot salad and raw vegetables. Each cake costs 13,000 VND.

The shrimp cake shop is packed with domestic and foreign customers.

There are dozens of different noodle shops in the alley. The most popular noodle shop is Thuy Oc Bun, which has been around for about 70 years. The shop is only 15 square meters in size and is always full, with customers having to line up outside the door and squeeze through rows of tables to get around.

The restaurant serves 2 dishes: Traditional snail noodle soup, banana and bean noodle soup. The bowl of noodles does not have ham, beef, or sausage added like many other places. The broth is clear and rich, simmered from marrow bones. The light sour taste comes from tomatoes and the faint smell of sticky rice used to make vinegar.

The restaurant also does not serve lemon or kumquat, but uses tamarind or pickled star fruit depending on the season. The owner said that the sour taste of lemon and kumquat can overpower the characteristic vinegar smell in the bowl of noodles.

Each bowl of noodles costs from 40,000 to 50,000 VND depending on the type of snail, with banana or bean added. The restaurant is open from 7:30 to 17:30.

The most fragrant in the alley are probably the bamboo-stick grilled vermicelli and grilled pork restaurants, where the meat smells so strong. The owners clamp each piece of meat between pairs of bamboo sticks to grill over hot coals for customers. They use bamboo sticks to make the meat more fragrant than grilling on an iron grill.

After enjoying the main course, diners can have dessert with various types of sweet soup. Mrs. Lien's sweet soup shop has been open for more than 30 years. Rain or shine, she personally prepares nearly 20 different sweet soups such as green bean, black bean, sweet potato, etc.

Tea here costs about 20,000 VND/cup, depending on the type.

At the end of Dong Xuan alley, right at the beginning of Cau Dong street, diners can find the sidewalk crab tray of Mrs. Vu Thi Tuoi (from Nam Dinh ). The crab tray is placed on a pot of boiling water so it is always hot and steaming.

When customers arrive, Mrs. Tuoi selects each crab and boils them again. According to customers who come to Mrs. Tuoi's restaurant, in addition to fresh crabs at reasonable prices, she also has a very attractive sweet and sour dipping sauce that goes well with seafood.

Usually, Mrs. Tuoi opens her shop at around 9:30 a.m. The busiest time is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Trung Yen Alley

Trung Yen (Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi ) is an alley located in the heart of the old town with narrow roads, houses close together, and crowded signs. The alley is about 200m long, connecting Dinh Liet street to the old Hang Be market.

Located in the core of the old quarter and adjacent to the most sophisticated food market in Hanoi, Trung Yen alley gathers many long-standing, famous and crowded restaurants such as Pho Suong, Ngan Nhan, Bun Ca Sam Cay Si...

From 10:30 to 13:30 is the time when Trung Yen alley is the most vibrant and bustling.

Located right at the beginning of the alley, going from Dinh Liet is Pho Suong restaurant. For more than 30 years, Pho Suong restaurant of Mr. Ty's descendants - the owner of the "Pho Cu Tau in Green Shirt" stall - has still kept the traditional flavor, attracting customers. Currently, the restaurant is run by Mr. Ty's descendants.

The owner shared that the pho broth is simmered from beef marrow bones, without using any other bones for 14 - 15 hours. The broth has ginger and fish sauce, but no cinnamon or star anise. Each bowl of pho here costs from 55,000 - 80,000 VND.

Despite being famous on social media for videos of the owner “cursing like singing”, Nhan duck vermicelli is still the most crowded restaurant in Trung Yen alley. Customers coming here at lunchtime often have to line up to order.

According to customers, the restaurant has a broth made from stewed duck bones and dried mushrooms that is fragrant and rich in flavor. The duck pieces are fatty, soft and sweet. The bamboo shoots served with it are also stewed dried bamboo shoots, with fresh, chewy meatballs.

Nhan duck vermicelli is a familiar address for many tourists.

Through Pho Suong, Ngan Nhan is the 20-year-old Sam Cay Si fish noodle soup, attracting diners with its fish rolls: The outer shell is soft perch meat, wrapped inside with minced meat and wood ear mushrooms, covered with crispy fried flour. The fish meat is sweet, has a very unique flavor, fragrant, rich and strange. The fish rolls are dipped in a special sauce.

The broth has a slightly sour taste, made from simmered fish bones, cooked with a mixture of pineapple and tomatoes. A bowl of fish noodle soup includes a few pieces of fried crispy fish cakes, rice noodles, and seasonal vegetables such as green cabbage, celery, and bean sprouts.

The fish cakes here are golden brown and crispy even after being left in the noodle bowl for a long time. To please customers, the restaurant also has other dishes such as mixed fish noodle soup, fish pho, fish rice noodles, etc.

Bun Oc Hanoi 70 years old, keeping the traditional taste, 15m2 restaurant crowded with customers waiting to eat . Thuy Bun Oc restaurant in Dong Xuan market alley (Hanoi) has been around for about 70 years. Customers accept to park their vehicles, walk, and squeeze through the crowded alley to queue to enjoy Bun Oc here because of the typical traditional flavor of the noodles.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/hai-con-ngo-nho-nhu-co-vo-o-ha-noi-khach-cam-100-000-thoai-mai-an-ngon-2316059.html