A few months ago, Diana Neven (Dutch-Filipino) traveled to Vietnam. She visited Hoi An ( Quang Nam ), Da Nang, Hue, Hanoi, Ninh Binh, Ho Chi Minh City,... and spent time exploring the cuisine in each locality.

In Hanoi , Diana challenged herself to spend only 5 USD (about 125,000 VND) in a day to see how many dishes she could eat there.

“I wanted to experience how much food I could eat with just $5. I converted it to Vietnamese currency and rounded it to 125,000 VND. This will be the amount I spend in a day on food,” she said.

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Diana admits that she “cannot live without coffee” and loves this famous drink in Vietnam.

The first place Diana visited was a coffee shop on Dinh Tien Hoang Street, Hoan Kiem District. The female tourist said that this was the ideal drink to start a new day, so she ordered a cup of black coffee, priced at 25,000 VND.

She then went to a famous bakery on Quan Thanh Street (Ba Dinh District) to fill her morning hunger. After looking at the menu and prices, she decided to order a mixed sandwich without coriander, priced at 25,000 VND.

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The sandwich that the Western guest enjoyed had a crispy crust, the filling included char siu, pate and ham, priced at 25,000 VND.

Diana said that bread at sidewalk stalls is cheaper than in restaurants but still tastes delicious and attractive. Although the shop she visited was quite small and not a place known to many people on social networks, the bread there was very delicious.

“It was the perfect sandwich that cost me only 25,000 VND. The bread was delicious and the taste was great,” the Western customer shared.

At noon, after walking around the city, Diana decided to stop at a vermicelli noodle shop on Duong Thanh Street (Hoan Kiem District). Although the shop is located in a small alley, with customers sitting on a shared walkway, she was still impressed because the owner and staff were all friendly and always smiling.

“Eaters in small alleys like this are quite common in Hanoi. They don’t have menus and I just see the staff serving large bowls. But I like these places,” Diana said.

Here, she ordered a bowl of mixed vermicelli soup for 40,000 VND, served with many ingredients such as fried tofu, beef, fish cakes,...

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Close-up of the sidewalk vermicelli soup in Hanoi that made a foreign girl keep praising it as delicious

The female tourist commented that the dish looked attractive and the appearance was different from the dishes she had enjoyed in Vietnam. Therefore, she was eager to try it right away to see how it tasted.

“Wow, this is delicious. The broth is delicious, with lots of ingredients. The staff even gave me a basket of green vegetables,” Diana said.

The Western guest also revealed that this was just a place she accidentally found out about while walking by, but she found that the food here was not only delicious but also reasonably priced.

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A full serving of chicken rice is served at a restaurant on Trang Tien Street.

At the end of the day, Diana went to a restaurant in a small alley on Trang Tien Street. This was a place she had been to before and was very impressed with the chicken rice. “This restaurant is always crowded with locals. I ate here before and even took a photo of the chicken rice because it was delicious,” Diana said.

According to the female tourist, because of this chicken rice dish, she went over her budget for dinner. After breakfast and lunch, she only had 35,000 VND left, but the meal here cost 45,000 VND. Thus, she spent 135,000 VND, instead of 125,000 VND as originally planned.

“The rice here is delicious, with a whole chicken thigh and extra pickles and sauce. I can’t believe how delicious and cheap this dish is,” she commented.

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Western tourist rated chicken rice as the best dish she ever ate when traveling to Hanoi.

Diana also admitted that this restaurant is her favorite culinary spot in Hanoi because "the food is delicious, cheap, the portions are large and the restaurant is hidden in an alley".

“So I ended up having the best meal I’ve ever had in Hanoi and exceeded my original budget of 10,000 VND. Although I couldn’t complete the 3 meals a day challenge with 5 USD, I still found the experience very interesting.

You can do the same to realize that it is easy to live here for a day with only that amount of money because the food is very cheap and delicious," said the female tourist from the Philippines.

Photo: Diana Neven

Western tourists try expensive beef pho and 50,000 VND chicken pho in Hanoi, praise both as delicious. Trying the "national" dish in Hanoi with two cheap and expensive versions, the Western tourist said that both dishes are delicious.