Hanoi's Newest Michelin Picks: Banh Cuon on Hang Ga, Chicken Pho and a Mother's Kitchen

Bánh cuốn on Hàng Gà

Bánh Cuốn Gia Truyền Thanh Vân is the Hàng Gà shop, run by the same family since 1973. The rice is ground on the premises. The rolls are steamed when you order and filled with pork, wood-ear and shiitake mushroom and onion. Fried shallots and shrimp floss go on top. The dipping sauce is made with simmered pork-bone broth. A full portion is 45,000₫ to 65,000₫, depending on whether you have pork, chicken or shrimp inside. A slice of chả quế, giò lụa or chả cốm is 10,000₫. For 5,000₫ you can have a drop of cà cuống (giant water bug) essential oil stirred into the sauce. It serves early morning to early afternoon, then again from 17:00 into the evening, and the exact windows move, so check before you go.

Chicken phở at any hour

Phở Hà Hàng Hòm, at 15 Hàng Hòm, got its Bib in June 2026. It opens at 6:00 and runs to midnight, which makes it the easiest place here to eat at an odd hour. Chicken phở in broth is the signature, and the same chicken goes into bún, miến and mì, wet or dry. The xôi gà (sticky rice with chicken) sells heavily, with egg or gizzard on top. Standard dishes are 50,000₫ to 60,000₫, and a bowl loaded with thigh, breast, egg and liver is 80,000₫. There's also a 30,000₫ small portion, so you can try several things in a sitting. The shop is two cramped floors with a steep stair between them, and the waits are worst at lunch and from 19:00 to 20:00.

If you want it dry, go to Phở Gà Nguyệt on Phủ Doãn. Phở gà trộn is the tossed version and starts at 55,000₫. Soup bowls are priced by cut, from 55,000₫ for breast to 120,000₫ for a heavily loaded thigh-and-back bowl, and offal is 25,000₫ more. The broth is made from mature free-range hens, and you can have it with miến, bún or mì instead of rice noodles. It runs 6:30 to 13:00, then 17:00 to midnight. One warning: a motorbike repair shop sits next door and diners often notice the oil.

Beef phở on Bát Đàn and Hàng Vải

Phở Gia Truyền at 49 Bát Đàn is the one with the queue out of the door. Just inside it, a man carves beef over a steaming cauldron. You line up at the counter, order and pay, then carry your own bowl to a shared table. A bowl is 50,000₫ to 60,000₫ depending on the cut, with quẩy (fried dough sticks) on the side. It serves 6:00 to 10:00 and 18:00 to 20:30, so don't come at lunchtime. The queue is longest from 8:30 to 9:30 and the popular cuts can go after 9:00, so get there early.

Phở Khôi Hói is on the corner of Hàng Vải and Phùng Hưng, and most people eat on plastic stools out on the pavement. Ask for phở lõi, the inner part of the shank, or gầu giòn, the crisp brisket. The broth is simmered from bones for more than 20 hours. Bowls are 45,000₫ to 90,000₫, and it's open 6:00 to 21:00, so you can go at a normal dinner hour. In the evening the kitchen adds fried noodles and beef hotpot.

Eel noodles at Hàng Da market

Miến lươn, eel over glass noodles, is the city's other great bowl. Miến Lươn Đông Thịnh at 87 Hàng Điếu faces the market gate, with trays of crisp fried eel stacked at the front. You're asked whether you want the eel crisp or soft. The soup bowl is 45,000₫ and the dry mixed one 55,000₫, and other eel dishes run 30,000₫ to 65,000₫. It's open 6:30 to 22:00, but the room is tight, so skip 12:00 to 13:30 and the hour after 18:00.

Bún chả two ways

Bún Chả Ta on Nguyễn Hữu Huân spreads over several air-conditioned floors of a tall old house, a short walk from the north-east corner of Hồ Gươm. A plate of charcoal-grilled chả viên with herbs and bún is 70,000₫, and with nem cua bể (sea-crab spring rolls) or other add-ons you're up to 110,000₫. It's open 8:00 to 22:00 with no midday break, needs no booking and takes cash only.

At Bún Chả Chan on Mai Hắc Đế the broth is poured straight into the bowl over the noodles. There's no dipping dish, and the seasoning is gentler for it. The pork is left in thick pieces and goes on the charcoal out front when you order, so you'll wait a few minutes. A portion is 40,000₫ to 60,000₫. It's lunch only and often sells out around 13:00, and the room is small, so come early.

Chả cá and vegetarian plates

Chả Cá Thăng Long at 6B Đường Thành grills cá lăng catfish marinated with turmeric, galangal and fermented rice. The fish then finishes in a pan under a mound of dill and spring onion. You mix it with bún, herbs and roasted peanuts and spoon over mắm tôm, a fermented shrimp paste. Ask for the mắm tôm on the side if it isn't for you. A portion is 130,000₫ to 170,000₫. It opens 10:30 to 21:00, and you should book or arrive early at peak times. Several shops on the same stretch trade under the name, so go by the address.

The one vegetarian address on the list is Ưu Đàm Chay at 55 Nguyễn Du. Order the phở cuốn lá Ưu Đàm, phở sheets rolled with herbs. Dishes are 60,000₫ to 285,000₫ and a meal comes to 300,000₫ a head, so it costs several times a bowl of phở. It's open 10:00 to 22:00, and you should book a day ahead.

Mother's cooking in Ba Đình and Đống Đa

Mammom at 23B Phan Đình Phùng is the third of the new picks. Food arrives as a shared family tray. The kitchen draws on close to a hundred seasonal dishes from the north, centre and south, and you can order à la carte, as a combo or as a set. Dishes run 125,000₫ to just under 300,000₫, and four people eating together will spend 250,000₫ to 300,000₫ each. Allow about two hours. There's a water-puppet stage inside, which is why it works with children. Opinion is split on whether the cooking is worth the money, so if you're counting đồng, eat on the street instead. It serves 11:00 to 14:00 and 17:30 to 22:00.

Xới Cơm at 36 Láng Hạ in Đống Đa does the plainer version of the same idea. It's a rice tray of northern dishes, in a room furnished like a 1990s Hanoi apartment. The list changes every day. There are about fifteen dishes, built on whatever came in from the farms that morning: stir-fried beef, fried prawns, garlic-fried water spinach. A meal is 200,000₫ a head. It's open 10:00 to 14:00 and 17:00 to 21:00, half an hour later for dinner from Friday to Sunday. It's outside the Old Quarter, so take a taxi, and note that the address also appears as 107, ngõ 36 Láng Hạ.

Before you go

None of the noodle shops takes a booking, so timing is your only lever. The Bát Đàn shop shuts between breakfast and dinner, and the lunch-only places sell out in the early afternoon. Book Mammom and the vegetarian house, and carry cash for the bún chả on Nguyễn Hữu Huân. See the Hanoi guide and the Hanoi hotel search.