On a cool evening in Hanoi, somewhere around eight o’clock, a particular sound starts up on certain streets. It is the clink of small shells being dropped into an enamel bowl, repeated several hundred times, by several dozen people, for about three hours. This is oc Hanoi, and it is one of the most purely…
On a warm evening on Trang Tien Street, a few hundred metres from Hoan Kiem Lake, you will find something that makes no sense until you see it: a hundred people standing on a pavement and in a covered courtyard, eating ice cream on sticks, saying very little, and leaving within four minutes. Nobody sits…
At three in the morning, most of Hanoi is as quiet as it ever gets. The Old Quarter has emptied, the last pho shops are winding down, and the streets belong to street sweepers and a few motorbikes. Five kilometres north, beside West Lake, several thousand people are working under fluorescent light in a sea…
The Drinks That Fill Hanoi Sidewalks Ask a Hanoian for a favourite drink and you may not hear about coffee at all. You are more likely to hear about the simple glasses served from kettles, thermoses and carts on every corner: iced tea, lemon tea, herbal brews and fresh sugarcane juice. These are the Hanoi…
Why Bubble Tea Is Part of the Hanoi Experience Hanoi is famous for pho, egg coffee and sidewalk lemon tea, yet a different kind of drink now fills the city’s corners from the Old Quarter to the French Quarter: bubble tea in Hanoi. Walk around Hoan Kiem Lake on a warm afternoon and you will…
Banh Mi Vietnam on the World Food Map Few dishes travel as well as the Vietnamese sandwich. Crisp bread, rich pate, fresh herbs and a kick of chili have made banh mi in Vietnam one of the most recognised street foods on the planet. The word itself was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in…
Every September, one of Hanoi’s oldest streets transforms into a colourful world of lanterns, paper masks, drums and traditional toys. This is Hang Ma Street Hanoi, one of the most atmospheric places to experience the Mid-Autumn Festival in Hanoi. Known locally as Tet Trung Thu, the festival is traditionally a celebration for children and families….
Ask any local when Hanoi is at its most beautiful, and the answer almost always comes back the same: Hanoi autumn. Between September and November, the city sheds the punishing heat and humidity of summer and settles into something gentler, cooler mornings, golden afternoon light, and streets that finally feel comfortable to explore on foot…
Every October, a distinct sweetness drifts through the streets of Hanoi at dusk, thick enough to stop passersby mid-step. This is hoa sữa Hanoi, the milk flower, and for anyone visiting the city during Vietnam’s cooler months, understanding this small white bloom is understanding one of the most emotionally loaded symbols in Hanoi culture. It…
Among all the edible souvenirs that visitors carry home from Vietnam, few are as tied to a single street as bánh cốm Hanoi. This soft, jade-green rice cake, wrapped in banana leaf and tucked into simple paper boxes, is one of Hanoi’s most treasured specialty foods, a favorite for gift-giving, weddings, and quiet afternoons with…
