Food Adventures in Hanoi - Quan An Ngon

If there’s one thing that I enjoyed most about our holiday in Hanoi, it’s eating all that delicious food! There’s so much to try it’s almost like an adventure in itself!

As I’ve written about in my previous posts on Hanoi, the Quan An Ngon restaurant is my absolute favourite so of course it’s high on my list of places to eat. My family which includes one very picky little girl, were absolutely delighted at the diverse choices available at Quan An Ngon.

We ordered chicken pho (chicken noodle soup), bun bo (beef vermicelli soup), bun cha (grilled pork and vermicelli), nem cua be (fried spring rolls), prawn fritters, young papaya salad, squid salad, mango salad with prawn crackers, fried tofu with fermented shrimp dip, fresh spring rolls, bbq squid, and che (sweet dessert) to share. The food were absolutely sumptious and although they cost more than what I would expect to pay at the street stalls, it’s great to have so many choices at one place. The salad stalls serve some pretty interesting salads. I caught sight of a tray filled with something that looked like bugs, but was told it’s actually baby sparrows. Although I’m keen on trying a lot of different food, I’m drawing a line at this because I’m pregnant and the last thing I want to do is eat babies (although they’re baby birds)! We loved the ambience … it was packed both days we were there. Although I would expect a more touristy-clientele, I was pleasantly surprised to see many locals eating there as well. One downside is the Vietnamese-speaking staff, they are not very well-versed in English. The menus are written in Vietnamese and English but I would really recommend walking around the many stalls to choose your food. If you find something that you like, just ask the staff to write it down on a piece of paper so that you can pass it to the waiter when you return to your table. This way you’ll be able to see what you are ordering. Quan An Ngon is really THE place to go if you want to have a wide variety of Vietnamese street food in one place.