Food in Hanoi breaks down into 2 categories: Vietnamese food and Western food. Pretty much everything in Hanoi breaks into those 2 categories actually (for my purposes). However, I ended up not being able to use “Western Food” as the title here though because this list includes a Japanese restaurant. Non-Vietnamese food is universally more expensive, but it is still cheap by Western standards. These are my favorite places that serve non-Vietnamese food. Most of these places have people on staff that can speak English in this category… but not all of them.
ETÉ
FRENCH & AMERICAN FOOD (DINNER)
Address: 95 Giang Van Minh, Doi Can, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi
Eté is as much a bar as it is a restaurant, but the food is so amazing that I decided to list it here as a restaurant. The Eté Burger is perhaps the best thing on the menu. Eté is famous for it, but the Croque Madame is popular amongst French expats living in Hanoi, so that should give it some 'street cred.' However, I'd advise you to steer clear of the tapas though; they are puny.
As we've discussed, Hanoi has a curfew for businesses, but in spite of that, Eté will stay open pretty late. However, they are required to close their doors and windows at 11pm. From this point on, Eté does its best to keep a low profile. The music is turned down and people continue about their business at a low volume, as not to attract attention. If the police notice that they are still open for business, the party will be over. So if you want to go for a late-night bite, do your best to arrive before 10:59pm.
DA PAOLO
AUTHENTIC ITALIAN FOOD (Lunch + DINNER)
Address: No. 18, Lane 50/59/17, Dang Thai Mai Street, Tay Ho District, Hanoi
Walking into Da Paolo, you'll forget what counrty you're in. You'll be wondering why this random restaurant in the middle of Italy has all Asian servers. Da Paolo is a fancy place—certainly the fanciest place that I have ever bothered to spend my own money at. An Italian expat friend of mine recommended it and after trying it out, I must say, it does not disappoint. Everything on the menu is amazing. I’ve been back.
You'll find this restaurant sitting on the banks of West Lake, deep into Tay Ho, which is where much of Hanoi's "money" lives. This neighborhood has a significant population of westerners and Da Paolo is a haunt for many of them. It's in a gorgeous location too, so give it a try next time you're in Hanoi!
JOMA BAKERY CAFÉ
LUNCH PLACE
Address 1 (Ba Dinh): 38 Lieu Giai, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi
Address 2 (Old Quarter): 22 Ly Quoc Su, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi
There are number of locations around Hanoi, but the one I always went to was in Ba Dinh. The silver medal goes to their location in the Old Quarter. The expat community always seemed to be pretty split on this place. Some people hate it, criticizing their high prices and the general Western bubble it offers. And then there are people like me who happily and shamelessly frequent the establishment. They knew me by name here. When I leave, sometimes they say “see you tomorrow” with a laugh. So, I'm about to advocate for it.
It’s got A/C. It’s got great coffee. The food is also amazing. It's rare that people manage to get Western food right in Hanoi, so you will appreciate that. It's got reliable wifi, so it's great for doing work. What more could a guy ask for? Order the ‘Bagel Egger’ on the ‘Cheddar Pepper Bagel’. On a side note, they also have locations in Phnom Penh and Vientane. I had Joma in Cambodia too, but it wasn't as good as in Vietnam.
PUKU CAFÉ
24/7 PLACE
Address: 16 Tong Duy Tan, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi
I love this place because It’s open all night and it serves pretty much everything you can imagine, from beer to breakfast. Puku is the all-purpose, any time / any place / any thing establishment that every foreigner in Hanoi should know. The food is good. The atmosphere is great. There is comfortable seating both inside and outside. But the wifi, to be totally honest, is sub-par. You'll have to hang around pretty late in the night to get enough bandwidth for the wifi to be very useful.
If you arrive at Puku and then decide that it's not your scene, you'll already be in the middle of Food Street. Food Street, as the name suggests, is a big network of alleyways, packed full of small restaurants, most of which stay open into the wee hours of the night. Puku sits at one of the biggest intersections, surrounded by amazing (and much more authentic) Vietnamese restaurants.
THE KAFE
LUNCH & DINNER PLACE
Address: 18 Dien Bien Phu, Đien Bien, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi
For the Hanoi hipster (a growing demographic here), The Kafe is heaven. If you want to see just what that brand of hipster looks like, check out The Kafe's Instagram account: @thekafevn. This place has a really cool vibe. It sits near the last major intersection before the Old Quarter begins and normal Hanoi ends.
So this place is cool, but the food is also great. It’s a bit pricey by Vietnamese standards but it’s nice every so often. My favorite thing on the menu is the “slow braised beef ragu & house made herb pasta.” I don't know what they put into marinade they put on this thing, but it HAUNTS me. Check this place out.
AKATAIYO
JAPANESE PLACE
Address: 43 Linh Lang, Cong Vi, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi
This was a place that I drove by almost everyday for 6 months, and was always intrigued by. It’s just so interesting looking from the outside with it’s delicate Japanese architecture. The fact that it's tucked away down Linh Lang (which is a small alley way off of Dao Tan) gives it some additional mystique. There's actually another location of this restaurant on the other side of the city, but the address provided will lead you to the original.
It took some convincing to get anybody to try it out with me, but once we were there it was great! It’s not too pricey (or at least not as pricey as we were expecting) and the food is amazing. I’m not even a lover of Japanese food, but the Octopus and Asian BBQ combo—who knew! This place broadened my culinary horizons.
CUTISUN
CHEAP VIETNAMESE STEAK PLACE
Address: So 3 Ngo 120 Hoang Hoa Tham, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi
I want to be clear: this is not what we would call “high quality food,” but it’s in the right ball park. More importantly, it’s dirt cheap for what it is. Cutisun is a little steakhouse for locals who can’t tell the difference. Most of the places I’ve listed are too pricey to go to very often without inducing some serious spending-guilt. It's true that they are pretty much all cheap by Western standards, but by Vietnamese standards they places are for the upper class. But Cutisun is legitimately cheap.
Cutisun is surprisingly nice for the hole-in-the-wall that it is. It doesn't have much of a reputation though. Most of my expat friends found this place the same way I did: driving past it a million times before finally getting curious enough to go inside. As it turned out, the place has a nice vibe. Whether or not they speak English depends mostly on who’s shift you show up during. I give it 60/40 odds.
