Incense Travel - Food & Beverage

Much of living in Hanoi has to do with eating and loving some of the noodle dishes that have emerged from this exciting part of the world. Naturally, pho bo (beef noodle soup) noodle dish is a popular choice. If you’ve ever tried one Vietnamese food, it’s most likely pho bo. Made with beef stock and rice noodles, the beef noodle dish is a must-try on the streets of Hanoi. But there’s much more to Hanoi’s diverse noodle scene than this familiar noodle dish.

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On my Hanoi food tours, I’m often asked “Where are the best pastry shops in Hanoi?”, which is a tough question. There are hundreds of pastries and bakeries in Hanoi, and it’s hard to whittle them down to just a handful of them. You can find both local Vietnamese bakery and foreign-chef owns bakery cafes in Hanoi, each has its own personality reflecting the neighborhood it’s located in.

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Gone are the days when a fresh margarita and Negroni at a night club or a glass of wine at your hotel bar were the only options for a boozy night out in Hanoi. Thanks to the game-changers like Diageo Reserve World Class, which generated an impressive group of talented mixologists, many of whom went on to open their own bars, so there is no shortage of spots to sip inventive drinks in Hanoi.

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When I was first working as a tour guide more than a decade ago, some travelers came to Hanoi and went to a vegetarian restaurant in the Old Quarter. The next day, they told me how stunned they were as there weren’t any mushroom or tofu on the menu. Yes, being a vegetarian used to be a challenge in Hanoi, but it’s not anymore! As the vegetarian dining scene has blossomed in the last decade, and there are more vegetarian (and vegan) places in Hanoi than ever.

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That is one of the most asked questions I have as a trip leader, which I do love to answer. I like delicious food, so I want to make sure my travelers find their ways to the best local restaurants in the town. Also, it requires quite an amount of sometime to reach the mountains of Sapa, then beside enjoying the mountain hikes we should be rewarded with good local food available there as well. This article therefore shows you the best 5 local restaurants in Sapa.

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Being a trip leader, I travel to the mountains of Sapa with my group almost every month. Beside showing my travelers the fascinating cultures of the ethnic people living on the hill sides, the gorgeous mountains and valleys of Sapa during our hikes, I love to take them to a local rooftop bar for a drink for its panoramic views. There is no better way to take in the magnificent views of Sapa than being on a rooftop with a drink, and here are my favorite rooftop bars in Sapa.

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One of the best ways to discover a new city is to be at somewhere high up with a panoramic view, where you can get a visual grip on your new surroundings while sipping on a local drink. Imagine being elevated above the chaos of Hanoi traffic, where you can feast your eyes on the magnificent views and watch the city transform from day to night. There is no better way to experience the city and to enjoy a sundowner than looking down from a rooftop bar in the capital city of Hanoi.

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On a recent survey conducted by the city of Hanoi, visitors were asked which Vietnamese dishes they had enjoyed the most, most responses were pho bo (beef noodle soup). That doesn’t surprise me, because pho bo is not only famous for its tenderness of the rice noodle, the texture characteristics of low fat thinly sliced beef and the sweetness of the stock attained from low simmering rich marrow bones overnight, but pho bo has also been a symbol of the Vietnamese cuisine.

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Pho, the Vietnam’s most famous noodle dish, is considered by many Vietnamese as the national dish, though it has been served mostly as a street food targeting common people in the last hundred years of its history. Not only in Vietnam, the migrations of the Vietnamese following the end of the American war have brought Pho to many corners around the global. Today, the Vietnam’s national dish has been capturing the fascination of people from all over the world.

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I flew from Hanoi to Nha Trang, Vietnam’s first beach city, for my business. As the country’s first beach city, Nha Trang has so many to offer to travelers, from long white sandy beach, clear waters for scuba diving to fabulous street food dishes with so many seafood options. Especially, seafood is offered in most dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

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