Hanoi Old Quarter & Hoan Kiem: Street Food Walking Tour

4.98

(160 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

The first thing I noticed was the clatter — scooters zipping past, someone calling out for “banh mi” behind me, and the smell of grilled pork rising from a tiny alley near Hoan Kiem Lake. Our guide, Linh, waved us over with a grin and handed out little bottles of water (needed that — it was humid already). She told us why locals call it “Hoan Kiem,” something about an old sword and a turtle, but honestly I was distracted by the way sunlight hit the lake’s surface. There were couples taking photos, kids chasing each other, and vendors balancing baskets on their shoulders. It felt like everyone belonged here except me — at least for now.

We wandered into the Old Quarter, where every street seemed to have its own specialty and its own soundtrack. Linh led us straight to a stall making banh cuon — thin rice pancakes rolled up with mushrooms and pork. The auntie running it laughed when I tried to say “cam on” (thank you) in Vietnamese — probably butchered it. The texture was so soft it almost slid off my chopsticks. We tried bun cha next (the smoky smell still sticks in my memory), then sticky rice with ice cream which I didn’t expect to like but… well, I still think about that weirdly perfect combo.

Linh showed us how to cross the road (“just walk steady, don’t look nervous!”), which sounds simple until you’re actually surrounded by scooters coming from all sides. At some point we squeezed into a tiny café for egg coffee — sweet and thick like dessert in a cup. There was this moment of quiet there, just fans humming overhead and our group grinning at each other over frothy mugs. After that I started noticing small things: how locals gesture with their whole hands instead of fingers, or how everyone seems to know exactly where they’re going even if the streets look chaotic to me.

By the end I wasn’t sure if I’d learned more about Hanoi’s food or its people — maybe both? Either way, walking back through those tangled streets with Linh waving goodbye felt less like leaving a tour and more like stepping out of someone else’s daily life for a bit.