The bun cha restaurant on Hang Than Street is on the list of 29 restaurants receiving the Bib Gourmand award - restaurants serving quality dishes at affordable prices. Michelin introduces this restaurant as famous for its grilled vermicelli noodles on request and suggests diners order crispy fried spring rolls to eat with the vermicelli noodles.
A full bowl of vermicelli noodles has minced patties and pieces marinated with rich spices, grilled to a crisp edge on a charcoal stove. The restaurant's patties are rolled with river bone leaves. The meat is moderately lean and fatty, not dry when grilled on the stove. A full bowl of grilled meat is served with a dipping sauce according to its own recipe, with a sweet, sour, spicy, salty taste, and a few pieces of green papaya and carrots to quench the thirst.
Vermicelli served with grilled meat patties is tangy vermicelli like everywhere, served with a bowl of fresh vegetables including lettuce, perilla, bean sprouts... In addition, diners can order fried spring rolls to eat with bun cha to round out the flavor. .
Hanoi's Old Quarter has no shortage of delicious bun cha restaurants, but Hang Than bun cha has retained customers for decades because of its rich, delicious, and traditional flavor.
During peak hours, around 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m., there are almost no seats in the house. When there are no tables in the restaurant, diners will eat bun cha on a small tray placed on a plastic chair, sitting right on the sidewalk. The restaurant is so crowded that as soon as you stand up, someone immediately takes your place. Many groups or families have to find seats first before ordering food.
Despite being so crowded, the bun cha restaurant only opens from about 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. before closing. Ms. Ta Anh Tuyet, owner of the restaurant, shared: "Bun cha includes 3 main parts: fish sauce, fresh vermicelli and grilled meat. A meal costs 50,000 VND and includes meatballs, grilled meat, and river bone meatballs served with vermicelli and raw vegetables.
Every day, our house sells about 2 quintals of fresh vermicelli and fried spring rolls that customers order outside but are not included in the meal. My family's grilled meat has its own marinade recipe that is sweet enough and the meat is tender after being grilled."
Customers who eat bun cha vary from children to adults, people working in business or office workers, everyone "loves" this easy-to-eat and light lunch. In particular, many foreign tourists also enjoy coming here to explore famous Vietnamese dishes according to the Michelin Guide.
