Breakfast on a plastic stool

Walk through Hanoi's Old Quarter at seven in the morning and you will see people everywhere sitting on tiny plastic stools. They are not waiting for a bus. They are having breakfast. For many Hanoians, street food is not a special treat but part of daily life.

The most famous dish is probably pho, rice noodles in beef soup. However, locals often choose something else in the morning. For instance, many people start the day with xoi (sticky rice) or banh cuon, soft rice rolls filled with pork. Most stalls sell only one dish. As a result, each cook has made it thousands of times and knows exactly how it should taste. The best stalls are often off the beaten track, at the end of a narrow alley.

Street food is also cheap. A filling breakfast costs around 30,000 to 50,000 dong, so students and workers on a tight budget can eat well every day. In addition, it is fast. You sit down, order, and your food arrives in a couple of minutes. Many stalls open every morning, rain or shine.

Of course, eating on the street is not perfect. The pavement is crowded, motorbikes pass very close, and in summer it can be extremely hot. Some visitors also worry about hygiene. Even so, most locals would never give up their favourite stall for a quiet, air-conditioned restaurant. For them, the noise and the crowds are part of the fun.

In short, a plastic stool on a Hanoi pavement is more than just a place to eat. It is where neighbours catch up on the news, where old friends meet before work, and where the whole city slowly wakes up. So if you visit, skip the hotel breakfast at least once and pull up a stool.