Hanoi is developing restaurant concepts across different price segments.
Food writer Jovel Chan told Nikkei that, over the past three to five years, both HCMC and Hanoi have built up premium dining concepts alongside their street food scenes.
By drawing inspiration from family meals and neighborhood recipes, chefs create a more authentic dining experience than found in cities like Singapore or Bangkok, he said.
Here are seven Hanoi restaurants that showcase the diversity of the city's culinary landscape.
Photo by Giang Huy
Gia
Location: 61 Van Mieu Street, Quoc Tu Giam Ward
Chef Sam Tran built her culinary career in Melbourne in the late 2010s, once hoping to open a restaurant there. But when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, she was in Vietnam and could not leave. Refusing to give up, she opened Gia in Hanoi, and became the first recipient of the Michelin Guide Vietnam's Young Chef award three years later.
Named after the Vietnamese word gia dinh for family, Gia honors its namesake by elevating dishes like jellied meat and braised eel into fine-dining experiences.
The menu changes every quarter, and ingredients are sourced from provinces across the country.
Sam shifted to a local menu after customers expressed a preference for Vietnamese dishes made with domestic rather than imported ingredients.
Photo by Giang Huy
Chapter Dining
Location: 12C Chan Cam Street, Hoan Kiem Ward
Chef Quang Dung was persuaded by his parents to get a finance degree and aspire for a banking career, but his passion for food led him up a different path. After working in kitchens in the U.K. and Vietnam, he opened Chapter Dining in Hanoi's Old Quarter in 2021.
The restaurant serves a menu focused on northern cuisine, with ingredients sourced directly from farmers. Its current menu draws inspiration from the northern highlands, with each dish telling a story about its ingredients. It features creations like pho served with egg yolk and chicken feet, corn paired with smoked Northwest-style sausage, and French Comté cheese.
Photo courtesy of Chapter.hanoi
Le Beaulieu
Location: Sofitel Legend Metropole, 15 Ngo Quyen Street, Hoan Kiem Ward
The Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi has had a French restaurant on its site since opening in 1901, and Le Beaulieu carries on that legacy. Chef Charles Degrendele said the menu stays true to tradition, featuring French dishes such as lobster bisque and beef Rossini.
In its tasting menu, the restaurant offers a modern blend of French classics with Vietnamese flavors. Its spring menu draws on honey harvested from various regions of Vietnam, used in dishes such as langoustine salad with mint honey from Lao Cai Province, and desserts featuring honey from Dak Lak Province.
Photo courtesy of Michelin Guide
Hibana by Koki
Location: Capella Hanoi, 11 Le Phung Hieu Street, Hoan Kiem Ward
With seating limited to 14, Hibana by Koki, the only Japanese restaurant in Vietnam to have a Michelin star, lets diners focus on the food.
At the teppanyaki counter, Chef Yamaguchi Hiroshi prepares Japanese imports like bluefin tuna and lobster. A standout is the Yaeyama Kyori beef from Okinawa, an alternative to Kobe wagyu, which is seared on the grill and finished over charcoal.
Other spring highlights include teppanyaki-grilled grouper in seaweed butter sauce and sea bream sashimi topped with sturgeon roe.
Photo by Giang Huy
Jumarc
Location: 23C Hai Ba Trung, Trang Tien Ward
Located opposite the Trang Tien Plaza shopping center, Jumarc is a Korean restaurant and wine bar. Artworks line the walls alongside a whiteboard filled with messages for diners to read while waiting for their food.
The menu features Korean-inspired fusion dishes, such as tteokbokki rice cakes in a lobster sauce with grilled shrimp or mushroom and truffle dumplings in a ginseng chicken broth.
Photo courtesy of Tripadvisor
Etesia
Location: 14B Lo Su Street, Hoan Kiem Ward
At Etesia, an 18-seat counter is where all the cooking happens in full view of diners. Chef Hoang Minh's menu draws on Mediterranean influences, with dishes such as beef tartare with butter lettuce and torch ginger flowers, and Sicilian-style pasta.
Asian influences also come through in dishes like octopus with kimchi sauce, and lobster in Goan spices served with coconut lobster rice.
Photo courtesy of Etesia
Cha Ca Thang Long
Location: 6B Duong Thanh Street, Hoan Kiem Ward
Despite having three branches on the same street, Cha Ca Thang Long restaurant still sees diners lining up to wait for a table.
All three branches serve their signature dish, cha ca la vong (turmeric fish with dill and noodles). The fish is marinated in turmeric, galangal, and shrimp paste. Sizzled at the table with scallion and dill, the dish is eaten with vermicelli noodles and fried spring rolls.
Photo courtesy of Chacathanglong
