What to Eat Near the Temple of Literature

Hanoians eat by the clock and by the season. Phở belongs to the morning, bún chả to lunchtime, green rice flakes to the first cool days of autumn. Around the Temple of Literature and Hanoi Station you don't have to go far to eat the right thing at the right time.

Morning: phở, rice rolls, sticky rice

Beef phở: clear broth scented with cinnamon and star anise. Ask for "tái lăn" for beef flash-fried with ginger and garlic, "chín" for tender well-done slices. Bánh cuốn, steamed rice sheets as thin as silk with a light fish-sauce dip, is a gentler breakfast. In a hurry, a parcel of xôi (sticky rice) in banana leaf will keep you going until lunch.

Lunch: bún chả

The smell of pork grilling over charcoal is Hanoi's lunchtime bell. Grilled pork belly and patties sit in a sweet-sour broth, eaten with rice noodles, herbs and crisp crab spring rolls. In 2016 President Obama and Anthony Bourdain shared bún chả on plastic stools on Le Van Huu Street, not far from here.

Afternoon and evening

• Egg coffee: egg yolk whipped with sugar over strong black coffee, invented in the 1940s when milk was scarce.
• Chả cá: turmeric-marinated fish fried at the table with dill and spring onion, served with noodles, peanuts and shrimp paste. Cha Ca Street in the Old Quarter is named after the dish.
• Bún thang: a delicate noodle soup of finely sliced toppings laid out like a small painting.
• Cốm: young green rice flakes, sold only in autumn, wrapped in lotus leaves and eaten a pinch at a time.

Eating in

Every studio at Narcissus Tuc Mac has its own kitchen, and a simple meal by the window is another way to eat Hanoi. Breakfast is served in your room from 6:00 to 9:00 AM; reception takes your order the evening before.

The best places here rarely have big signs. Ask at reception and we'll point you to the ones we eat at ourselves.