Bia hơi: a beginner’s guide to Hà Nội’s fresh beer corners

Bia hơi means “fresh beer”: a light lager brewed every day, delivered to street corners in kegs each morning and drunk by evening. It is cheap, cold, and the reason a corner of tiny plastic stools fills up at five o’clock.

What it is

• Light and easy, around 3–4% alcohol.
• Made to be drunk the same day, so it tastes best early in the evening, before the keg runs low.
• A glass usually costs well under a dollar.

How a corner works

1. Sit down anywhere there is a free stool. Sharing a table is normal.
2. A glass arrives, often before you ask. Hold up fingers for how many.
3. Order snacks as they pass or point at the next table.
4. Someone keeps count. You pay at the end.

What to eat with it

• Lạc rang: roasted peanuts, the default.
• Đậu phụ rán: fried tofu, often with mắm tôm (fermented shrimp paste). Brave, then addictive.
• Nem chua rán: fried fermented pork rolls.
• Mực nướng: grilled dried squid, torn into strips.

How to toast

Everyone raises a glass and counts: “Một, hai, ba, dzô!” (one, two, three, cheers!). Then everyone drinks. You will toast again a few minutes later, and again after that.

• Trăm phần trăm: “a hundred percent”, empty the glass. You don’t have to; a smile and a sip are fine.
• When you toast someone older, hold your glass a little lower than theirs and use both hands. A small thing that people notice.
• Toast the whole table, not just your friends.

Getting home

Please don’t ride a motorbike after bia hơi. Walk, or book a car.

Sit down with us

Our Bia Hơi Corner Night sits you down at a corner full of stools, with bia hơi or soft drinks, five street snacks and a proper toasting lesson.