Bún chả: how to eat Hà Nội’s favourite lunch

Walk through Hà Nội at eleven in the morning and follow the smoke. Somewhere there is a woman fanning a charcoal grill on the pavement, pork sizzling between wire racks. That is lunch: bún chả.

What comes on the tray

• Chả: pork grilled over charcoal, in two kinds. Slices of pork belly or shoulder (chả miếng) and little patties of minced pork (chả viên).
• Nước chấm: a warm bowl of fish sauce, vinegar, sugar and water, with thin slices of green papaya and carrot. The pork sits in it.
• Bún: a plate of cold rice vermicelli.
• Herbs: lettuce, perilla (tía tô), Vietnamese balm (kinh giới), coriander and more.
• Nem rán: fried spring rolls, ordered on the side. In the south they are called chả giò.

How to eat it

1. Season the bowl first: a little crushed garlic, chilli or vinegar from the table, to your taste.
2. Pick up some bún with your chopsticks and dip it into the bowl with the pork.
3. Add a few herbs, take some pork, and eat it all in one go.
4. Repeat until the plate is empty. Nobody pours the sauce over the noodles.

How to order

• “Cho tôi một suất bún chả.” One portion of bún chả, please.
• “Thêm nem.” Add a spring roll.
• “Không cay.” Not spicy.

When to go

Bún chả is a lunch dish. The grills are lit late in the morning, and many stalls sell out soon after lunch. If you see smoke and a crowd of office workers on low stools, sit down.

The famous lunch

In 2016 Barack Obama and Anthony Bourdain shared bún chả and beer on plastic stools at a small restaurant in Hà Nội, and the place still sells the “Obama combo”. It is the same dish you will get at any good stall down the street.

Eat Hà Nội with us

Bún chả is not on our menu, but our Hà Nội outings are built around the same kind of stalls: start at dawn with the Dawn Phở Run, or end the day at a Bia Hơi Corner Night.