Xôi Yến — Restaurant in Hà Nội

The food is amazing! We chanced upon this shop randomly when we walked out of Cafe Giang. Saw many locals trying the food and we were intrigued by what looks like a rice bowl.

How to order?

You will have to first choose the base i.e the sticky rice. There are 3 options: Turmeric sticky rice; Traditional sticky rice; Corn sticky rice.

We chose the corn one.

Next, you will have to choose your toppings and we chose pan fried chicken and mushroom.

We ordered Vietnamese iced tea too and it tasted sour yet refreshing. The ending note tasted much like Jasmine tea. It’s a perfect drink along with the sticky rice. Saw many locals ordering the soy milk so you guys can also give it a try!

The rice was amazing as it was mixed with mashed potato, topped with fried shallots. It was nothing we had back in our country. The fried egg is soaked in a herbal soup that tasted much like Bak Kut Teh in Singapore.

Overall, a very pleasant encounter and we will definitely be back again. Surprised that this place is not very popular among the tourists, and so I would say it is...

Xoi Yen is a family shophouse style restaurant that pumps out a number of speciality dishes, all revolving around sticky rice (xoi). It may be filled with locals, but don’t be afraid. Simply choose your rice flavor and your toppings, it’s easy!

You bet I’m ordering myself some of that cinnamon roasted pork with apple.The bowl arrived in just under a minute and I immediately dug in. While filling my face with the amazing combination of sticky rice, cinnamon, apple and pork, I couldn’t help but wonder why I have never seen or even heard of this combination of food before. Was it a dessert? Was it a savoury dish? My mind was racing.

I immediately raised my hand and ordered another bowl. I opted for the boiled chicken this time. Being on the top of the menu therefore universally symbolizes the ‘recommended/popular option’, right? It was delicious but the cinnamon pork was the winner in this contest. Oh, the price? 68k VND ($3 USD) for two bowls.

Eat it. You’ll feel like a pig, but who cares -...

It was so good to know that Xoi Yen opened again. They stopped for so long time and I didn't know where to have nice sticky rice. You can choose which type of sticky rice you have, normal sticky rice or sticky rice with mung beans. There were many kinds of topping I could choose or mix them together. That was so nice. Normally I chose stir-fry chicken with mushrooms. It tasted good and the mushroom smell really nice. It fitted perfectly with the sticky rice. There were many kind of drinks to choose. The most famous drinks were soy milk and ice tea. I chose ice tea because soy milk was always sweet. Ice tea had smell of jasmine and it was really fresh. My friend told me that it was a little bit bitter but then it was sweet naturally. The restaurant was not clean with slippy floor and they washed dishes and cups in a small bathroom. The house looked old and the...