Phở Gia Truyền Bát Đàn — Restaurant in Hà Nội

I am Vietnamese. I was born and raised in South Vietnam until 1969. In December 1969 I moved to Germany to study. I have been living in San Jose, California since 1979. In Dec 2019 I traveled to Saigon for the 1st time after a very long time and then to Hanoi before going back to the USA. In Vietnam I was told that " Phở " was originated from Hanoi. So I searched online and found " Phở Bát Đàn " with very good rating. On the last day before flying back to the US I walked from my hotel in "Phố cổ" to " Phở Bát Đàn " to try and see how good is " Phở Bát Đàn ". From a distance I can see a long line of people waiting. While waiting I chatted with a young Aussie woman and I asked her How do you know this shop offers good " Phở " ? She replied confidently Oh I know there's good Phở here . I researched it online.

First of all, this shop offers no service. Self Serving only .You pick up your bowl of " Phở " and bring it to your table. While waiting in line I notice the guy prepares Phở, collects money, picks up raw beef, noodle herbs with bare hand- no gloves At the table, there is nothing.No black pepper, no lime, no herbs. It is one of the worst " Phở " I have ever eaten. The broth tastes full of MSG.

Looking at the review most people rate it mostly 4 or 5 stars. Many of them are foreigners. I just wonder if they really know how " Phở " should taste like? Maybe a long time ago before the invasion of South VietNam 1975 people from the North lived in very limited means. So having a bowl of so called " Phở " with full of MSG is delicious. And I guess that how " Phở Bát Đàn " is cooked. This was the first and also the last time.

San...

For non Vietnamese speaking tourists, go for the Gia Nam at 60,000vnd. It's inexpensive (around £2/$2) and gives you the full experience. Don't forget to ask for 'gway' to dip into your broth. It's super cheap and worth adding to your meal. Let it soak up the broth and get soft before biting into it. The reason why locals love this is because of the meat. You get a lot of the 'nam', which is softer and has a distinctive taste. It's a pleasant taste that isn't gamey in my opinion. I did really enjoy the meat and the broth, but as a spoilt tourist I wasn't keen on the cleanliness and safety of the eating area. I was sat just a metre away from pots of raw meat that was getting an occasional stir with a big wooden rod. The rod was then placed on the floor and reused again and again.

So the food is worth trying, but the eating experience is at the very limit of what I'm willing to put up with. Having said that, it's not even the most unhygienic place I've visited in Vietnam! Someone else's review mentioned that it's a place you go in and out of, not a place to hang around in and I totally agree with that. Worth visiting for the food, but temper your...

thursday 9:00am - no wait - dine in - cash

saw this pho spot is on the michelin guide and has very high reviews so decided to try it out. the restaurant was full at 9:00am but people eat very fast so we got a shared table.

// service // give the order to the man at the counter and pay. they call you when your order is ready. the menu is in vietnamese but there's like four items. our order was ready in under 10 minutes. my only complaint is i'm pretty sure the man gave me a total of 5k more than it should have, but i didn't say anything at the time...

// pho tai (55k) // small/medium bowl but more than enough for breakfast. good portion of noodles and meat. i felt the broth/overall dish lacked flavor though. i guess i am used to putting hoisin sauce / sriracha in my pho though.

we also got the fried dough sticks (5k) -- like you tiao, you can soak them in the broth. not much flavor on their own but tastes good and was not too oily.

this is the only pho place i've tried in vietnam so far so i can't compare, but i'd say the flavor was average, and i was slightly underwhelmed given the...