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The Best Cha Ca In Hanoi

We experienced Cha Ca on our very first day in Hanoi Vietnam. Discover why this fish dish was a revelation to these two culinary travelers.

Cha Ca Hanoi at Cha Ca Phan in Hanoi Vietnam
Image: ©2foodtrippers

We had never heard of Cha Ca until our first day in Hanoi, but we were game to try the classic Vietnam food dish on the suggestion of our friend Mai Nguyen who writes the Hanoi food blog Tho Loves Food.

Although the famous and tourist-friendly Cha Ca restaurants are in the city’s Old Quarter, we happily walked 25 minutes to tiny, family-owned Cha Ca Phan to eat pan-fried chunks of meaty fish at our table along with a mixture of vegetables and herbs like fennel, turmeric and dill.

The real fun was assembling the bowls with fish, vegetables, herbs, rice noodles, shrimp paste, fish sauce and red chili peppers.

What a perfect introduction to the Hanoi food scene!

Cha Ca Phan is located at84 Trần Quốc Toản, Trần Hưng Đạo, Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội, Vietnam. Note – this is a new address for Cha Ca Phan.

Cha Ca Hanoi Video

Watch our YouTube video as we eat Cha Ca with Mai for the second time and learn more about this lesser-known but highly intriguing Vietnamese dish. Try not to laugh too hard when you hear us attempt to pronounce “Cha Ca” and other Vietnamese words.

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About The Authors

About The Authors

Daryl & Mindi Hirsch

Saveur Magazine’s BEST TRAVEL BLOG award winners Daryl and Mindi Hirsch share their culinary travel experiences and recipes on the 2foodtrippers website. Since launching the site in 2012, they’ve traveled to over 40 countries in their quest to bring readers their unique taste of the world.

Disclosures

Article Updates
We update our articles regularly. Some updates are major while others are minor link changes and spelling corrections. Let us know if you see anything that needs to be updated in this article.

Funding
We self-funded our multiple trips to Hanoi.

Original Publication Date: September 5, 2016

Ava

Tuesday 6th of September 2016

I love your videos. They really give you a good feel of the area and the food.

Daryl and Mindi Hirsch

Saturday 10th of September 2016

Thank you. We're glad we could convey the essence of the many places we travel through.

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