Chicken Street has long been a staple of expats in Hanoi, and for good reason. Skewers of mouthwatering grilled chicken, sweet honey bread, and the ever-important chili sauce are a package deal that keeps everyone coming back for more.
Simple. Delicious. Food.
Ly Van Phuc, known locally as Chicken Street, is littered with restaurants all selling the same thing. The menu from place to place might change slightly but they all have the basics: perfectly grilled chicken, grilled honey bread, spicy sauce*.
Your meal with always start with some lightly pickled cucumbers. Eat them! Dip them in the spicy sauce! Dip e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. in the spicy sauce! You should also order grilled potato wedges, sweet potato [khoai lang] if they’ve got them. And dip them in the spicy sauce. Get your chicken. Pull out the massive torture device, or “skewer”, and dip it in the spicy sauce. Lastly, you get your bread. Definitely dip that honey goodness in the spicy sauce.
If you don’t speak Vietnamese, you might have trouble at many of these restaurants. You can go the old route of pointing to different body parts to get what you want, or you can go to the place with an English menu. Once you get to the start of chicken street, the first restaurant on the left has an English menu (as well as Russian and Korean).
Chicken Street - Ly Van Phuc, Ba Dinh
Hours: open daily until 11pm.
*Shake the spicy sauce before you eat it. And don’t feel bad if your group polishes off an entire bottle of the stuff. The sauce holds magical powers that mere humans can’t comprehend.
