After having the banh cuon at Banh Cuon Gia Truyen which really resembled chee cheong fun, we tried to look out for other banh cuon stalls in Hanoi during our trip. Banh cuon isn’t as common as pho or banh mi so we were very happy to stumble upon Banh Cuon Phu Ly while exploring the vicinity of Truc Bach Lake.
Banh Cuon Phu Ly
14 Cua Bac
Ba Dinh, Hanoi
Vietnam
Opening hours: 8.30am to 10.00pm daily
Banh Cuon simply means ‘rolled cake’ or ‘rice noodle rolls’ whereas Phu Ly is the capital city of Ha Nam province in northern Vietnam. Therefore the name of the shop merely refers to a specific version of rice noodle rolls that originated from Phu Ly. You know, it’s like how we tend to say Teochew braised duck, Cantonese roast meats, Hakka lei cha, etc. Same concept.
We ate like how the locals did, on low tables and stools by the roadside. It was really a very different but fun experience. 🙂
The Banh Cuon (30,000 VND) here was indeed different from the ones we had previously. Instead of being rolled up with fillings, this was more like dry rice noodles (similar to kway teow) topped with grilled pork slices and fried shallots. The style of eating this was like having a bun cha where you’d combine the green papaya, carrot, herbs and fresh chillies with the nuoc cham (dipping sauce) and then dip the rice noodles into the sauce.
Rice noodles were soft and smooth. Pork was nicely marinated and had an incredibly smoky grilled flavour. Dipping sauce was very well balanced and refreshing. The green papaya and carrot slices were so crunchy. This version of banh cuon tasted way better than expected and it only cost us <SGD1.90. Definitely had our both thumbs up! ????