Can’t believe this will be the last post of my Hanoi food-venture. Really felt like I had been in Hanoi for a long, long time. And I just couldn’t believe how much we had eaten while there because there were so many new stuffs to try. Amazing!
We headed to Noi Bai International Airport to catch our flight to Bangkok. Booked a car via Hanoi Transfer Service which I had recommended in an earlier post. It cost USD12 (260,000VND) to get from our hotel in the Old Quarter to the airport – the journey was about 40-45 minutes.
When we entered the departure hall, we came across this banh mi & pho place that really reminded me of NamNam Noodle Bar in Singapore because the design and layout of the menus looked exactly the same for both. I didn’t think they were related in any way. Perhaps the person who started the NamNam chain in Singapore got inspiration from this restaurant?
There weren’t many food choices at the airport. We settled for Big Bowl as we wanted to have our last bowl of pho before leaving. Prices across all the pho and banh mi places at the airport were quite standard (expensive too of course) so whichever you choose, it will be pretty much the same. Also, prices stated were in USD but you could pay in Vietnamese Dong – the staff would just calculate the equivalent for you on the spot.
This Big Bowl outlet that we went to was located next to Gate 23.
Finally, a Pho Chicken (USD5) for me. I had been eating so much beef in the last one week that I was getting a little sick of it. This time round, I had to jump at the opportunity to order this chicken noodle soup. It was light, non-oily and soothing to the stomach. The broth wasn’t very robust-tasting which wasn’t a bad thing as it didn’t seem to be laden with MSG or artificial stock seasoning.
Hubby ordered the Pho Beef Flank (USD5) that had a slightly more flavoursome broth compared to the chicken one. The beef flank slices weren’t very tender but they weren’t overly tough or chewy too.
Each order of pho came with a side serving of herbs, vegetables and sliced chillies as usual.
Prices indicated were nett, with no service charge or GST.
All in all, the food here was decent and nothing special. We didn’t expect airport food to be any outstanding anyway. Eat here if you have extra currency to use up. Otherwise, have a meal first before coming to the airport.
Goodbye Hanoi. You will be missed. ?