Top 10 Best Fish Cake Noodle Soup Restaurants in Hanoi

Not many fish cake noodle soup places are famous in the capital, but if you're a true fan of the dish, you've likely heard of Gốc Đa Fish Cake Soup at 33 Vũ Thạnh, known for its 'legendary' dipping sauce.

A typical serving of the soup is quite fulfilling, with vibrant colors and a delightful presentation. The noodles are white and firm, the fried fish is golden and crispy, and the dipping sauce is a bright red, with a fragrant blend of lime, garlic, and chili. The accompanying broth is a fresh green hue that adds even more to the flavor.

What makes this broth special is its sweet and tangy taste, reminiscent of a homemade pineapple sour soup. In the summer, the dish is served with sweet cabbage and elephant ear stalks, while in the winter, it's replaced with water spinach. Additionally, the fish at Gốc Đa Fish Cake Soup is always served hot and crispy because it’s fried right before it’s brought to your table.

The way to enjoy this dish is unique: first, you add noodles to your bowl and pour a little broth to soften them. Then, you dip a piece of fried fish into the chili garlic dipping sauce and eat it with a few slices of sour bamboo shoots. You’ll notice a complete difference in taste compared to any other noodle soup you've tried before.

CONTACT INFO:
Address:

• 55 Cửa Nam, Hoàn Kiếm, Hanoi
• 33 Vũ Thạnh, Đống Đa, Hanoi

Phone: 0975 182 860 & 0974 601 610

Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063645429283

Opening hours: 07:00 - 21:00

Ngon Ngon Fish Cake Soup - Lương Thế Vinh offers a small yet neatly organized and clean space with a professional and quick service staff.

Most visitors praise the freshly fried fish and the dipping sauce. The fish is continuously fried to maintain its crispiness, providing a delightful texture not found in other places. The broth, which is often complimented by customers, is rich and flavorful, with a perfectly balanced sweet, sour, and spicy taste that awakens your taste buds.

At Ngon Ngon Fish Cake Soup, customers can choose from a variety of signature dishes such as fish cake soup with dipping sauce, fish cake soup with broth, mixed fish cake noodles, and grilled fish noodles, paired with refreshing drinks like kumquat tea, soy milk, or lemon tea. The prices are clearly listed and considered reasonable for the generous portions served.

The staff at Ngon Ngon Fish Cake Soup are always eager to assist customers, ensuring a satisfying dining experience from the moment you step into the restaurant.

The noodles at Tây Thi Fish Cake Soup are thick and served with a tangy, fragrant broth that perfectly captures the essence of Hanoi’s fish cake noodles. The broth, made with tamarind and vinegar, has the signature sour flavor of Hanoi’s traditional sour soups. The combination of the two sour elements creates a delightful taste, further enhanced by chili sauce and kumquat for an extra punch.

The restaurant offers a spacious and airy environment, with a bright yellow sign that attracts passersby. Specializing in Hanoi-style fish cake noodles, fried tilapia, and rice cracker fish dishes, the fish here is large and thick, staying soft even after being fried. When eaten, the fish's natural sweetness pairs perfectly with the boiled greens and the clear, flavorful broth, creating a tantalizing experience for your taste buds.

A full bowl of fish cake noodles here includes crispy fish skin, fresh fish, water spinach, and rice crackers, all served with a perfectly balanced dipping sauce that makes it irresistible. The restaurant’s recipe is a family secret, ensuring no other place matches the unique flavor of Tây Thi Fish Cake Soup.

One of the most popular fish cake spots in Hanoi is Bà Tâm Fish Cake Soup. This restaurant boasts a spacious, clean, and airy atmosphere, with a team of friendly and attentive staff, ensuring you won’t have to wait long for your meal.

The fish here is a highlight, with a crispy exterior and tender, juicy interior. This is one of the reasons customers love Bà Tâm Fish Cake Soup. The fish used is typically tilapia, which has a fresh, sweet, and flavorful taste.

The best time to enjoy the fish is when it’s freshly fried, golden and crispy on the outside, yet soft and fragrant on the inside. Even after sitting for a while, the fish doesn’t become soggy or lose its flavor. Whether you have it with dipping sauce or in a soup, it’s delicious either way. The dipping sauce is perfectly balanced with a combination of sour, salty, and sweet notes.

In addition, the restaurant’s broth changes with the seasons. During certain times, it’s made with dọc mùng (water celery), tomatoes, pineapples, and dill, giving it a wonderfully mild sourness. When dọc mùng is unavailable, it’s replaced with celery, greens, and bean sprouts. However, the dọc mùng and pineapple broth remains the most popular choice.

Another must-try topping at this restaurant is their pickled bamboo shoots, which add a sweet and sour crunch. The bamboo is sliced thick and prepared to the perfect level of spice and color. When you add these pickled bamboo shoots to your fish cake soup, the flavor is simply irresistible.

Thu Hà Fish Cake Soup is a popular casual eatery located at 38 Đặng Trần Côn, Đống Đa District. Despite its small size and simple menu, it continues to attract Hanoi's food lovers. The fish cake soup here is often praised with positive reviews across social media platforms.

For just 35,000 VND, you get a satisfying portion of fish cake soup, which includes a plate of crispy fried fish, a hot bowl of soup, a plate of noodle threads, and a small bowl of spicy fish sauce with garlic and chili. The soup varies between a celery-based broth or a tomato and mustard greens version, but whichever it is, customers are always pleased with its rich flavor. The fish is filleted and deep-fried to perfection, making for a crispy exterior and a tender interior. The combination of the fish, noodles, and the fish sauce is unforgettable.

The restaurant can get quite busy around lunchtime, but the fast service ensures that you won’t have to wait long. In addition to fish cake soup, their Bún Bò Nam Bộ (Vietnamese noodle dish with beef) and Bánh Mì Sốt Vang (bread with stewed beef) are also customer favorites, often selling out quickly.

Fans of fish cake soup are undoubtedly familiar with the CCG Fish Cake Soup chain. With multiple locations across Hanoi, CCG attracts customers with its cozy, welcoming atmosphere and attentive, professional service.

The CCG Fish Cake Soup stands out with its broth, a perfect balance of tangy vinegar and the sweetness of fresh pineapple, complemented by boiled mustard greens. A key component of this dish is the crispy fried fish.

CCG fillets tilapia and fries it at the ideal temperature to achieve a crispy, golden exterior while preserving the fish's moisture. What sets it apart is the house-made dipping sauce, which will captivate your taste buds from the very first bite.

With the motto “Eat Clean – Live Healthy,” CCG ensures that every customer enjoys fresh, top-quality ingredients. Behind each delicious meal is a meticulous process to ensure that the freshest, most flavorful fish arrives at your table, making each meal both healthy and satisfying.

Another popular fish cake soup restaurant located in the Đống Đa district is City Fish Cake Soup. For those who love this dish, it's worth paying a visit. Like many others, the dish consists of sour soup, garlic-chili dipping sauce, vermicelli, and crispy fried tilapia. The fish is fried to perfection, retaining its moisture. The dipping sauce, enhanced with pickled bamboo shoots and chili, adds an extra layer of flavor.

In addition to fish cake soup, City Fish Cake Soup is a top choice for seafood lovers. Their Thai-style seafood noodles, with a light yet savory broth, are loaded with generous toppings like shrimp, fried fish, mantis shrimp, squid, meatballs, and vegetables. Other dishes such as crab noodle soup, fish noodle soup, and mantis shrimp noodles also receive rave reviews. The restaurant offers a spacious and elegant setting, with a prompt and friendly staff, ensuring that every guest leaves satisfied with a memorable experience. Don’t miss the chance to try this unique flavor!

CONTACT INFO:
Address: 90 Nguyễn Văn Tuyết, Đống Đa, Hanoi

Phone: 0784 971 789

Opening Hours: 07:00 AM - 10:00 PM

Văn Fish Cake Soup, located in Quán Thánh, Ba Đình, Hanoi, has been a popular spot for over 10 years, even being recommended by CNN for U.S. President Donald Trump to try during his visit to Hanoi for the U.S.-North Korea summit.

The restaurant is known for its unique, carefully crafted broth that offers a balanced and rich flavor. Though the space is small, it's neatly arranged and clean. You can stop by to enjoy the exquisite taste of Hanoi's fish cake soup. The standout feature of Văn Fish Cake Soup is its meticulously prepared broth. When you taste it, you'll notice the perfect combination of savory flavors blended with the aroma of crispy fried fish or thinly sliced raw fish. The soft, fresh vermicelli, fragrant fish, and crisp, fresh herbs create a delicious and inviting bowl of soup.

Here are some reviews from visitors:

• "They serve fish cake, mixed noodle, with shrimp, fish meat, tilapia, all for 50k. Very flavorful, delicious, fresh shrimp. The place is small but always busy. Quick service." - Nga Pham Bich
• "The address is 174 Quán Thánh, Hanoi. It's quite famous and always crowded. I ordered a bowl of mixed noodle with fish and shrimp, plus a bowl of extra greens. The broth is light, sweet, with a slight tang, very tasty. The wait time is a bit long, but it's worth it." - Phuong Nguyen Minh (6/2024)
• "I had the mixed noodle with shrimp, the fish pieces were large, crispy on the outside, tender inside, fresh shrimp, a very generous bowl for the price. The place has plenty of seating, even an upper floor. The staff is polite." - Dương Ngọc Minh (3/2024)

Mai Nga Eel Noodle Soup is a popular dining spot in Hanoi, with five locations, known for its cleanliness, cool ambiance, and spaciousness. One standout feature is its prompt and attentive service.

The restaurant's noodles are thick and served with a tangy crab broth infused with dill, giving it that authentic Hanoi-style fish noodle soup taste. The broth is exceptional, with a slight sourness from tamarind and vinegar, a signature flavor in Hanoi's sour soups. The combination of these two sour notes creates a delightful taste, and when topped with chili sauce and kumquat, it becomes even more delicious.

As one of the best-known fish noodle spots in Hanoi, the fried fish served at Mai Nga Eel Noodle Soup is crispy and flavorful. The fish almost melts in your mouth but retains its natural sweetness. The broth, simmered from bones, carries a sweet and fragrant taste with the tang of pineapple, perfectly complemented by the spicy bamboo shoots, offering an unforgettable dining experience.

Hạnh Béo Fish Cake Noodles is a well-known name among food lovers in Hanoi. The restaurant has two locations across the city, making it easy for customers from all over to enjoy this delicious, affordable dish.

Patrons who visit Hạnh Béo Fish Cake Noodles can’t stop praising the delicious, crispy fried fish. This is one of the main reasons the shop is always busy, and if you don’t get there early, you might have to wait until the next day to try it.

The fish served here is 100% fresh, sliced into fillets and fried to perfection. To ensure the fish is not only delicious but visually appealing, the restaurant uses fresh oil and carefully controls the frying temperature for the best results.

In addition to the crispy fish, the dipping sauce is a key element that adds to the dish’s success. The sauce has a mild spiciness from garlic and chili, balanced with the rich flavor of fish sauce, the tanginess of lime, and a touch of sweetness from sugar. This combination creates the signature taste of Hạnh Béo Fish Cake Noodles, a beloved dish in Hanoi.

CONTACT INFO:
Address:

• 76 Duy Tân Alley, Cầu Giấy, Hanoi
• D6, 215 Tô Hiệu Alley, Cầu Giấy, Hanoi

Phone: 0372 357 246

Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100051072767788

Opening Hours: 07:00 - 14:00 | 17:00 - 20:30