Bia hơi
The world’s cheapest fresh beer, brewed daily and drunk on a street corner at sunset.
A light, low-alcohol (around 3%) draught beer brewed without preservatives and delivered fresh each day to corner "bia hơi" joints, where it is poured from a keg into glasses and sold for a few thousand dong. Less about the beer — which is thin and unremarkable — than the ritual: tiny plastic stools, a street corner, and whoever sits down next to you. A northern, especially Hanoi, institution.
How to eat it well
- Find a busy corner at 5–7pm — turnover means fresher beer.
- Order a few savoury snacks (nem chua, lac rang — fried peanuts, grilled skewers) to go with it; that’s the form.
- "Một cốc" is one glass. It is so cheap that paying with a big note will trigger the no-change shuffle — bring small notes.
Where it’s best
Hanoi, hands down — "Bia Hơi Corner" at Tạ Hiện in the Old Quarter is the tourist epicentre; quieter local corners are everywhere.
Vegan as drinks go; just beer.
Eat next
A Hanoi invention: coffee under a whipped, custard-like meringue of egg yolk and condensed milk.
Cà phê sữa đáIced milk coffeeDark robusta dripped over sweetened condensed milk, poured over ice. The national fuel.
Nước míaSugarcane juiceCane pressed to order through a clattering roller — the perfect antidote to the heat.