Xôi
The portable breakfast of champions — glutinous rice, savoury or sweet, in a banana leaf.
Steamed glutinous rice, sold from baskets and carts as a cheap, filling breakfast or snack. Savoury versions (xôi mặn / xôi xéo) come topped with mung bean paste, fried shallots, shredded chicken, Chinese sausage or a fried egg; sweet versions are tinted with pandan, gấc fruit (bright orange), or peanuts. Wrapped in banana leaf or paper and eaten on the move.
How to eat it well
- Point at the toppings you want; xôi xéo (turmeric-yellow, with mung bean and shallots) is the great northern default.
- A morning food — the carts cluster near markets and bus stations at dawn.
- Under a dollar and genuinely filling; the best cheap breakfast for an early travel day.
Where it’s best
Everywhere, from a basket on a street corner. Hanoi’s morning xôi carts are a ritual.
Plenty of vegetarian options — plain, peanut, or mung-bean xôi are naturally meat-free.
Eat next
The fresh, un-fried rolls — shrimp, pork, herbs, and rice noodle in translucent paper.
Bánh mìBanh miThe colonial-baguette sandwich Vietnam perfected and the world stole.
Nem rán / Chả giòFried spring rollsThe crisp, deep-fried rolls — "nem rán" in the north, "chả giò" in the south.