Bún chả Hương Liên
- Getting there
- Cửa Nam ward, central Hanoi — walkable from the Old Quarter
Why it’s in the log
Bún chả Hương Liên was an ordinary grilled-pork noodle shop on a Hanoi side street until May 2016, when Anthony Bourdain brought President Obama here to film a segment for CNN's Parts Unknown. Grilled pork patties over rice noodles, a bowl of $6 worth of beer between them — it became the most-watched episode of the show's run, and the restaurant has been informally known as "Bún Chả Obama" ever since.
The menu hasn't changed to chase the fame. It's still the same bún chả, the same plastic stools, the same crowd of locals who were eating here long before the cameras showed up — the table Obama and Bourdain sat at is glassed off and labelled, but everything around it runs exactly as it did before.
Go at a normal Hanoi mealtime rather than mid-afternoon, when the tour groups tend to cluster, and order what's on the menu — which is to say, the one dish it's named for.
“The table where Obama and Bourdain sat is still marked out — everyone eats at it anyway, which feels right.”