How to Experience a Vietnamese Food Restaurant: A Guide to Eating Well at Hanoi 1988

First time at a Vietnamese food restaurant? Discover how to order, what to eat, and what sets Hanoi 1988 apart: from the chef behind the 24-hour pho to the dishes worth trying.

The Chef Behind the Restaurant

Not every restaurant has a story worth telling before the food. At Hanoi 1988, it is worth starting there.

Chef Huy came to Paris not as a chef, but as a photographer. It was only after returning to his motherland after three years in France that the direction changed. Walking the streets of Hanoi, surrounded by the aromas of Vietnamese street food, he found himself drawn to something he could not ignore. He started diving into Vietnamese cuisine with the same intensity he had brought to photography, and eventually earned the Hoa Hồi Vàng: Vietnam's national award for the country's finest pho chef.

He returned to Paris with a clear mission: to bring the authentic flavours of Vietnamese cuisine to a city he had come to love, and to do it without compromise. Every bowl at Hanoi 1988 carries that intention. The 24-hour broth, the fresh daily noodles, the homemade sauces are not selling points. They are the natural consequence of a chef who learned the craft at its source and refuses to replicate it any other way.

The Two Restaurant Addresses

Hanoi 1988 operates two dedicated restaurant addresses in central Paris, each with a distinct character and a slightly different focus.

Hanoi 1988 - 72 Quai des Orfèvres, 75001 Paris

The original flagship, steps from Notre-Dame and the Seine. This is the broadest expression of the Hanoi 1988 kitchen: a full menu covering pho, bun bo, spring rolls, starters, and the restaurant's signature dishes. Set in the heart of iconic central Paris, the restaurant draws a diverse mix of guests, from loyal Parisians who have been coming for years to first-time visitors discovering Vietnamese cuisine, as well as international diners who found the address through recommendations or reviews.

It is the right address for a first visit, or for a meal where the table wants to order across the menu and share.

Hanoi 1988 Sao Vàng - 16 Rue le Regrattier, 75004 Paris

Tucked away on the elegant Île Saint-Louis, Hanoi 1988 Sao Vàng offers a quieter, more intimate dining experience in the heart of Paris. Inspired by the neighbourhood tea houses and family dining rooms of 1980s Hanoi, the interior blends worn wood, soft lighting, and nostalgic details that make the pace of the city feel momentarily distant. 

This is where the kitchen's most concentrated work happens: the 24-hour pho broth, the fresh daily noodles, the Phở Bò Sốt Vang that cannot be found anywhere else in Paris.

For those searching for a Vietnamese food restaurant in Paris with a more intimate atmosphere, this is an address worth planning around. Reservations are recommended here, particularly for weekend lunches. The room fills quickly, and it is worth planning for.

What to Order: A First-Timer's Guide

A Vietnamese food restaurant menu can look broad on first reading. Here is a practical guide to ordering well, from starters through to the end of the meal.

Start with Spring Rolls

A proper Vietnamese meal often begins with fried spring rolls (nem rán) and Hanoi 1988 offers a version worth ordering first. Hand-rolled in delicate rice paper and fried to order, they are filled with pork, shrimp, and fresh vegetables, creating a contrast of textures that defines the dish: crisp and golden on the outside, juicy and deeply savoury within.

There is a reason Vietnamese spring rolls were ranked among the world’s best dishes by CNN. A well-made version makes the case immediately.

Choose Your Main

At Hanoi 1988, the menu centres around two of Vietnam’s most beloved dishes: pho and bún bò (often referred to in Paris as bo bun). While both are rooted in Vietnamese culinary tradition, they offer entirely different dining experiences. 

At Hanoi 1988, pho broth is simmered for 24 hours to develop depth and clarity before being served with fresh rice noodles and your choice of protein. Part of the experience lies in customising the bowl yourself: adding herbs and bean sprouts, adjusting the seasoning, and allowing the flavours to settle as you eat. Rich yet delicate, pho offers the kind of warmth that explains why it remains Vietnam’s most iconic noodle dish.

Credit: Wenkang Shan

Bún bò, by contrast, is brighter and more immediate. Served with rice vermicelli at room temperature, the dish combines stir-fried beef with fresh vegetables, aromatic herbs, roasted peanuts, and crisp fried shallots. Once the sauce is poured over and folded through the bowl, the result is balanced, refreshing, and full of texture, which is particularly satisfying for lunch or warmer days.

Credit: Wenkang Shan

If choosing between the two feels impossible, order both and share. One offers comfort, the other freshness, and together they make an ideal introduction to Vietnamese cuisine.

The Dish Worth Ordering at Hanoi 1988 Sao Vàng

If you are sitting at Hanoi 1988 Sao Vàng, there is one dish that does not appear anywhere else in Paris: Phở Bò Sốt Vang. The 24-hour pho broth, with beef slow-braised in red wine in the manner of a French boeuf bourguignon. It is the most direct expression of what this kitchen is doing: Vietnamese technique, French context, a result that makes complete sense in both.

Order it if it is available. It is the dish most likely to stay with you after the meal.

How to Eat Vietnamese Food: The Unwritten Rules

Add the sauce before eating, not after. For bun bo especially, the sauce goes in first. Pour it over the bowl, then fold the ingredients from the bottom up until everything is coated. The dish is designed to be eaten mixed, not layered.

Adjust as you go. Vietnamese cuisine is interactive. The condiments on the table, such as chilli, lime, and fish sauce, are there to be used. A pho bowl in particular is meant to be adjusted to your taste: a little more lime, a pinch more chilli, bean sprouts added partway through. There is no single correct version of the bowl.

Eat the spring rolls while they are hot. They lose their crunch quickly. Order them as a first course rather than alongside the main, and eat them before the main courses arrive.

Chopsticks and a spoon together. Vietnamese noodle dishes are typically eaten with chopsticks in the dominant hand and a ceramic spoon in the other: chopsticks for noodles and solids, the spoon for broth. Using a fork is completely fine; no one will notice or mind.

What Sets a Great Vietnamese Food Restaurant Apart

Paris has no shortage of Vietnamese restaurants, but only a few are truly worth seeking out. The difference rarely lies in the menu itself because most places serve pho, spring rolls, and bo bun. What matters is how these dishes are prepared.

A great Vietnamese food restaurant begins with fundamentals. Proper pho broth takes time, often simmered for many hours to develop depth, clarity, and richness that shortcuts cannot replicate. At Hanoi 1988, the broth is cooked daily over 24 hours.

Attention to texture matters too. Fresh noodles, prepared each morning at Hanoi 1988 Sao Vàng, create a softer and more delicate bowl than dried alternatives. In bo bun, herbs, vegetables, and peanuts are treated as essential ingredients rather than garnish, while homemade sauces bring balance instead of simple saltiness.

In the end, it is these small decisions that turn a good meal into a memorable one.

Credit: Wenkang Shan

If you are looking for a Vietnamese food restaurant in Paris that goes beyond the expected, Hanoi 1988 is worth experiencing properly. Book a table, come hungry, and order with curiosity. Reservations and full menu at viet-eat.com.