Hanoi Xua (Ernő Street)

Hanoi Xua is an unpretentious Vietnamese restaurant in Budapest best known for its extensive soup selections and above-average fried rice dishes. The place occupies the ground floor of a residential apartment building in the outer part of District 9, once a seedy neighborhood but now rapidly transforming thanks to moneyed international medical students at the nearby Semmelweis University.

Hanoi Xua’s hefty menu, bound in hardcover, lists 12 types of soups, including those with pho (flat rice), bun (round rice) and mien ("glass") noodles. I most enjoyed the bun bo hue, a chili-laced spicy version from central Vietnam, and the mien bo glass noodles with beef, both arriving in a rich, flavorful broth. The bun cha and the spring and summer rolls didn't leave much of an impression; you're better off going for the perfectly oily fried rice dishes instead. Big eaters can round things out with the tapioca pearls perched in a coconut pudding (chè).

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