Vegetarian Hanoi

I've been here for about 9 months now. On the first day I arrived, I headed straight to this vegetarian restaurant I found on the New Hanoian. It is still one of my favourite vegetarian restaurants, and I go there at least once a week, if not several times a week. However, I have discovered quite a few vegetarian places within a 15-20 minute radius of my house. I use places because most of them are not really restaurants. They are usually people who set up some plastic stools and tables on the main floor and cook out of their kitchens once or twice a day (the picture above is of a street vendor who sells vegetarian Bun Cha and spring rolls at lunch).  Just counting on my hand, there are 6 of these places, if I include the lady who sells vegetarian food out of her freezer in my alley.

I imagine there are many more of these places, as about 4 of them were discovered just by chance of walking by and actually paying attention to what a sign says (ie. there was a certain threshold I passed in learning Vietnamese where I realised I can read and understand the world around me). The best places are usually these, the ones that are far into the alleys and are serving food in their living room! They also usually sell food for less than a dollar.