If Saigon is famous for West Bui Vien beer street, Hue city is proud of Pham Ngu Lao street, Hanoi has Ta Hien Beer Street.
Ta Hien Street has become famous in domestic and foreign travel magazines. This place attracts the young people of Hanoi and many foreign tourists. What is attractive in this street? Let’s discover it now!
Ta Hien Beer Street
Ta Hien Beer Street in Hanoi Old Quarter stretches from Hang Bac to Hang Buom Streets through Luong Ngoc Quyen Street.
1. The origin of the name of Ta Hien street
Initially, Ta Hien street was named Rue Géraud by the French. In the past, this street was the destination of the upper class of Hanoi because the most famous theatre called Quang Lac was on this road. So, many people also call this street Quang Lac because of the Quang Lac theatre (Quang Lac means enjoying happiness – that is a lovely name).
On Ta Hien Street were many vendors selling different products, creating the bustling life, and being the most vibrant place in Hanoi at that time.
Ta Hien street is about 266m long, originally the land of Ha Khau street, the old Tho Xuong district.
The name Ta Hien has only appeared since 1945. Ta Hien was the name Tạ Quang Hiện (1841 – 1887), a leader of the Can Vuong movement (Can Vuong means helping the king) in Thai Binh Province. Tạ Quang Hiện made great contributions to building up a resistance force in the Thai Binh.
Thus, the correct name in Vietnamese is Tạ Hiện, but many people also call it Tạ Hiền. And, for recent years, Ta Hien Beer Street has become famous because many restaurants selling food for drinking beer on this site.
2. The unique beauty of Ta Hien
Ta Hien street conquers the hearts of people by the ancient and serene features among the passing of time and the changes of Hanoi life.
Perhaps, it is because of the active features and beer service, so many people forget that the architecture of Ta Hien street is also a unique beauty, which is hard to find elsewhere.
Ta Hien still owns the old houses, remaining the imprint of an ancient Hanoi, which has lives in the memories of generations of the local people.
Ta Hien Street in the design is one of the most valuable streets in the Hanoi Old Quarter with harmonious architecture, including the narrow houses.
Typical, if you pay attention, you can see that 2 opposing blocks have different architectural styles. Even number rows of houses are a unique architectural style of Vietnam: two-storey houses, upper floors designed back a little bit, and the first floor close to the road. The chain of odd number houses covers French architectural style: also two-strorey buildings, the same sloping tile roof, and the 10 constructions built in the 20th century.
This unique feature makes Ta Hien become a precious place in the whole architectural beauty in the Old Quarter of Hanoi.
3. Ta Hien Street – a street with 2 personalities in a day
3.1. Ta Hien Street being peaceful in the morning
Every early morning, the road is quiet and dreamy. It looks like a person who does not sleep at night, so in the morning, it still has a little weak-eyed feeling after a passionate and tumultuous evening.
When Hanoi welcomes the first glimmer of golden sunlight of the day, Ta Hien Street is as pure and clear as any other roads here, peaceful and quiet.
A few vendors slowly stroll through the blocks that were still half-open. The elders stretch out to do some gymnastics or jog around the neighbourhood.
If you come to Ta Hien in the daytime, you will see it as the girl who has just got up.
3.2. Ta Hien changing into the beer street when the night comes
When the city lights up, Ta Hien changes the gentle look to become a naughty, enthusiastic, excited, and eager person who is full of charm and challenge visitors.
The sidewalk stalls start serving, the plastic tables and chairs are ranged on the pavements. The people come here for joyful activities, beers, food, and meeting friends. So, Ta Hien is quite different from itself in the morning, becoming a Ta Hien Beer Street.
Wherever in this area, you can see the pictures of foreign and Vietnamese groups sitting together without boundaries. They chat and laugh happily while drinking beer and tasting the flavorful food.
Sometimes, you can hear 1-2-3 do (bottom-up), and the noise of chatting always makes the street more active.
Plenty of international guests like to come to Ta Hien Beer Street. Thus, you can see people with different skin colours and multinational groups of friends. Ta Hien is a cultural crossroad and also an ideal place for those who want to practice their language skills. You will be excited to notice that the shop owners here change their language flexibly when using Vietnamese, sometimes English.
Besides, Ta Hien Beer Street at night is the intersection of different levels in society, from young to old, from urban to rural, business people, traders, and office workers. All regardless of age, rich, poor, and education, and they all gather here for their own purposes, drinking beer, joining the active life, reducing stress, or chatting with friends.
In addition to food activities, art performance, street music with repertoire from folk music to modern style, and unique musical instruments are performed overnight.
Starting from 10:00 pm onwards, the wanderers at Ta Hien Beer Street continue to hang out in clubs and pubs for their fun. Depending on their own preferences, some guests choose a vibrant space in bars while the others come to the cafes with lyrical acoustic music.
The famous bars give you to spend more time in Ta Hien Beer Street, such as Bar 1900 Le Theater (8 Ta Hien) or Fat Cat Bar (25 Ta Hien).
With those features, Ta Hien Beer Street is enough to put in the list of visitors who traveling to Hanoi Captial. Is that right, right?
4. Cuisine at Ta Hien Beer Street
Coming to any restaurant in Ta Hien Street, you can also call yourself a beer bottle with a full range of types. The special thing in many restaurants here is that they only provide the guests with a small plastic chair and a beer bottle in hand. Then, with a few friends, another small chair is the table for a few drinks, so you set up a drinking party table.
While drinking beer, you can also taste delicious sidewalk snacks, such as grilled chicken feet, chilli lemongrass chicken, fried spring rolls, french fries, and sour rolls. Typically, The foods here have affordable prices, so many people like it.
In particular, remember not to miss the popular Hanoi snack – delicious honey-grilled quail only available at Ta Hien. The bird is prepared carefully, marinated with spices, placed on the grill, and then brushed with a layer of yellow honey.
In addition to beer, Ta Hien also has iced tea, lemon tea, and coffee. However, the beer is the most popular, creating the brand beer street of Ta Hien. Ta Hien Beer Street attracts a lot of people coming with it every night.
Here are some famous restaurants in Ta Hien Beer Street to try the food:
- Nam Bo Noodle Soup at 7 Ta Hien Beer Street: The shop is open from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm. Its space is small, narrow, but many customers like it.
- Bun Moc Ta Hien at 14 Ta Hien Street: opens from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm. The shop is in a small house, but very crowded. The noodle soup has a little vermicelli, onions, and small meatballs.
- Chim Nuong (Gilled bird) at 5B Ta Hien: Grilled birds can be considered a specialty of Ta Hien, so with a 100-meter long distance, many shops sell grilled birds, but the best place to sell grilled birds is at 5B Ta Hien, the shop has been working for over 20 years now.
- Xu Xu Restaurant (Cheese stick) at 15 Ta Hien: In Hanoi, it is not difficult to find this snack, and almost every party cannot lack cheese sticks. Cheese at 15 Ta Hien is crunchy on the outside, chewy inside.
- The restaurant at 29A Ta Hien: sells grilled chicken feet with chilli and lemongrass, and fried spring rolls. The restaurant is open from the beginning of the evening to midnight.
>>> You may like to see what to do in 24 hours in Hanoi.
Ta Hien Street is gentle and ancient during the day time, but it will transform into an active beer street at night. To feel the lively Hanoi at night, it is necessary to Ta Hien Beer Street.