Although there have been many new and strange dishes “infiltrated” into the “snack world”, donuts – a gift with an old flavor always occupy a certain position in the hearts of Hanoi people.

Recently, CNN released the top 30 best-fried foods in the world, in which, orange cake or the familiar Vietnamese donut is named. As this famous newspaper explains, although it is called orange cake, it is only because of its shape and color and does not have any orange flavor.

In fact, for a long time, donuts have been considered an afternoon snack of Hanoians, always “on top” in certain snacks that must be enjoyed in winter. More interestingly, in addition to the pretty small cake that was honored, the donuts were also modified in many styles and made up the brand of traditional stores.

Gia Trinh Donuts

Although it has expanded and sold a lot of cakes, Gia Trinh’s shop still maintains the donut making, which is what CNN calls the orange cake in the beginning. A standard cake will have an orange-yellow color, puff evenly whether it is hot or cooled. When enjoying, you will feel the crunchiness of the thin crust, fragrant with sesame. The filling will be a round piece of green beans, sweet or salty, not sticking to the crust, if shaken when it is still intact, you will see the clumps inside.

Photo: @eatwithkell_, @ngotcao.

Address: Gia Trinh confectionery, 16A Ly Nam De, Hoan Kiem.

Selling price: 3,500 VND/cake – 4,000 VND/salty cake.

Opening hours: 7am – 7pm.

Hang Chieu Donuts

The familiar image at the small house at 52 Hang Chieu every afternoon is a long line of people waiting to buy donuts. Inside, people knead dough, people fry, and people turn cakes without stopping.

Over the past 30 years, the process of baking and selling cakes here has remained almost unchanged. There is still only one stove, one fryer, one stirrup or molasses, a batch will take about 20-30 minutes.

The queue is a bit long, but the “achievement” is when you hold a bag of hot donuts in your hand. The shells of the sugar and honey donuts are crispy, not too sweet, and the mung bean filling is fragrant and fleshy. However, you should pay close attention to buy the right house number 52, because right on the sidewalk in front of the door there is also a line full of donuts in a huge cabinet.

Photo: @_nymmm, @tungbo0107.

Address: House number 52 Hang Chieu, Hoan Kiem.

Selling price: 4,000 VND/piece.

Opening hours: 7am – 5pm.

Vong Thi Donuts

Often called Vong Thi donuts because of its association with the place, in fact, this 30-year-old donut shop has no official name. Although they also sell sweet donuts, most of the guests who come here prefer savory donuts.

The cake is just the right size, the shell is both flexible and soft, and the meat is fragrant with wood ear, and shiitake mushrooms. When eating, instead of adding fish sauce and vinegar like most other places, this restaurant has a red, gelatinous and sweet and sour sauce just enough.

Photo: @candykun1073.

Address: lane 242 Lac Long Quan, Tay Ho.

Price: 8,000 VND/cake, 10,000 VND/salty cake.

Opening hours: 10am – 7pm.

Photo: Internet (Vietnamese.Quest.net)