"A Hanoi institution since 1871 serving one dish: grilled fish cooked tableside over charcoal."
Cha Ca La Vong, Hanoi Overview
Cha Ca La Vong is a Hanoi institution that has served exactly one dish since 1871: cha ca, turmeric-marinated fish grilled tableside over a charcoal brazier and mixed with dill, spring onion, rice vermicelli, peanuts, and shrimp paste. Founded by the Doan family in Hanoi's Old Quarter, the restaurant became so well known that the street outside, once Hang Son Street, was renamed Cha Ca Street after it. Diners sit at simple communal tables and finish cooking the fish themselves, a ritual barely changed in over 150 years.
Opened in 1871 by the Doan family at 14 Hang Son Street, Cha Ca La Vong takes its name from a statue of La Vong, the legendary Zhou-dynasty strategist known for his patient fishing, kept inside the restaurant. In its early years the upstairs rooms served as a meeting place for anti-French rebels, and the original owner was later executed by colonial authorities; the restaurant went on to draw aristocrats and French officers alike. Today it still serves only cha ca: hemibagrus fish marinated in turmeric, grilled at the table, and eaten over rice vermicelli with dill, peanuts, herbs, and mam tom. Its fame renamed the street around it and earned it a spot in "1,000 Places to See Before You Die."
