Ho Hoan Kiem Street

Ho Hoan Kiem is right in the heart of the capital but it seems that few people take notice of the the street because it is so short among a spacious area that not too many people pay attention to it. 

Understandably, maybe the reason is that the street is the shortest one of Hanoi with just 45 metres. The street was once called Hang Che. 

In the French colonial times, it was named Philharmonique (which means Music Festival). Not until 1945 was the city renamed to Ho Hoan Kiem (now in Hang Bac Ward, Hoan Kiem district).

Ho Hoan Kiem is a small street but several generations of Hanoi still clearly remember, especially the young generation who prefer junk food, since Ho Hoan Kiem street is truly well-known for a specialty that might takes many adjectives to describe with a full justice how wonderful it is: spicy, mouth-watering, delicious, unique,etc. It’s exactly papaya salad with beef jerky. 

In addition, there are more interesting things about the street. The unique feature of this street is how house numbering is done. Although it is only about 45m street with 2 block of a few house on both side but many house use extended house numbers of Dinh Tien Hoang street or Cau Go street. 

As a result, there are only one house on the even-number side (No 28) and one another on the odd-number side (No.23) having an address of Ho Hoan Kiem street. Small as it is, Ho Hoan Kiem street is still a spot that is worth-visiting with delights in architecture, food, souvenirs and people as well.