By Nguyễn Mỹ Hà

The name Hàng Sơn 1871 immediately evokes a bygone era. The year takes you back two centuries in the history of Hà Nội’s Old Quarter, to a time when everything but the street names was different.

Even then, the city boasted tiny winding streets with the word “Hàng”, meaning Craft, in the name. There are many of them: Hàng Đào, or Silk Street; Hàng Bạc, or Silver Street, and even Hàng Mắm, or Fish Sauce Street.

But Hàng Sơn, or Lacquer Street, would become better known for a different product. The street is where the first chả cá (grilled fish), one of Hà Nội’s signature dishes, was born in 1871. The name "Chả Cá" later replaced the name Hàng Sơn and the street has carried it ever since.

If you read enough about Chả Cá, the grilled fish dish that everyone talks about if they visit Hà Nội, you know that Hàng Sơn 1871 is just a subtle way of saying “We serve Chả Cá!”

My high school friends and I decided to try this restaurant on a fine spring day to catch up and enjoy a meal. The restaurant façade looks just like any other townhouse city restaurant, except for the small alley next to the main entrance.

As it turned out, the alley led to the backyard, which was spacious and a great place to have food on the terrace, under the shade of an old longan tree.

Needless to say, we ordered chả cá (VNĐ135,000)—grilled fish cooked on the table with green onions and dill. Accompanying herbs include julienned white onions soaked in sugar and vinegar and Láng mint leaves.

Over the past 10 years, the city’s food scene has boomed with all kinds of restaurants and food specialties from all the Vietnamese provinces and the world over.

Chả cá has also enjoyed a great revival. In addition to the original Chả cá Lã Vọng restaurant on Chả Cá Street, Chả cá Kinh Kỳ and Chả Cá Thăng Long arrived on the scene to mostly serve local diners as Chả cá Lã Vọng became overcrowded.

Some newcomers also offer chả cá at a very competitive price of VNĐ120,000 per person. This is possible thanks to the new fish farms that raise the special lăng catfish along the Đà River and offer fish wholesale to the restaurants in Hà Nội.