Hanoi – Autumn picks
Hanoi is full of independent businesses and hidden treasures that you only seem to find through word of mouth or by simply stumbling upon. I find the reason for this being, most of these places don’t have websites and at least to my knowledge aren’t advertised heavily. Below I have listed in no particular order, 7 of my best Hanoi – Autumn picks to check out. This is for tourists and people living here, from fashion to coffee and everything in between.
Nut Closet
Autumn is upon us in the North of Vietnam which means we can finally get cosy in winter knits. My favourite place for getting those high quality knits for a low price at the moment is Nut Closet on Kim Ma street. Their windows always look so adorable; tonal, simplistic dressing accompanied with berets and baker boy hat accessories. My favourite items from there at the moment are; the grey wool baker boy hats (200vnd), sock boots (300 vnd) and woollen relaxed tailored trousers (300vnd). A major inconvenience of riding a bike is that you have to be careful of what skirts and dresses you wear, therefore these woollen super comfy trousers are a blessing.
Patisserie Lapin
It’s not new, I talk about this cafe constantly and was even lucky enough this year to receive one of their full chocolate crepe cakes for my birthday. Theres a reason I can’t ever stop talking about this place, it truly is the best cake shop to visit in Hanoi. As a self proclaimed sugar fiend, I’ve done the rounds and tasted them all, they don’t compare.
However, I am still on the hunt for some fabulous gooey brownies or cookies, hit me up in the comments if you know any places?
Chapel cafe
A cafe also located in Trung Hoa, specialised in coffee drinks, and somewhere I seem to be spending a lot of time lesson planning. The interior is cosy with cushioned seating upstairs and coffee related quirks.
VCCA
Every city I live in and visit, I make a point of going to at least one contemporary art gallery. My obsession with this ritual is to the point where on one occasion with 20 minutes to catch my train from Glasgow to London. I still managed to run to the Gallery Of Modern Art. Sweep through the Lichtenstein and Warhol exhibition and back onto my train with 1 minute to spare. So imagine my first world struggle when I couldn’t find any in Hanoi, UNTIL NOW! I’ve actually been suggested a few places since reaching out in Facebook groups but the VCCA (Vincom Centre for Contemporary Art) gets my honourable mention as I stumbled upon it on a rainy day.
Botanical gardens
The botanical gardens of bãi đá sông Hồng. This was mentioned in my last post, but it’s probably the most exciting place I’ve found this month. So different from anything else I’ve seen in Hanoi and a great weekend activity to kill time.
Innisfree
Myself and my housemate have just started to introduce Korean skincare into our regimes. One of my new favourites is Innisfree. A popular Korean skincare brand from Jeju island, promising eco friendly and ethical beauty products. I went on a bit of a spending spree and bought a lot of sheet masks, foam cleanser, lipstick and hydrating face mist. All of which have performed amazingly on my skin. This brand can be found online or at Lotte Centre in Ba Dinh, unfortunately it’s not available in the UK from what I know. For reviews of their products, click here.
Chingu
Having been one of their first customers on their opening day, they’ve come a long way in the past 6 months with constant interior improvements. Out of all the cafe’s I’ve visited this one is the most precise in it’s vision, every part of it’s design is in sync with Korean culture.
More importantly, they serve the best smoothies and hot drinks. I’m pretty certain I’m known as the girl that always order the Caramel smoothie, what can I say, I’m a creature of habit. I did, however order their special Korean orange tea, which was fabulous! Please visit their Instagram by clicking here.
This concludes my highlights for the Autumn months, my aim is to continue to explore Hanoi and bring attention to more places outside of the tourist eye by posting on a seasonal basis. If you have any recommendations, I do love finding new places so hmu below!
Thank you for reading x