Bún Chả Hương Liên is a small, unassuming restaurant in Hanoi known for cheap prices, dim lighting, plain white tiled walls, communal metal tables, and plastic stools. The restaurant specializes in bún chả, a traditional Hanoi dish of marinated pork patties, grilled pork belly, vermicelli noodles, broth, and herbs. Anthony Bourdain featured the restaurant on his show and invited Barack Obama to join him in 2016, prompting informal local renaming as "Bún Chả Obama." With cameras rolling they ordered homemade bún chả and discussed Southeast Asian foods. Obama recalled a memorable simple fish meal in Puncak, Indonesia.
Bún Chả Hương Liên is a very unassuming establishment. It's cheap, busy, and dimly lit, with plain white tiled walls, communal metal tables, and flimsy plastic stools - not exactly where you picture a former U.S. president dining. Bún chả is a traditional Hanoi dish made with marinated pork patties, grilled pork belly, vermicelli noodles, broth, and herbs. It's delicious, and Bún Chả Hương Liên does an amazing job with it.
But after a visit from Obama and Bourdain in 2016, Bún Chả Hương Liên became informally known as "Bún Chả Obama," the place where the famous pair bonded over their love of Asian street food. So much so that it was selected by Bourdain as a stop for his hit show "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown," with Obama joining him for the dedicated episode.
Barack Obama told Anthony Bourdain that the best meal he ever had was in Puncak, a mountainous Indonesian city. He was blown away by a fish dish he had there, which was made using carp caught right in front of him. "You'd pick the fish, they'd grab it for you and fry it up, and the skin would be real crispy. ... It was the simplest meal possible, and nothing tasted so good," he said.
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