Street food is the way to eat in Vietnam. Follow your nose or your guidebook's recommendations for deliciously fresh and tasty traditional Vietnamese dishes, served to you on tiny plastic chairs at the side of some of the busiest roads that I have ever seen (busier than Cairo, busier than Delhi, busier than... you get the picture). But if you are looking for a pleasanter setting, without losing the opportunity to try all those wonderful street eats, then Quan An Ngong is the place to go. 
We went there twice and the place was packed both times. You may wait a short while for a table, but there is lots of seating at the open-air communal tables, so the wait is unlikely to be long. The concept is Vietnamese street food served in a restaurant setting, with the food stations preparing each dish set around the perimeter of the courtyard in which you eat. You can choose from the menu, but it’s worth taking a stroll around the food stations first to see the food being prepared and get an idea of what you would like to try. Fresh herbs are a big feature of Vietnamese cuisine and bring a delightful flavour to the many and varied dishes, which include Pho (national dish - soup with noodles), seafood salad with mango, prawns prepared in various ways, Vietnamese pancakes (very crispy egg-based "pancake" eaten with herbs and other interesting fillings), spring rolls and many more treats. Go with friends and you can get the benefit of ordering many different dishes and tasting them all. Service is generally quite prompt. I don't remember seeing a winelist, but you can order wonderful fresh juices. And the meal would not be complete without a Vietnamese coffee (hot or iced and sweetened with condensed milk).
Quan An Ngong is at 18 Phan Boi Chau, French Quarter, Hanoi. You will also find a branch in Ho Chi Minh City, at 160 Pasteur Street.
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