Entree Kibbles: Tung's Kitchen near Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi [Vietnam]

Sunday, August 20, 2023

Tung's Kitchen near Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi [Vietnam]

Dinner for day three of our Hanoi visit was planned at Tung's Kitchen which commanded an amazing review score of 4.8 from over 1,300 reviewers on Google Map!

As we were famished by the time we returned to Hanoi from our day trip Ninh Binh; our focus was on what to order from the 16-page menu of the restaurant. So deep was our concentration that I even forgot to take a picture of the restaurant's interior.

Hanoi Fried Spring Roll - something deep fried for an appetizer would be nice to curb our hunger while we waited for the rest of our orders. One thing about Vietnamese cuisine in general - a lot of accompanying vegs!

Crisp texture filled with "mushrooms, eggs, beansprouts, coriander, mint, carrot, onions and glass noodles", it was a tad salty. Although there was supposed to be meat, I can only comment that my mouth didn't manage to get a touch of it.

Grilled Chicken with Honey - accompanied by a serving of salad, this appeared more like an Eastern-Western fusion with rice and salad. Glad to see the chicken was cut into smaller pieces as it would be easier to share amongst the four of us!

Sadly, the chicken had this frozen taste although texture of meat was moist with the thin skin exhibiting a nice tinge of grilled aroma. Thank god for the saucer of honey sauce that help to overwhelm the frozen taste.

French Fries with Butter and Garlic - despite the smell of garlic, the fries weren't butter and there didn't appear to be salt sprinkled on them too! Aside from being a healthier version of French fries, I must add that they were crunchy and freshly ladled up from a pot of frying oil.

Bun Cha - this would be my second best loved dish in Vietnamese cuisine! In Singapore, though, there were a lot of vermicelli than vegetables.

Knowing we were foreigners, the staff came over and patiently taught how to eat it! The authentic Hanoi way was to wrap up the meat and vegetables into a roll using rice paper.

The minty freshness of vegetables was perfect for the greasiness of the well marinated pork belly and pork patties! Honestly, this style of eating buncha made the dish seemed to healthy! No wonder the northern Vietnamese are generally so slim!

Braised Fish with Ginger - made from bagrid catfish, I had three gripes about the dish. Number one; there was a muddiness in flavor, common in freshwater fishes.

Other two were the mushy texture of the fish meat and the sheer number of fish bones! As I inhaled, instead of simply eating my food, it was a risk for me as I got have gotten a bone stuck in my throat!

Caramelized Pork and Quail Egg - as you have noticed by now, the plating was relatively similar and I frankly didn't see the need to have a portion of salad when food should be more authentically Vietnamese.

As the name suggested, there was no surprise on who the main stars were as they were unceremoniously laid out on the plate, looking more braised the caramelized.

Among all the dishes, this was the most interesting! Credits especially for the sauce - it was like a sweeter version of our local braised sauce, albeit with a lighter shade and an extremely buttery sensation! Given the fat content of the pork belly, it was soft and meltingly good!

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Done with our meal! Given the review above, all of four of us were scratching out heads as to why the restaurant was accorded such a high review on Google Map. The answer came at the end of the meal, when the waitress came to ask if everything was okay, and encouraged us to give a 5-star score. I see.

Address

2 P. Hàng Bông, |, Hoàn Kiếm,

Hà Nội 100000, Vietnam

Map

As above.

Website