Hong Hoai's Restaurant @ Hanoi in Vietnam

Dinner on day four of our Hanoi trip was at Hong Hoai's Restaurant that, at this moment, had a google review rating of 4.9 from an impressive, over 6,000 reviewers! 

I am going to go straight to the topic although truth was; I was famished and forgot to take more photographs of the eatery's interior! Whatever the case, food matters more than anything in a dining establishment.

Tra Da - this was the most expensive tra da I had at 20,000 dong as generally, the pricing was less than 10,000 dong! However, the tea flavor was a lot richer. I am happy paying lesser for a glass and double the serving.

Bun Cha - I had mentioned on a number of occasions that compared to pho, bun cha is my preferred Vietnamese noodle dish. Even though the grilled meat was aromatic, taste was salty and unlike my regular indulgences, I had to eat it with the vegetables to even out the saltiness. 

Caramelized Pork Belly with Egg - just the delicious sound name was sufficient to work up an appetite! I was a bit disappointed with the egg though as I didn't expect quail eggs! 

Honestly, this was just braised pork, and in my opinion, my mom's braised pork would have tasted sweeter than what I had at Hong Hoai's Restaurant. To be fair, the meat was tender! Totally can ignore the eggs, which didn't make or break this dish.

Pork Rolled in Betel Nut Leaf - having heard of betel nuts for so long, my curiosity was piqued for this dish and I can't wait to dig into the little meaty nuggets wrapped with leaves.

Maybe it's me. I can't really discern any interesting flavor from the betel nut leaves. In a nutshell, eating into each roll was similar to having water dumplings (水饺), albeit with soft bones in the filling. Not bad although not breathtaking too. 

Banh Xeo with Beef - I fell in love with this after trying the amazing one from Ẩm Thực Quê Nhà in Ho Chih Minh City. The unique thing for this dish at Hong Hoai's Restaurant was that the server took extra steps to show us how to eat it, correctly! 

So, the correct way was to eat it like a popiah wrapped with the rice paper! I love the fact that pineapple was added, which gave it an endearingly zesty and sweet twist. We should have chosen another meat too as beef turned out to be too tough! 

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I wouldn't say this was a bad meal yet all of us were flabbergasted as to the high review rating. A rating of about 4.0 would be more reflective of what we had that night. Or maybe, we ordered the wrong things? p.s. service was very good and the staff spoke great English! 

Address

20 P. Bát Đàn, Hàng Bồ, 

Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội 100000, Vietnam

Map

As above. 

Menu

As above.

Click here for my Week-Long Itinerary to Hanoi - City of Lakes @ Vietnam