Entree Kibbles

Sunday, July 06, 2025

Hanoi Tirant Hotel @ Vietnam

I enjoyed my stay at Hanoi's Bonsella Hotel back in 2023 but given its lack of a gymnasium, a requirement for my younger sister, we opted for Hanoi Tirant Hotel, which had another advantage for its proximity to the happening area within the old quarter!

Photograph taken after stepping in; typical of most hotels in Hanoi, there were also stairs at Tirant Hotel although they were just a short flight of stairs and the bellboy was more than willing to help you move your luggage.

Welcome drink at the lobby.

A sweet and nice lemongrass drink.

Collected our key cards; a total of three rooms were booked at Hanoi Tirant Hotel, and just for one night as we would be proceeding to Sapa the very next day.

Point no 5: free luggage storage which we shall be utilising the next day as I wouldn't want to haul up our 28-inch luggage up to the sleeper train from Hanoi to Sapa!

Rooms

No 401 - as it was December when we visited, there was a christmas decoration hung at the door! According to tradition, mistletoe harvested by Druid priests with a golden sickle and placed over the door was said to ward off evil in the coming year.

While I am fine with such festive decorations, what's unacceptable was that it covered the peep hole! We didn't realize until one of our family members came over to ring the bell!

Entering into our Deluxe Twin Room with Internal Window. A check on the web revealed that we were likely upgraded as our windows looked out to the street view.

For your reference; surprisingly, I thought the wooden furniture, flooring perfectly complemented the blue walls! And the blue had a soothing aura beneficial for those on vacations to get away from work.

Even though the room was rectangular shaped, the design was a bit weird. Above pictures were two ends of a passage; one housed a dressing table with an electric kettle and a mini-fridge, whereas the other just had windows with curtains.

3-pin plugs at the bedside table, and in-room safe, hairdryer and bathrobes in the wardrobe. Is that a weighing machine in wardrobe?

p.s. real flowers by the way! Aside from the bottled water, there were also complimentary boxes of snacks known as traditional young rice cake. Let's unbox them!

Turned out they were like a thinner piece of green-colored ang ku kueh, filled with the mung bean paste Singaporeans of Chinese ethnicity would find familiar! Honestly, I like it, especially when the portion was smaller than what we were accustomed to.

Street view from the super small balcony; both day and night.

Within the spacious washroom; basic amenities like shaver, toothbrush, toothpaste and comb could only requested via a phone call for environmental sustainability reason. Shampoo, shower gel, conditioner, and body lotion were all housed in refillable bottles.

Evacuation route for reference!

Room 606 - the room assigned to us when we returned from Sapa. At least for this room, the decoration was hung further down, and not obstructing the peep-hole.

This time, it's a yellow theme! I personally prefer the blue one.

Gymnasium

Located on the ground floor, albeit not ground, ground in my opinion. It would be considered as lower ground for me as I still need to walk down the stairs from the main entrance.

Cute, colorful towels were provided.

More like hand, rather than face towels.

Frankly, the gym was small although it didn't appear popular with guests from thee 122 rooms in the hotel. Usually, it's just my sister and I. What I dislike most was the short ceiling; there's a chin up bar (part of the multi-station machine) that couldn't function to its full potential!

Swimming Pool and Rooftop Bar

I am always so impressed with the rooftop bars at Hanoi, which aren't limited to just five-star hotels! Many lower-starred hotels have them, even if the space was very limited.

Space wasn't a problem at Hanoi Tirant Hotel; it even had a swimming pool in addition to the rooftop bar! Well, given that it was winter, we didn't even bother bringing any swimwear! Swimming is only for summer!

View from the rooftop bar. Notice that bridge that appeared to be lighted by fire? It's the famous Long Biên Bridge; spanning, 2.29 km long across the Red River, it was completed more than 100 years ago.

Buffet Breakfast

Breakfast time and let's take a photograph; missing Alex and my dad as they woke up much earlier than us and were exploring Hoan Kiem lake!

Pretty spacious restaurant that was on the 13th floor, just a floor below the rooftop bar. Customer service here was good, especially from a specific male manager who spoke great English.

View surrounding us.

This unique sky bar with a vermillion Japanese bridge and torii gate caught my attention! Opened in 2024, I spent a while trying to figure out which hotel it was under. Answer: KeCho Legacy Hotel Hanoi!

Variety of food. Pretty good range.

I am known for not eating breakfast and while I would still eat when complimentary buffet breakfast is included, I would just take a bit of everything for sampling purpose, before taking more if my taste buds enjoyed what went into the mouth. In all, the breakfast was alright, and I indulged in more fruits than cooked foods.

Miscellaneous

Discounts for restaurant and happy hour!

Shoe Polish / Shine Machine right after you stepped into the hotel. I am actually curious on its workings, and whether this was only used for leather shoes or applied to even sneakers too.

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Overall, the stay at Hanoi Tirant Hotel was not bad. Bed was comfortable, water pressure at the show was good, breakfast was acceptable, and it's super near the now-demolished shark jaw building and Hanoi Old Quarter Weekend Night Market.

Address

38 P. Gia Ngư, Hàng Bạc,

Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội, Vietnam

Map

As above.

Website

https://www.tiranthotel.com/

Pricing

Deluxe Twin Room with Internal Window - S$123.13 per night

(Twin sharing and via Booking.com)

Click here for my summarized itinerary of my 3 Days trip to Sapa

Saengchai Phochana Thai Restaurant @ Bangkok in Thailand

To be honest, I have never heard of Saengchai Phochana before a Thai friend suggested having dinner there. According to him, it's famous among the locals in Bangkok, especially for late-night meals since it operates from 6.00 pm till 3.00 am.

Walls in the eatery were neatly plastered with photographs taken of celebrities and local dignitaries with the owner (I presume). Somewhat similar to the sights at some old school eateries, before the advent of social media.

Let's start with... a bottle of mineral water. What shocked us was the accompanying metal tub of filled with ice and three small glasses! The bottle had only 500ml of water; seemed a bit too dramatic!

Salted Peach Soup - said to be the specialty for the restaurant, I think it was the incorrect English translation as it was known as the sour plum soup according to our Thai friend, who is of Japanese and Thai-Chinese descent.

For me, it tasted like tom yum soup, without its signature numbing spiciness. Sour was its key highlight and appetizing it sure was. I can imagine people who have had too much alcohol coming by just to have this soup to wake them up! p.s. a lot of offals!

Spicy Fish Salad - I was scratching my head when I saw this. For a salad, there were too little vegetables although I am not complaining for the excessive amount of fish!

For a Thai dish that had the word spicy in it; this wasn't very spicy in my opinion. Absolutely love the fish, which was sliced into smaller pieces and deep fried to a crisp! I should have ordered beer, instead of water.

Fried Kale with Fried Pork Cackling - cooked al dente, and surrounded by a thick sauce that was spicier than the Spicy Fish Salad! I had assumed the fried pork cackling to be crispy pork lards and it turned out to be chopped roast pork. Ok tasting.

Grilled Prawns - Alex couldn't resist not ordering grilled prawns. Unlike him, my love is deeper for crabs rather than prawns! Fresh, meaty and sweet, especially when dipped into the spicy seafood sauce!

Steamed Fish with Soy Sauce - went with sea bass as pomfret was sold out. Taste was quite normal, similar to what we can commonly get in Singapore. Let's be fair here, how unusual would steamed fish with soy sauce be, so long it is fresh?

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For three persons, I think we over-ordered! However, there were so many things from the menu which we didn't manage to have. From the review above, I would say what we had didn't quite impress me; the only I would go back for would be the Spicy Fish Salad.

Address

762/5–7 Sukhumvit Rd, Khlong Tan,