New kid on the block serves up a treat

Dreamboat: Morning glory salad served up as a sailing boat. Sweet simplicity: Royal-style sweet potatoes, a favourite side dish among Vietnamese food lovers. Food for thought: In addition to well-known Vietnamese dishes, Bach Gia Huong also serves up rural favorites rarely found in other restaurants in the capital, such as pan fried field crabs with salt. Bach Gia Huong Restaurant Add: 24 Hoa Lu Street, Ha Noi Tel: (04) 3974 7777 Hours: 10am to 10pm Price range: VND50-250VND (US$2,5-$12,5)

So I started looking for a new place to dine. While I was searching a friend remarked: "I prefer somewhere I am sure about or it might ruin your dinner. When a restaurant is not good you waste your time and money."

I started my search by visiting nhommua.com, a website allowing customers to buy vouchers for various activities around Viet Nam, from bars to resorts and travel agencies, at a reduced price, sometimes up to 70 per cent less.

But you take a risk. When you buy things in this way you may get a discount, but the fact is you have already paid, so if you get treated badly you can't do anything about it, particularly if the place is new and the staff don't have experience.

But in our case it paid off. I came across a Vietnamese-style restaurant in Ha Noi, called Bach Gia Huong, which opened a little over two months ago.

We bought two VND130,000 ($6.50) vouchers online for VND60,000 (US$3) each, a discount of 54 per cent.

When I called to book our table for 6pm the same evening, I was relieved when the receptionist said, "You can come at anytime today."

The place looks nothing special from the outside. It is a multi-storey house which looks narrow at first but widens inside. The ground floor was empty, apart from a few chairs and the receptionist who greeted us and showed us to the upper level restaurant.

It is large and well lit, the floor is paved with bricks and there are green decorated bamboo trees and bamboo furniture. Traditional water jars with lotus flowers give a peaceful countryside atmosphere.

Fans and air conditioners keep the temperature comfortable.

The menu was provided, showing many of the dishes we remembered from our childhood in the countryside, but in this case prepared in a more sophisticated way to satisfy fastidious guests.

We chose grilled royal sweet potatoes, spinach salad, grilled beef in bamboo tube, fan fried field crabs with salt, escargot spring rolls, a bowl of oyster soup, and a rice pot, all for two vouchers and an extra VND100,000 ($5).

All the dishes were served quickly. I once took a cooking course but I had to agree with my husband that it would take me ages to turn a salad into a sailing boat (see picture).

Looking around I could see the satisfied faces of other customers whenever a new dish was served, mostly because of the decorations.

My husband liked the grilled beef in bamboo, which was served on fire. I enjoyed the spring rolls – a traditional dish with escargot instead of pork. Rice cooked in an earthenware pot was also to our smell and taste. We then enjoyed a pot of tea, a fitting end to a grand dining experience.

In fact, it was so overwhelming that we couldn't finish, I had to call for the waiter to wrap up what was left to take home.

On our way out the receptionist gave us a 10% discount coupon for our next meal.

We had no complaints and just hope the restaurant is able to keep the countryside soul and manners which we enjoyed so much. — VNS

New kid on the block serves up a treat

Dreamboat: Morning glory salad served up as a sailing boat. Sweet simplicity: Royal-style sweet potatoes, a favourite side dish among Vietnamese food lovers. Food for thought: In addition to well-known Vietnamese dishes, Bach Gia Huong also serves up rural favorites rarely found in other restaurants in the capital, such as pan fried field crabs with salt. Bach Gia Huong Restaurant Add: 24 Hoa Lu Street, Ha Noi Tel: (04) 3974 7777 Hours: 10am to 10pm Price range: VND50-250VND (US$2,5-$12,5)

So I started looking for a new place to dine. While I was searching a friend remarked: "I prefer somewhere I am sure about or it might ruin your dinner. When a restaurant is not good you waste your time and money."

I started my search by visiting nhommua.com, a website allowing customers to buy vouchers for various activities around Viet Nam, from bars to resorts and travel agencies, at a reduced price, sometimes up to 70 per cent less.

But you take a risk. When you buy things in this way you may get a discount, but the fact is you have already paid, so if you get treated badly you can't do anything about it, particularly if the place is new and the staff don't have experience.

But in our case it paid off. I came across a Vietnamese-style restaurant in Ha Noi, called Bach Gia Huong, which opened a little over two months ago.

We bought two VND130,000 ($6.50) vouchers online for VND60,000 (US$3) each, a discount of 54 per cent.

When I called to book our table for 6pm the same evening, I was relieved when the receptionist said, "You can come at anytime today."

The place looks nothing special from the outside. It is a multi-storey house which looks narrow at first but widens inside. The ground floor was empty, apart from a few chairs and the receptionist who greeted us and showed us to the upper level restaurant.

It is large and well lit, the floor is paved with bricks and there are green decorated bamboo trees and bamboo furniture. Traditional water jars with lotus flowers give a peaceful countryside atmosphere.

Fans and air conditioners keep the temperature comfortable.

The menu was provided, showing many of the dishes we remembered from our childhood in the countryside, but in this case prepared in a more sophisticated way to satisfy fastidious guests.

We chose grilled royal sweet potatoes, spinach salad, grilled beef in bamboo tube, fan fried field crabs with salt, escargot spring rolls, a bowl of oyster soup, and a rice pot, all for two vouchers and an extra VND100,000 ($5).

All the dishes were served quickly. I once took a cooking course but I had to agree with my husband that it would take me ages to turn a salad into a sailing boat (see picture).

Looking around I could see the satisfied faces of other customers whenever a new dish was served, mostly because of the decorations.

My husband liked the grilled beef in bamboo, which was served on fire. I enjoyed the spring rolls – a traditional dish with escargot instead of pork. Rice cooked in an earthenware pot was also to our smell and taste. We then enjoyed a pot of tea, a fitting end to a grand dining experience.

In fact, it was so overwhelming that we couldn't finish, I had to call for the waiter to wrap up what was left to take home.

On our way out the receptionist gave us a 10% discount coupon for our next meal.

We had no complaints and just hope the restaurant is able to keep the countryside soul and manners which we enjoyed so much. — VNS