Restaurant: Club Opera
Location: Hanoi
Date: March 28, 2014
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Rating: Upscale take
Our second night in Hanoi brought us (accidentally) to an even more upscale take on Vietnamese cuisine. Of course, it still had the giant menu.
And fresh spring rolls. Just here, you get an individual sauce on a spoon!
Or these Friend Spring Rolls Hue Imperial Style impaled on a coconut.
Or these other fried spring rolls.
Mango Salad with Grilled Australian Beef. These are always great.
This was a kind of rice ravioli. It was a little bland.
Seafood rice noodle. There are glass noodles in there and all sorts of seafood including fish, shrimp, and squid.
Grilled Australian Beef tenderloin with lemongrass and chili.
Grilled pork ribs with Mandarin sauce. Apparently, like Mandarin oranges, Mandarin sauce is well… orange (and sweet).
Grilled Duck in Tamarind Sauce. Yum.
Grilled prawn with lemongrass.
Steamed prawn in passion fruit sauce. Great over rice.
Overall, things were quite tasty here, but the level of formality and “rigidity” of the place didn’t really fit the vibe we had grown accustomed to in Vietnam. It also wasn’t actually “better” than the good casual places. Sure, presentation was a little more elaborate — and it was still an on point kitchen — but I don’t think it was worth the price hike.
Another mysterious observation. Having grown a bit sick of beer, I went to the wine list. It was mostly French, but there were no German or Alsatian wines. And very few whites, maybe a Sancere or two. Nothing that really goes with this cuisine (I was looking for a dry or slightly off dry Riesling). Lots of Bordeaux, which the Vietnamese seem to like but which I think clashes terribly with the complex and slightly sweet flavors of the food.