Le Tonkin Restaurant

We were all invited to join Lora's farewell party at Le Tonkin restaurant two months ago. This is one of the beautiful restaurants in Hanoi which is located in a gorgeous French building surrounded by nice gardens in Ngo Van So street. We were so excited to be there in such a nice place with friends and to eat nice Vietnamese food, at least that's what we expected.

After experiencing quite a few restaurants in Hanoi, I know a bit about Vietnamese food and this place was disappointing. They seem to use a bit too much seasoning, salt and MSG because even the salads were salty. For the prices we pay in these kinds of restaurants, I expect better.

We ordered some beautiful Allan Scott white wine from New Zealand and they didn't have any bottles in the fridge. The waitress gave me a really warm bottle which she said was cold. I asked them politely to put it back in the ice basket and that we would wait, and also asked them to put few more in the freezer because we were a big group of 25 people. After awhile, they brought another bottle and put it on the table without an ice bucket. We were willing to pay over $30++ for a good and chilled bottle of white wine, not for hot white wine. Then, in the middle of the dinner, the waitress came over and told me that they had sold out of Allan Scott wine and could we choose a different brand but they once again came with warm bottles. What kind of service is that? In this kind of quality restaurant they should train their staff well as this is a really basic rule about wine but it seemed they don't really care about this.

It seems as though it's the kind of restaurant that's only interested in serving tour groups - people who might complain but they are unlikely to see again. They are unlikely to see me again, either.