This is one of four Vietnamese restaurants that have consecutively received the 1-star award from the Michelin Guide in 2023 and 2024. The restaurant stands out on the small street of Yen The, Ba Dinh district, with an architectural style inspired by the ancient Northern folk culture with oar masts, tiled roofs, red brick floors... The two-story wooden house is peaceful among the green trees.
The restaurant is famous for its simple Northern dishes with familiar dishes such as braised fish, fried eggs, fried tofu, crab soup, shrimp and gourd soup with braised pork and eggs, cabbage rolls with meat... Even "wild" dishes such as fried pork rinds with fish sauce, roasted peanuts, sesame salt, pickled cucumbers and eggplants also appear on the menu.
In 2024, the restaurant opened a new location, also located on Yen The Street, about 40 meters from the old location. This new location is located in a corner of the street, renovated from an old French villa.
Previously, this place used to be a favorite coffee shop for young people. The restaurant currently only uses 2 of the 4 floors of the house for business purposes. The interior of this establishment retains the old, gentle, nostalgic style when decorated with statues of Uncle Teu, stone dogs...
On a weekday lunch, the restaurant is completely full at the second location. Most diners have to make reservations before coming. Many diners coming to the restaurant are foreigners, constantly taking out their phones to take photos and videos of beautiful moments while dining.
Mr. Cong Hoang (24 years old, Hanoi) came to have lunch with his family and ordered the Trung Bac set menu including the following dishes: crab soup with Malabar spinach, pickled cucumber and eggplant, roasted peanuts, green bean curd, braised pork, fresh spring roll with shrimp and pork, boiled vegetables with kho quet sauce and white rice.
He shared: "The dishes here are like the rice cooked by my mother. The space here is so nostalgic. Moreover, this is the first time I have seen and used chopsticks to serve rice, a completely new experience for Gen Z like me."
The first time using the service at the restaurant, Ms. Pham Thi Nhat (57 years old, Hai Duong) could not help but be surprised: "I like the onion-seasoned tofu dish the most in today's meal. The tofu is fried crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The dishes here are all seasoned with perfect flavor."
Currently, dishes at the restaurant cost about 150,000-400,000 VND/dish, a set meal costs from 700,000 to 1 million VND.
