Ninh Binh Hilversum — Restaurant in Hilversum

Overall the food was aromatic and tasty, a place I would take my friends too for cocktails, and smaller dishes.

9.5/10 if you’re a fan of sweet cocktail drinks get: Dragons whisper: mellow, smooth texture almost jelly like, incredibly rich with an after taste that reminds me of flowery jasmine tea, with the ginger bitterness hitting the back of my mouth together with the slightly tangy vodka hiding under the sweetness, great presentation with small flowers and white foam holding steadily on top of the drink

Vegetarian Pho: 6.5/10 wish they had slightly burnt or no mashrooms at all, missing herby toppings

The pho: very aromatic but not as herby as I would like, the toppings weren’t as fresh, here they seem to use precut mashrooms and cold tofu, slightly tasting like the cold fridge air. Missing the additional fresh mint, coriander, and wish there was more green onion, but overall the soup broth was rich, so that scored the most points- the rice noodles were a little too thick for my taste and it could also skip the sugar snap peas

9/10 only missing more herbs on the plate to help with the slightly “dull coconut” taste

The fried coconut grilled shrimp pancakes were really good, crispy, warm, soft inside with non-harsh turmeric aftertaste, adding more coriander / mint would’ve elevated them perfectly making the dish taste even better and less dull/ “coconut” tasting , I wish the “fish sauce” has more actual fish sauce and salty/fermented rather than watery...

The ambience is nice and the service is great, two stars for them. For food, the Vietnamese rice noodles here are now the worst I've ever had in the Netherlands.

Everything was not right. The beef broth already had a weird sour taste before the lime was added, the rice noodles were clumped together in the bowl, not fresh and therefore no texture. The rice noodles in the tofu soup were flavorless. For authentic Vietnamese vermicelli, the chili, bean sprouts and cilantro should be added separately on the plate and the customer would decide whether to add it or not, but here it was added directly to the soup. The spicy soup of thin rice noodles and the classic banana-based Vietnamese dessert that appeared in the old Google reviews are no longer offered.

The only plausible explanation for all this is that the chef is gone, but the former rave reviews stayed. I later verified this with the waiter. They got a new chef and a new menu.

It was just awful. I'm really disappointed and saddened. If this restaurant wants to stay in business, and if it's not possible to bring back the original chef, please at least choose a real Vietnamese as the chef.

I'm sorry, but I had to write this review to help other diners make their choice. Utrecht and Amsterdam have a lot of very good Vietnamese noodles, and I do hope that hilversum will have one back...

One star purely for the service. Went for lunch, asked questions regarding gluten free options. Was met with a lack of knowledge about gluten by a first waiter so he sent his colleague. Colleague nr 2 did know and advised us well. To our surprise, colleague nr 1 then came back to take our order and answered “no” to any additional questions regarding gluten containing sauces etc, which did not seem reliable but rather came across as careless. He then returned to ask if squid was fine, because we had informed them both of a shrimp and shellfish allergy. We responded that squid was also no option for us, and he questioned us saying it’s not the same so it should be fine. We maintained our stance, to which we were met with a very rude attitude. Waiter left saying “ok, whatever.” So we left. Lovely ambiance and hip looking place. But not recommended when having to deal with dietary restrictions, or expecting good service. I’m sorry but I honestly don’t understand where the 4,7...