The Heo Bistro — Restaurant in Cần Thơ

This is going to be a long review. If you want the short version, here it is: Ambience - Very cozy and comfortable with an old world charm. Service - Excellent and knowledgeable. Food I- Outstanding. Every dish was perfection.

So what else is there to say? Deleted

2nd, if you are counting, the signage or lack thereof. Our Grab driver gave up even though it turns out that we were less than 50m away. It was only my persistence, and a call to the restaurant, that got us there. There is a super small high street sign no more than 1ft wide with the name which still says Hell - I think. For yr convenience, Hell is in an alley near the very of lane, on the right. You didn't think it was that close, right? ;-)

I should mention the cocktails we had instead of usual wine were very good, albeit somewhat slow. Btw, if you want wine, you are basically out of luck, which i think is something of an error. The focus is firmly on cocktails and spirits. As said, the food was uniformly excellent, and well plated.

We had one of the very tasty 'degustation' menus. That was because I was much too hasty and did not notice that they had all those dishes as individual dishes as well on the menus at the back. Silly me, but it did mean we tried some different tasty dishes, but too much for these two not-big eaters, but my wife adored the hand-made chocolates - which we never would have ordered.

The salmon was prob the stand-out, although the duck breast was also excellent. and the chocolates of course. :-)

Now. The quibbles. The biggest service error was not changing plates AND cutlery after each course - which is standard practice, and especially serving salmon after a heavy creamy pasta dish. This was a point that the waiter seemed to have a problem comprehending to my surprise, given his otherwise excellent service. Now about the menu I selected. The initial garlic bread was ok, but .. not in keeping w the rest of the tasty menu. Just quick & easy. The quite tasty prawn pasta dish was just too creamy and heavy in this long menu. It needs something lighter and, dare I say, more interesting. Otherwise, excellent. Given these are shared dishes, some dishes needed serving spoons eg the duck salad. The table cloths were just inappropriate and dysfunctional, ie, 'not fit for purpose'. And just not simple, functional and elegant - which is what was called for. For a point of difference, plain black, or dark burgundy would work. Although quite tasty, although possibly lacking actual alcohol, the serving glass was totally underwhelming, unlike for example, the glass for my later very tasty classic Sidecar. See photo. Final quibble was actually final: the BILL had additional tax added that was NOT incl in listed price. This a big 'no no'! You simply do NOT do this (unless there is a very clear statement). Restaurants who do this go to Hell. ;-)

Note to owner, as a professional in both food & beverage, and marketing, can I suggest a much clearer understandable, and much stronger, more empathetic marketing and brand name change Deleted

And bonus ... Attached is 'something I prepared earlier' ;-). Really. Some two years ago for myself. Deleted

Addendum. Yet another business owner who thinks they know everything, and cannot be told anything, or learn anything. And was so busy justifying that that he (bound to be 'he' because men are so much more arrogant and entitled) simply ignored my other specific comments, criticisms and suggestions.

And "hidden" so well that we almost went elsewhere. I wonder how many other potential customers did...

Order of drinks: Virgin Mojito - 115K Margarita with bartender’s twist - 115K Sweeter than your ex - 160K Red label & D.O.M - 185K

Quality of product : 5 Mastery of flavours: 5 value for price : 5 service : 5

It’s fine for a 5$/drink but you’ll have to ask or check the price on menu before ordering as some drinks are...

The bartender gave me a short form up front for me to fill in an overview of my preferences. He then set out to create a wonderful drink based on my notes. Reasonable price. Nice snacks. Thematic. The staffs wear nice suits haha. The atmosphere here’s suitable for date nights 🍸. Will go back to try some main...