The Hung Snake Restaurant — Restaurant in Hà Nội

My girlfriend and I truly enjoyed our experience at the Hung Snake Restaurant in Snake Village at 33 Le Mat. It's only about a 20 minute drive or uber ride out of Hanoi, so it is really easy to get to. When we arrived at the restaurant, we were met by the owner's son Dragon, who was quite possibly the best restaurant host I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. When we went down to check out the different snakes that they have to offer, he did not push us at all to buy the King Cobra because it is the most expensive. He made sure that we truly wanted to spend the money to eat the cobra before buying it. We got to handle the bamboo snake and see what the mountain cobra looked like before deciding on the cobra. Of course we wanted to buy the cobra to get the most out of our experience and because we were told it tastes the best. We then were able to watch how they killed the snakes and how they cut the heart out before cooking them into 10 delicious dishes (11 if you don' buy the King Cobra, the extra dish is the fried snake skin. They leave the skin on the King Cobra when they cook it). My buddy and I were so excited to drink the King Cobra heart, which Dragon said makes you strong mentally and physically. They present the snake heart in a shot of vodka along with a shot of vodka with snake blood and snake bile. I'm not the biggest fan of taking shots, but we powered them down back to back with no problem. You didn't taste the heart, blood, or bile, just the vodka. The 10 dishes we had were egg snake soup, fried snake spring roll, wrapped snake in La Lot leaves, grilled snake, sautéed snake meat, sautéed snake stomach, fried bone with rice cracker, steamed sticky rice cooked with snake fat, snake soup with ginger, and snake porridge. Our favorite snake dishes were the grilled snake and the sauteed snake stomach with pineapples, however all the dishes were delicious. After we were done eating the 10 dishes, Dragon brought us out some snake wine and whiskey to try. There were two different types of snake wine (tasted a bit like tequila to me) and both were pretty good with a bit of a funky after taste. Dragon then brought us some of the strongest tea and coffee that we have ever had in our lives. The best part about the experience was getting to know Dragon! He was such a nice person and answered all of our questions about the snakes and the process in great detail. He truly is one of the nicest people I have ever met. We would definitely go back in...

TLDR: My family and I had an absolutely wonderful dinner with Dragon at his restaurant and highly recommend making the trip if you are in Hanoi and want a very special dining and cultural experience.

He made it easy for us to find the restaurant, he met us when we arrived and immediately made us feel at home.

Dragon and his family are consummate hosts who provided both delicious food and amazing company for our family, including a completely unexpected birthday cake for my daughter at the end of the meal.

Now for more details for those who, like me, like to read a lot: My son and I are the adventurous eaters in the family, and we dragged along my wife and daughter for the chance to eat a Cobra.

To be honest, I don't feel great about having taken the life of the snake, but I am grateful for its sacrifice, as it was a unique and amazing dining experience.

After we chose the snake, we got to see it handled before us (pretty incredible to see how calm Dragon's team is doing that), and it was killed quickly and humanely.

Immediately after, its still beating heart was placed in a shot glass, which I knocked back quickly. Then Dragon's wife prepared the snake in about 8 different ways, which to my wife and daughter's surprise, were all incredibly delicious. The snake was served with as much beer or snake wine as we wanted to drink, as well as soft drinks for the kids.

Dragon spent a lot of time with us through the meal, and we really enjoyed his company, sharing stories of our family's life and travels, and learning about his family and life in Vietnam.

During our conversation, I had mentioned in passing that it had been my daughter's 13th birthday the day before, and then at the end of the meal, Dragon surprised us with a cake, complete with a "Happy 13th birthday" message and a firework fountain candle on top.

When we were finally done (and completely stuffed), Dragon made sure that we made it to our Grab, and followed up with us the next day as well.

For our family, it was an absolutely amazing dining experience and we are grateful to have met Dragon and his family. We were touched by his grace and hospitality and highly recommend...

Okay, first We are so scared to be here because this is our first time to try snake... Then we arrived, we look at the menu, and think just wanna try 2 or 3 kinds of menu... because we scared about the price will be expensive, so we decided to chose 3 recomended menu and ask the price to the owner "Mr. Dragon".. We are trying to asked some discount, He agreed ;) He also said that we will get free flow beer, water, and snake wine... We even asking again if we can drink beer, water and snake wine for free as much as we can drink it? He said for sure...!!! Hahaha... Amazing... The foods coming, and surprise, 4 menu comes, we got 1 extra menu for free... Before trying, we are worried about the taste, but after trying some bites, Wow it was delicious... When we eat happily, The owner comes and said he want to make everyone coming here to be happy...!!! Guest Happiness is his priority... He is so kind and always smiling... Because the foods we ordered before was amazing, we are curious about the other menus and finally ordering the other menus.. Mr. Dragon said, he will give us some menus for free.. Woww, Again??? When the foods comes, It also taste wonderful... I am not lying because we got some free foods, Honestly the foods were delicious... :) We really love Vegetable Spring Rolls with Snake Meat & Bone, Friend Spring Rolls with snake meat, Friend Snake Bone, and we recommend you to order it... The snake porridge also delicious... We are really happy to be here...!! You must visit...!!!! New experience and...