Xôi Nguyệt — Restaurant in Hà Nội

We were a family of five who visited this restaurant last week for dinner.

There are numerous food joints in Hanoi itself which offer this unique dish, cha ca la vong; but there are a few things which make this place stand out from the others. First, all the staff (from the servers to the cooks and cashier) were very warm and provided excellent service. Our server, Duy Anh, was so cheerful serving us the entire time, and kept on refilling our plates with heaping piles of green onion and dill (he offered a refill for the fifth time, but we declined as we had already eaten to our hearts content!).

There is an open kitchen in this restaurant, with mostly, middle-aged ladies as the cooks. It seems like a family-run establishment, but I could be wrong. From a tourist’s perspective, this is an absolutely wonderful and educational experience, to be able to watch this being made from scratch.

The thick catfish chunks were cooked to perfection in a clay pot in front of us. They were well-marinated in a one-of-a-kind turmeric dill sauce, golden crispy on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside. The fish stomach was cooked to a tougher texture than what we were used to.

Cost-wise, you will probably not find anywhere else in Hanoi which gives you this much bang for your buck. Comparing this to a very popular and big touristy joint selling this dish featured in many food blogs/vlogs, the price is much cheaper (for the same amount and quality of fish), and besides that, this restaurant also offers lots of free and delicious side dishes. Alongside the clay pot dish, we were give free fish soup, rice noodles, fish porridge, rice crackers and coconut jelly. We paid 540,000 dong for 2 servings of fish chunks and 2 servings of fish stomach.

I have read a number of reviews about issues with cleanliness here on google, but I’m glad to report, that we had no problems with food poisoning with this meal, and actually, also felt much more better (after falling ill with a viral illness in Vietnam) after eating this meal.

The most satisfying part of the meal, was the very end, getting to eat to our hearts content (fresh food, and generous sides) and yet having to pay only a fraction of the price (of this dish anywhere else in Hanoi).

This is our best food experience in Hanoi so far, and will definitely be coming...

This was our first time having Chà Cá and being in a restaurant with no English on the menus. Not a problem as our server was so kind and took the time to guide us through the process. What you can’t see behind the cooker is a big bowl of soup to help balance the meal. You can add your unused noodles to it at the end if you’re still hungry. We weren’t but we tried it and the broth was nice and flavourful- I think with lime as I first thought lemons but haven’t seen those here. The Vietnamese basil is quite different from Thai I found. It reminded me of cumin a bit. He offered to bring us more vegetables but we were getting full with the bowl we had. The coconut jelly is super light and refreshing to finish with.

135k/each and very filling. The patio is pretty too. We arrived at 6pm and by the time we left it was getting very busy. So glad we tried this place. Went for a nice walk around the nearby...

You should do your menu research beforehand or will end up over-order like me (the restaurant is quite small and short-handed, so the server try to read the menu for you. And i cannot think really well under that kind of pressure 😅). I ordered one pork ribs and beef porridge, a stir-fried pork liver and a kumquat tea, which cost me total of 200000vnd or 8.5$ (yes. A meal for 1 pax)

My recommendation is to order one basic porridge (like only ribs or ribs and corn) and one stir-fried pork liver (be noticed that this dish supposed to be shared, the portion is quite big.

The porridge is piping hot, really nice, packed with meat. The beef, the ribs is so tender and juicy. The stir-fried liver...