Hoi An Heart Restaurant — Restaurant in Hội An

Pretty overrated place, maybe since it’s in Hoi An. We went for late lunch sat on first floor behind chef. Ordered everything from the Hoi A spring rolls, squid ink banh xeo, rau muong (ong choy), squid stuffed meat clay pot, pork skewers, eggplant pot, and sour chicken soup. Honestly from the first 5 secs I saw the chef pull the spring rolls from some frozen store package got worried. They don’t have a deep fryer so everything is fried in their wok with oil. Problem is if you don’t get the right temperature the food gets too greasy. That’s exactly the problem everything with oil we got was exceptionally greasy full of oil from the banh xeo to the ong choy to the spring rolls. The pork skewers were small and quite hard. The eggplant dish I’ve made similarly at home their seasoning and taste was off putting. The squid clay pot was one of the strangest things the squid itself is hard and chewy the sauce is too sweet and weird tasting in that tamarind mix. The soup itself was okay the soup had good flavoring but chicken was pretty chewy. It’s also hot and lot of open flame cooking downstairs so it’s a bit dark and not great ambiance except river was nice outside. The price also was kind of overpriced, I mean 4 mini skewers for 150k dong? Paid over 600k but I guess maybe it’s meant for tourist. The food unfortunately overall was the worst I’ve had in Vietnam they should focus less time on platting to make it look “pretty” and more time on the food, would...

It was our first day in Hoi An, and it happened to be my dad's birthday. I had booked this restaurant ahead of time, I did pop in about 40 minutes before our booking time as we happened to walk by. I asked if they could see us outside so we could enjoy the beautiful views of the river while having our dinner and the staff were very accommodating, reserving a seat right in the middle with the best view.

We ordered 7 dishes, definitely one too many! We got a variety of dishes, some Hoi An specialties to try and some Vietnamese classics. The presentation was really great. I think the food has been toned down to cater for the international tourists, they lacked the intensity of flavour and spice that I'm used to. Nevertheless, it's a great introduction to Vietnamese and Hoi An food with a great variety to try. Prices were reasonable given when you are. The views are fantastic and the staff amazing. All in we spent 1.7m VND, but that included a bottle of Malbec at 820kVND. Without the wine the bill would've been under 1m VND. It's a great place to dish up the views and atmosphere. The restaurant is really well decorated and we loved the jack fruit tree in the courtyard, and it was fruiting! At the end of the meal, they presented my head with a small birthday cake, candle and all, which we hadn't requested. It was such a lovely gesture and it made my dad and us smile, thank you for that. Definitely come here if you're unsure of where you want to go for...

Huong Vi is one of the few restaurants in Hoi An with a vegan selection on the menu. This is what attracted me to the place! In a fine location by the very scenic river, the outdoor seating area is great for people-watching, especially in the evening when people take to the boats with colourful paper lanterns or float paper lamps down the river. The restaurant in a French colonial villa-like structure has Hoi An's signature colours - lemon yellow walls and ochre-red faux roof tiles. The windows and doors have a dark antiquish finish. The indoor seating area, for hot days, has an altogether different ambience. It was lunchtime and I spotted grilled eggplant with rice on the menu, and couldn't resist. Coupled with the beautiful river views and a languid afternoon, this was a wonderful lunch indeed. I ate with chopsticks, the better to enjoy each morsel, the smoky taste was awesome and reminded me of the charred taste in "baingan bhartas" back home in India. I followed this up with a "husband and wife rice cake" for dessert. This is a very tiny dessert indeed but quite exotic! The service at Huong Vi Hoi An is exemplary. The staff enquire about food allergies and describe the dish while you're ordering, making sure you understand what you've ordered. A very nice gesture indeed, especially if you're trying Vietnamese cuisine for...