Thảo Béo Restaurant Bar — Restaurant in Ninh Bình Province

In our 4 days stay, we visited the restaurant 5 times

The food is definitely above average, very fresh and the owner took to see things through and that the customers are properly taken care of

She gave us extras of to make sure we really enjoy (ie more lime, more spicy, more herbs and fresh veggie). The foods are really fresh.

Personally we find the food are more or less the same with the other restaurants in Nimh Binh/Tam Coc, the difference is this shop is not in the main road but hid away at their half built homestay secluded behind the main road. We find their price is lower than those on the main road.

Owner shared with me they used to rent a the restaurant on the main road but couldn't sustain due to the pandemic and moved their restaurant. So now the only those who Google will know about the restaurant

The reason we returned the restaurant many times is how the owners are genuinely friendly and go beyond.

Once they gave us extra vermicelli with fish sauce to go with the fried springroll. Another time we saw them having lunch and asked about the food (catches their own fish, own pineapple and own prawns). She found out my wife likes fish and this little family, living a simple live, brought a plate of fish and prawns to my wife!

Another the husband showed me around their half built Homestay and the story behind.

Another time she asked us about our day, and she prepared a Vietnamese hat and umbrella because of the weather, to lend to us. A local with little but so kind and so caring.

These are people if you look at their smile, and their talking, you know they are genuinely kind souls.

The most bewildering thing is this, when they found out we are going to take taxi back to our Homestay which is very near their place, after we returned our bike to somewhere 10km away - she asked to have her husband fetched me!

I tried to give him what taxi might have cost me at the end, he kept pushing back saying its nothing more than a gesture to welcome and help, as an effort to imitate the people that have helped them all this while. I managed to convince him to keep the cash, he agreed to keep it but as a contribution to his kids education but not as payment for the ride.

The next morning, we were leaving at 8.30am to airport. They showed up at our Homestay with fried springroll packed nicely for us to bring to eat, because of the education contribution we made the night earlier.

We talked to many locals during our 10 days in Vietnam, most of them very kind and helpful people. There are loud jerks in train ride, and the dodgy drivers at airports. This experience with the family stirs my heart and will be part of our lasting memory in Vietnam.

Recommended for everyone seeking a true...

Do you order fish 🐟 when you eat out? I usually don't. Why? Cause fish at restaurants usually is super expensive, no matter the type of preparation. If the only thing a restaurant does is add some salt and throw the fish in the oven, I think I can do that at home and I don't have to pay €60 for it. 🤷 There's an exception though: at Asian restaurants, they usually manage to sell their fish for a reasonable price, even though they usually prepare it in a way more complex manner. 👏 That's true for Asian restaurants in Europe 🇪🇺 and that's true in Asia too. In Tam Cốc, Ninh Binh, Vietnam 🇻🇳, we went to a place called Thảo Béo where we ordered a few common dishes like fried rice or noodles, and a fish 🐟, like the whole animal, to share. In this case, the preparation wasn't too complexe as it was fried, but it was excellent and it was cheap, just VND150K (€5)! And for the whole meal, we paid less than VND100K, which is less than €4 per person! All the food was good, comfort food good (but not "I will never forget this meal" good). On top of it, they had banana 🍌 fritters as a dessert. I love that! 😋 The owner, who attended us, was very nice and she seemed happy to see my brother in law who had already been there several times. The place is enormous, ideal for big parties, and it's nicer than most places around (but I wouldn't say it's beautiful).

Quality & taste: 8/10 Quantities: 9/10 Atmosphere: 7/10 Originality: 7/10 Ratio price / quality: 10/10 Service: 10/10 How I felt...

The food at this restaurant is terrific. We had some bad experiences with touristy restaurants on the main road that had very mediocre food despite having high ratings, so we decided to try venturing a little bit further away to this place. All the food we ate here was incredibly fresh, flavourful and delicious.

They seem to serve mostly tourists, and according to the owner they rely a lot on the internet and good reviews for business since they are not located in the core of Tam Coc. However, despite serving mostly tourists the food still tastes very genuine. We visited this restaurant multiple times during our short visit to Tam Coc, and we noticed several other groups who were repeat visitors each night along with us (I suspect they all had similar experiences of finding this place much better than the restaurants on the main road).

The family owners of the restaurant are very kind, and can speak English. Since it is a smaller family restaurant, note that service/food can sometimes take a bit longer than usual, so perhaps avoid visiting if you are in a hurry. They accept credit card, which we found helpful as tourists.

Would definitely return if ever back in Tam Coc. Wish that we had eaten all...