Best restaurant
 

We have 3 nights in Saigon and 4 in Hanoi, can anyone suggest a couple of restaurants not to be missed.

In Saigon, Lemongrass and Vietnam House.

Do a search on this forum for Hanoi restaurants. Kathie, a frequent poster, gave an excellent and useful list!
Enjoy..

Hanoi: - Le Tonklin (14 Ngo Van So)- also good Vietnamese food set in a French villa.
- Nam Phuong (19 Phan Chu Trinh)- good Vietnamese food with live traditional music in the evenings.
- The Emperor (18b Le Thanh Tong)- very beautiful restaurant set in old French villa with great atmosphere and great Vietnamese food. My favorite place to take visitors to Hanoi for a fancy dinner.

Try Wild Rice in Hanoi, and the Temple Club in Saigon. Both fantastic. The NY Times Travel section had a great article about Hanoi restaurants in the last few weeks.

Also great is green tangerine in the middle of old town shopping area, very good lunch menus for $6!

Do try out Hoa Sua the restaurant cooking school that takes in street kids. I sought it out and liked it very much, great food and sweet sweet vietnamese youngsters cooking/serving. The setting is in a very charming villa too. sit outside for lunch and inside for dinner, it looked very romantic!

Can anyone tell me the appropriate attire for restaurants like Emporer or Club L'Opera? Is slacks/button down shirt acceptable, or should I bring a jacket, or a suit??

Thanks... Ken

My husband wore slacks and a button down to Emperor and looked totally appropriate. You definitely don't need to bring a suit, and I think the only place they even mentioned a jacket was in the dining room at the Raffles in Siem Reap but it wasn't mandatory either and most people didn't have one.

what did you think of Emperor?? Was it worth the time, or would you recommend other places? We're looking for excellent Vietnamese food with nice ambiance/service... we'd like to find the best Hanoi has to offer... Thanks! Ken

My husband and I loved the Emperor restaurant when we visited Hanoi in October 2004. We are going back this April with friends, and will dine here again. We also plan to visit Seasons of Hanoi. Club Opera was very good, too. There is a nice little garden restaurants next to that which is good for lunch or an afternoon snack.

We really enjoyed Emporer. It's a lovely atmosphere and the food is good. I thought the food was better at Wild Rice, but the atmosphere is much more New York. I'd do them both if you have time.