Part of the set dinner in the high floor Gourmet Corner restaurant in La Siesta Diamond hotel in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam.
Service With Smiles
This place wins on service. The hotel receptionist greeted us immediately and phoned upstairs to the restaurant. She escorted us to the lift. At the restaurant we were met by somebody who was expecting us and showed us to our table. The menus came up immediately.
Oh - and near perfect English. Nothing special in London. But in Hanoi we have endured tour guides who had to say everything twice or three times.
The set meal made life easy for me. As soon as I announced that I was allergic to prawns in the salad, the waiter suggested the avocado salad.
I asked for toothpicks and paper serviettes and both appeared immediately.
My starter was chicken soup. My companion had French onion soup. They packed up my leftover soup so I could take it home.
The dessert was the weak point. First, two different desserts looked identical. Both had a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a chocolate half bowl. You have to make vanilla ice cream really taste of vanilla for it not to be just a lot of unnecessary calories with no flavour.
The chocolate was the waxy tasteless chocolate which Americans like, the sort which stays brittle in hot countries. Not the milky, silky chocolate made by Lindt, the Swiss, the Belgians, the French and British Cadbury's.
They asked what I thought of the beef after I took my first bite and choked on one of the black peppercorns. They brought me a free pot of tea to soothe my throat - I chose ginger tea which came with a small jug of runny honey.
Afterwards they asked if we would like to see the Sky bar upstairs. Yes. It was partly open air.
Breakfast is served in the upstairs restaurant with the view of the lake to one side. Our hotel, Sunline Paon, had a ground floor restaurant with no windows, but a rooftop swimming pool.
Hanoi also has several hostels equally conveniently placed. So Hanoi offers food at all prices, and rooms and restaurants at ground level and one up for the nervous, or you can dine at dizzy heights.
(more text and photos shortly.
Travel information
For hotels
booking.com
Comparison site:
https://www.clicktripz.com/rates/search/index
For airlines
travelok.com
vietJetair.com (Comprehensive list of budget airlines in Wikivoyage.)
For transport
https://www.grab.com/vn/en/
Language
Duolingo.com
(Remember to click on the sound symbol to hear how words are pronounced.)
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.
Please share links to your favourite posts. I have several more on Hanoi, Halong Bay and Vietnam.
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