You're in for a treat with this place if you're hankering for an all-you-can-eat, buffet style, Korean bbq/hotpot feast. My colleagues and I went to lunch today to try out this latest addition to Hanoi's dining options.

What's good: A lot! Since this is buffet-style dining, you get to choose which meat/seafood/vegetables/soup/appetizer/condiments combination you want. You then take it back to your table and the waiter will fire up the grill and pour your selected soup into your hotpot. You then sit down, grill, and eat to your heart's content. If that's not enough to satisfy your cravings, they have desserts too! Fresh fruits, rice cakes, ice cream and Vietnamese che.

There are two floors of dining spaces but you will want to stay on the ground floor to be close to the food.

What's bad: They've been open barely a week so the service was a bit chaotic but I'm sure they will iron out the kinks in time.

One look at the floor and you could see that they rushed construction so the restaurant could open as soon as possible.

Traffic in the area will probably worsen once more people flock to the restaurant.

Prices do not include a free drink (that's why they only get four stars).

Also, they round up the prices to the nearest thousand (lam tron), so if you rack up 194,000 (the price of the weekday lunch buffet plus a drink), you pay 214,000 (including VAT).

Weekday lunch prices is 179K + 10% VAT, weekday dinner is at 219K +VAT. For weekend diners, the price goes up to 259K + VAT, for lunch and dinner.

A second Hanoi outlet will open in Vincom Tower on the 19th of November, according to the website.

A recently opened bar and cafe next door to the Cathedral. I was here on a Saturday night with my partner and there were barely enough people to keep the staff busy. It's a pity because the drinks are cheap and decent(15K VND for Hanoi beer in the big bottles and 65K VND for cocktails), the staff eager to please (the manager, Mr. The, speaks English well) and the music provided live by the wickedly talented guitarist Thanh. This place deserves to have more patrons (my partner was not really enthusiastic about me writing this review because it's one of his and his mates' favorite hangouts now).

I also have to mention that the toilet was really clean and reminded me of toilets I've seen in some spas.

The second floor area seems ideal for events, as it has a lounging area with sofas and a balcony with a few small tables and wicker chairs. Could be a good prospect for a TNH Meetup.

A friend asked me to join her in checking out this place.

The bar's come-on is its 360-degree view of Hanoi (you can see Truch Bach-Youth Street-Tay Ho on one side, Nghi Tam on another side). The 360-degree effect comes from the bar's circular layout. They also have an outdoor area but the drizzle prevented us from sitting there to appreciate the view.

We had high hopes about this place but it was dashed when we saw that it wasn't even half-full on a Friday night (and was almost empty by 9 pm except for us...fortunately, a group of tourists came in and gave the staff something to do), the cocktails expensive (8-9 USD a pop) and the music a bit boring (although the dj segued into more danceable hip-hop when we were about to leave).

We tried their chicken fajita and it was another disappointment. The chicken was a bit dry and the dish didn't taste like a fajita. Stick to the complimentary mixed nuts instead.

Would I come here again? I might, if I'm staying in the hotel and feeling too lazy to explore other choices, and if you have guests in town and want to see Hanoi from high up.

Had a fantastic breakfast of french toast with bacon and grilled bananas washed down with breakfast tea (though I have to say they need to upgrade to mugs for their tea). My friend had a salmon eggs benedict and she was equally happy with her food.

Prior to today's breakfast happy meal, our only other dining experience in Matchbox happened last week after one friend started hankering for steak or lamb. After checking with TNH, we headed off to this place and were very pleased with our choice. We ordered roast lamb garnished with veggies and mashed potatoes, roasted duck and pork chops with apples (and something else that we could not identify but tasted like mashed beans)

The food was wonderful.

I also have to mention the eggplant dip, which went well not just with the bread but also with the meats.

We will definitely be back here again.

I had been planning to give this place a visit and it was a pleasant surprise when a Vietnamese friend chose it for our catch-up lunch.

After we finished updating each other about what we had been doing since the last time we saw each other, my friend brought my attention to the food. She ordered nem from Haiphong and boy, those were the biggest and fattest nem I've ever seen. Each nem was cut into quarters or bite-sized pieces and eaten together with a vinegar and nuoc mam dip, rice noodles, veggies and herbs. It was a delicious and filling meal.

Judging by the number of diners and bikes parked in front, this place was doing good business. The restaurant is quite small and you will need to be there before the lunch hour brigade arrives if you want to get a table.

When it was time to get the bill, my friend refused my offer to split the bill. The bill was actually quite cheap but it's always good to eat for free and to share a good meal with a good friend.

I have to say that there are only two taxi companies I really trust in Hanoi. No. 1 is Thanh Nga and a close second is Van Xuan. Mailinh is a far third.

Both Thanh Nga and Van Xuan do not have the fleet numbers that Mailinh have but I would rather wait for them than flag down a passing white and green taxi.

Thanh Nga has less taxis (and only the little cars), I think, than Van Xuan so sometimes their hotline (38215215) is busy. Or if you are able to get through, the dispatcher would sometimes call you back to tell you that there are no taxis available. That's when I call for Van Xuan.

I've never had a problem with either two. They always take me to where I want to go without going through the scenic route and they always give exact change.

So yes, call these two first before you call the others so that you'll have peace of mind.

I had dinner here recently with my work colleagues and we literally had dinner by candlelight (actually gas and tealights) as the power suddenly went out (and was out until we got to dessert).

However, this didn't stop the staff from providing us with the best possible service that they could give under the circumstances (and since we were the only customers in the restaurant, probably because the other diners canceled as a result of the power outage, they were quite quick in bringing out our food and drinks). Even the lady playing traditional Vietnamese music was unfazed by the dark and continued to pluck at her instrument while we were there.

I remember tasting (the boss pre-ordered everything before we arrived) pad thai, stir-fried veggies, a beef dish, a pork dish, and some tofu. There was one guy whose task was to dish out steamed rice on our plates but he could have just left the bowl on the table and made it easier for all of us (including him-remember it was dark!).

As one of my colleagues was celebrating a birthday, another colleague snuck out with one of the restaurant staff to buy chocolate cake at Love Choco Cafe. Later, the dessert came out decorated with fruits and a candle for the birthday celebrator.

I agree that it's more a Vietnamese restaurant rather than Thai but the price was reasonable and the food good enough so I'm giving them 4 stars for their effort in making sure that our group had a great time.

I was craving for Mexican or whatever it is that passed for Mexican in Hanoi and thought of Havana Club after reading a couple of reviews here. Sure, the last two reviews didn't exactly rave about the place but that didn't deter me from paying them a visit.

I booked a table for 7 and we were shown to the best table in the house, one that was overlooking Hang Bac. I found it nice that the the staff seemed very pleased to see me and my friends and Ha, the guy who took my reservation, even shook my hand when we came in. My friends were suitably impressed and thought I was a regular (har har).

We thought the decor was quite nice. We all took note of the photo of Nong Duc Manh and Fidel Castro in a very chummy hug (It was facing our table so it was hard to miss). A very fitting symbol of Vietnam-Cuba relations, we thought. The rest of the decor fits in with the Spanish/Latin American concept of the restaurant.

On to the food and drinks. They said they had diet coke on the menu so we ordered that. They gave us pepsi max instead. We also ordered the cuban coffee, which turned out to be Vietnamese drip coffee that you pour on a glass of rum. Hmmm....

We ordered nachos, quesadillas, fajitas, a burrito, mexican spareribs, and a salad. I agree that the salad was more asian than mexican and the nachos weren't crunchy and looked a bit too oily. The burrito came with melted cheese on the outside and black bean rice on the side (I must say I'm used to seeing a burrito that has everything packed in so that it looks like a sausage rather than a crepe). We thought that the guacamole was another type of salsa until we tasted the avocados. But the food did taste good and we were generally happy with the experience.

Since we were first-time diners, Ha gave our group a round of cocktails for free(I think it was Sex On The Beach).


Note: I was writing this review when I saw the TNH newsletter and found out I won a prize to dine in Havana club. Now that's quite a coincidence! So, Ha and company, I hope you are prepared to improve on my experience.

I normally have dinner in a Japanese restaurant with lots of friends just so we can take our time with the food and order as much as we want without minding the hours. But I was in Ren for lunch to catch up with a Japanese friend so I ordered the katsudon, an uncomplicated meal that is a speciality of Ren, according to my friend.

I have to say my expectations about the quality of the food were met. The pork was tender, the sauce salty-sweet on a bed of steaming rice and the scallions gave it a little oomph. Made me remember other katsudon meals shared with friends in years past.

I couldn't linger since I had to go back to the office but will definitely return to try their other selections now that I've had a taste of what they had to offer.

My partner and I dined here one rainy evening and we agreed on three things: the meats were of good quality and quite flavourful, the a la carte menu sparse and the price exorbitant.

We ordered the meat buffet. Unlike the earlier reviewers, there was no problem with the quantity of the meats. When we liked one in particular (the roast beef cooked medium well), the chef returned and gave us bigger portions. But we also noted that some of the trimmings on the menu were not available. We only did two rounds of the meats and trimmings before we surrendered and pronounced ourselves too full to eat one more bite.

A day after our meal there, we still felt quite full. And we still couldn't get over the fact that we paid the equivalent of a month's wage for some of the locals for our meal.