The New Hanoian

They have some great tasty food, but there is absolutely no atmosphere. Most walls are just plain white and the lights are numerous and very bright, giving you the impression you're eating at a pharmacy. On top of that they don't serve alcohol.

For me the best option would be take out. Then I can enjoy some wonderful food at home and wash it down with an ice cold beer. Five stars for the food, a few less for the overall experience.

We ate at the ‘Malaysia in Hanoi’ restaurant yesterday. The restaurant is located on the ground floor of an apartment building facing Truc Bach lake on Tran Vu street. The restaurant is L-shaped with a smaller room at the entrance and a larger room down the side. The food was excellent, tasting very much like food I had in Malaysia. We ordered fried rice (Nasi Goreng,) squid in chilli paste, fried morning glory with shrimp paste, and fried chicken. We ordered chicken curry, but they did not have it. The explanation for why they did not have chicken curry was that the food had to be prepared in advance and if they started cooking it then, it would take too long. The tea was excellent. Being Halal, there is no alcohol served. Dishes mostly ranged from US$3.00 - $5.00. Our lunch for three people totalled $22 or 352,000 dong.
For most of the time, we were the only people there. Briefly three people came in for tea and immediately lit up cigars and cigarettes, filling the small room with the strong smell of cigar. Smoking seems encouraged with ashtrays on every table, and there did not seem to be a designated smoking or no-smoking area. I put three stars instead of four as the staff did not know the menu well, the food took quite a long time to come (despite only one table of customers,) and if more people had been there and smoking it would have been unpleasant. As the restaurant is still new, these should be ironed out over time and restaurant will definitely deserve more stars.