Great food, great service in a very nice location. Worth every pennies.

I live in Hanoi and I've always had a problem when friends and family visit. They, of course, want to try Vietnamese food and although most are adventurous eaters - streetfood can be a little hard on the stomach if you're new in town. It's really too much of a risk if you're only here for a few days.

In the past that has left me with bunch of very expensive, very unappealing options. For me while there was never any doubting the authenticity of streetfood, the hotel and restaurant versions of the same food were lackluster and, frankly, not the real thing.

However, I've been absolutely delighted with Old Hanoi which has been a recent find. I understand that it was the place that Gordon Ramsay cooked in when he was in town and it's not hard to see why.

The food is absolutely fabulous and entirely authentic. The owner Quan, is passionate about what the restaurant serves and makes sure the customer experience is absolutely top notch.

The best thing about it is obviously the standard of the food but next to that is the value for money. It's not streetfood prices but is significantly cheaper than many Hanoi restaurants that serve vastly inferior food. In addition while the restaurant is in a sophisticated setting in an old French villa, it's not stuffy and the staff are warm, friendly and helpful.

It's become my go-to place when friends are in town and they're wanting spring rolls, and cha ca, Vietnamese ribs and assorted soups. It's just as good for a quick lunch too and service is always speedy.

We went there this evening after changing our mind about our original choice due to a few recent unfavourable reviews. We were very pleased about our choice. When we arrived we were a bit concerned when we went in it was very quiet (only two tables occupied) but we had taken a taxi specially (it is a bit hard to find and at 30,000 dong -around 1 pound sterling - it was a cheap and easy option) so decided to stay. The manager was very helpful, advising on the different dishes and what would go best as accompaniments. We chose well, with spring rolls (shared - plenty) which had a delicious dipping sauce, followed by cha cha (grilled fish with rice paper wrapper with pineapple, chilli, spring onion, coriander, vegetables and nuts, which we were shown how to assemble by the manager) and seafood in a claypot with steamed rice. The setting is lovely and feels upmarket without being pretentious - absolutely delightful. The manager said it was unusually quiet and the previous evening it had been packed. I hope that it is busy because if not alot of people are missing out on an excellent meal. Cost was slightly more expensive that usual but well worth it. With two local beers and mineral water the cost was 542,000 dong - around 17 pound. Really could not fault the food - delicious.

The Old Hanoi Restaurant, though hard to find, is well worth the search. The food is outstanding, everything is fresh and of an extreamly high standard. My partner and i shared the fresh vietnamesse spring rolls with pork & prawns, and were told by the manager that he had heard that they were the best springs rolls anyone has had in vietnam, and my word he was right. They were soft, well balanced and the sauce went well with it. We then decided to try something that we hadn't heard of before let alone tried in Australia, Xeo Cakes... which i could only highly recommend to anyone that is vietnam to try. They are tiny little crispy crepes served in a hot pot with pork, prawns and spring onions. THEY WERE TO TIE FOR! Our main meals only got better, we tried the chicken on lemongrass & the squid in garlic & butter, and wow! This place is only fairly new, the very friendly manager informed is that it has only been open for 2 months, and was opened with the help of gordon ramsey. The atmosphere and decore of the resturant was also supurb.
This place is definately one to go back to . Infact, we are going back there tonight for round two.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!