Sen Restaurant (Buffet) @ Hanoi

Orite I don't feel like describing much on my own words because I'm lazy to blog today... but since I still drooled over the lunch buffet had in Sen, let me share with you in case you're travelling to Hanoi and wanna look for nice buffet.

Nestled by a lotus pond near West Lake, Sen (Lotus) Restaurant is the ideal enclave for nature and food lovers alike.

The owner has designed the restaurant to overcome the narrow lanes of the area, giving the space a good view of West Lake. Inside the two terracotta-roofed villas, the wooden furniture, Vietnamese paintings and vases of lotus evoke the feeling of an ancient house of the Orient.

With the idea of designing the garden as a northern rural village market to provide patrons a beautiful setting to enjoy a meal, food stalls were made from rattan or bamboo frames baskets, round bamboo trays, and low bamboo tables. Female stall servers wear traditional four-paneled traditional dresses, and male servers wear plain brown clothes.

The special buffet is offered in the garden, which is out of the air-conditioning, but is still cool from the breeze off the lake and sweet-smelling from the blooming palm trees.

With the evening buffet at VND110,000 and lunch at VND90,000 – not including drinks, patrons have a wide variety of favourites to choose from – 60 traditional foods from three regions.

Traditional dishes such as thenem sen (lotus rolls), cha ca (grilled fish), bun cha (grilled pork with noodles) or banh duc look particularly tempting.

Nice environment. Spacious and relaxing.








The interior. I am not sure why we were seated inside instead of in the garden per described. Everything was arranged by our Vietnamese friend. Really wide variety of food to chose from!












Food time! See what did we get.
















Drinks not included. But at reasonable price.




Lotus deco everywhere in the garden. 'Sen' is the name of the restaurant, meaning Lotus. Great value of food quality at the price paid.




My rank: 4/5 (for buffet)

No 10, Lane 431, Au Co Road, Tay Ho District, Hanoi
Tel: (04) 7199242, 9135225, 7199857
Hours: 11am – 2 am (lunch) and 6pm – 10pm (dinner)
Comment: Outdoor atmosphere, view of West Lake, traditional food

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Candlelight dinner @ Bella Vista Restaurant, Sapa

Princess Cheryl's thought of the day:- ...finally, but with much obstacles... miracle is not easy to happen. Am damn sure about that!

Surprise? Yep this is Sapa!!



We were at Bella Vista Restaurant for dinner.



Nice environment for a candlelight dinner.



Candlelight dinner in Sapa??!!! Yes why not. =) If you think Sapa is only about villages and trekking then you're wrong.



We even received a welcome card on a specially decorated table. Ahem... "Welcom" instead of "welcome"... Special menu for us.



The temperature was only 14degC that night. Thus I bought a handmade shawl from the shop opposite my hotel to keep myself warm. No kidding, I couldn't stand the cold by wearing only my jacket and long sleeves.



What could be better than a glass of wine to fight the spring night's cold weather?



...maybe plus another cup of Vietnam coffee...



Enjoying the dripping of thick Vietnam coffee...nah I was half playing and half drinking.



Then came the soup, spicy and sour shrimp stew.



Some weird vege that I've never eaten here in Malaysia but taste darn good! Maybe it's freshly plucked in the afternoon. And I was kind of surprised that they served french fries as one of the dishes!? Maybe F-R-E-N-C-H is the key... These people were so much influenced by the French.



Beef saute with lemon grass and chili. This one is our favourite!! Can we get beef that taste this good again.. No doubt the Vietnamese are really great in cooking beef.



Grilled pork with lemon leaf. This one not bad too. But still I like the beef better.



Our second dinner served in fusion style, plus a candle to add some romantic atmosphere.



My Vietnam coffee. Taste as heavy and as thick as an Espresso. One sip enough to drive you high.



F-R-E-N-C-H again. They call this french cake.



Trying out the local wine.



Our waitress. I think she's lovely and sweet thus asked her to take a photo together.



And if you wonder what's the entertainment after dinner at Sapa, mine was online! Actually I was replying dozens of emails...still working during vacation! WORKAHOLIC..

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A cozy spring afternoon in Sapa (Part#1) - Lunch at Viet Emotion

Princess Cheryl's thought of the day:- Business trip again next week. Never a month without flying since Jan'09... 2 more weeks after next week will be the QIC Regional Semi Finals in Cambodia!! Means flying again...BUT...Angkor Wat here I come~

Sapa is a small town up on the highlands of Hanoi. My first impression on Sapa was "Hanoi's Cameron Highland". Not very alike but just the feeling. People drink coffee in the cafe there while we drink tea in Cameron Highland. Spring time is one of the best times to visit Sapa, cozy weather, blooming flowers, even when the sun shines on my skin, I don't feel the burning at all. Soon after the 5km trekking, we were then ready on the go again.

Stomachs been growling since 11am... Now it's time to hunt for food. We walked through the market to another street.





These are Tzau tribe ladies if not mistaken. I can't really differentiate the tribes. There are just too many to remember!! Interesting to see the big 'pillow' on their head. Actually that's their hair inside the 'pillow'. I wonder how heavy is the burden on their head..



The Black Hmong ladies at business.. Honestly I love their handmade stuffs very much, but they're really expensive if you buy those in the open market especially at the tourist hot spots like this.



Our lunch spot - Viet Emotion. Under the name of the restaurant it's written there "We warmly appreciate the support of Lonely Planet". Oh, I didn't check on Lonely Planet at all before the trip. This was suggested by Thinh.



Cozy window view table for a relaxing lunch. Of course we gotta treat ourselves really nice after the exhausting trek to Cat Cat Village.




So since when I've become princess alcoholic...??? I think was about a month ago when I realized that I no longer suffer from rashes after drinking beer! =P



Local beers - Halida for him.



And Hanoi for me. I know this is not the right way to pour beer..



However I still managed to keep around 2 inch bubbles on the top layer. Heheh...



One of the things that I like most about Vietnam is how they garnish the soup.



Even though I'm not fond of pumpkin soup but how could I resist such an artistic bowl of pumpkin soup! I should learn to love pumpkin a little more, pumpkin represents Halloween, and no doubt I'm named after Halloween. HALLO-WEEN. =)



While waiting for my dishes to arrive, I saw something really interesting through the window. A Black Hmong girl combing her hair! Can you see how long is that?!



I do think they never cut their hair but just twist the hair and slot a comb through their hair to support it from falling loose. She looks like only ~20 years+ yet the hair is so long. I doubt that the hair length is 2x longer for the old ladies who keep their hair in a 'pillow' like the above photo.



Interesting huh. Even attracted some people to go near and take a closer look.



Finally lunch was served. A tableful of mouth watering food for only 2 pax! Vietnam cuisine is more to fusion style, probably because they're so much influenced by the French. Chinese never serve some creamy soup when the next serving will be stir-fry dishes served with rice. I found it quite awkward to drink sweet and creamy soup with breadcrumbs and then start eating rice..



Sizzling hot. Portion was very big but we finished all! So you can imagine how good the taste was. =)



Vietnamese rice, taste like Japanese rice but the shape is longer but not as long as the Siamese frangrant rice. Is this what we call “成块饭”? Hahha...really sticky.



Cheers to the travel couple.



...and to the new alcoholic babe.

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