Suzy G.
Covent Garden
100 reviews
Hanoi Café
06 May 08, 16:28
Above expectations
Hanoi Café is one of the many Vietnamese eateries on Kingsland Road. I’ve tried several but I liked this place the most. With such great food and cheap prices, I couldn’t understand why this place wasn’t packed out on a Friday evening. It’s a café but a sleek-looking one at that. The atmosphere is friendly and unformal.
Groups: Lollypop
Richard A.
Cardiff
43 reviews
warm and fuzzy
21 Apr 08, 15:57
Above expectations
i like this place - its quiet and clean and it stands out from the rest of the vietnamese places on the kingsland road for those reasons ... lots of nice and warm fuzzy memories of slightly too much beer and very good crispy duck ...
Groups: reddragon
Annemarie C.
Walthamstow
23 reviews
A Disappointing Vietnamese
15 Aug 07, 11:11
Below expectations
Of all the Vietnamese joints in all London town (and especially on the Kingsland Road) I had decided that Hanoi Cafe was my favourite. During one glorious week a couple of years back, I ate dinner there 3 nights in a row, sampling different tastes and eating myself giddy on the fragrant flavours they offered up.
After a two year hiatus (I moved, life got sidtracked, but the memory lingered) I ate there again to find my experience totally different. Nothing tasted like anything, and there were no delicately wafting smells to make you hope the next course would be an improvement. They somehow (and this takes some doing) rendered fresh coriander entirely tasteless, served peanut sauces that didn't actually taste like peanuts, and created soup stocks clearly made from flavour cubes.
The prices remain low, but considering the number of Vietnamese places in the immediate area, I would have thought that standards would have to be kept high in order to compete. It pains me to say I'll be looking for a new favourite Vietnamese joint, starting from just a few doors down.
