When hearing Aucklanders talk about where to get the best Vietnamese food in the city, Café Hanoi’s name came up often. Situated in Britomart, you could almost walk straight past the inconspicuous door on the corner of Galway and Commerce Street.
The cosy, calm and authentic atmosphere grips you as soon as you walk through the door and the large open kitchen is a hive of activity. Café Hanoi claim they are ‘inspired by the flavours and faded elegance of Hanoi’s old quarter.’
Adopting a regular Auckland trend, shared plates provide a wonderful opportunity to sample a bit of everything.
Wok fried beef skirt, pickled mustard greens with fried garlic and shallots was tender, punchy and flavourful.
Stir fried roasted duck with sweet and sour sauce and broccoli was rich in flavour with a real earthy depth but there were remnants of a slightly charred burnt flavor which did slightly detract from the dish.
“Bún Chå” Hanoi-style grilled pork with nuoc Cham, rice noodles and fragrant herbs was delicious. The pork had perfectly balanced spices.
Phó Bo, the Vietnamese traditional beef noodle soup was tasty and warming and came in a small portion so perfect for a good little pre-starter or as a side.
The Chicken Thigh with kaffir lime, lemongrass, ginger, chili and okra was fragrant and fresh with moist, tender chicken. Our favorite !!
Now onto dessert and being comfortably full at this point we decided to split one full size dessert and also share the Mini Hot Soy Milk Doughnut with Cinnamon Sugar and Caramel Sauce. This is the perfect size if you are too full for a regular dessert but still want that sweet hit after your meal. We Highly recommend it! For 2$ you can’t resist.
The Marou chocolate and salted caramel with Vietnamese coffee cremeux, roasted peanut praline and matcha was a smorgasbord of textures and flavours. Each one complemented the other beautifully and was very decadent.
The ambience of this restaurant definitely resembles ‘faded elegance’ in a truly stylish way. On top of that add authentic, tasty Vietnamese food and what more could you ask for?
Café Hanoi
Cnr Galway & Commerce Streets
Britomart
Auckland
Tel: 09 302 3478
