Cha Ca La Vong Restaurant in Hanoi
Cha Ca La Vong Restaurant in Hanoi is one of the must-visit places if you are a foodie type of traveller or have heard raving reviews about this unique restaurant.
The restaurant is located along the famed Cha Ca Road in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, and you will find this 104-year-old business along with one of the shabby shop lots on this busy street.
Just so you know, there are two Cha Ca La Vong Restaurants in Hanoi; one is a rip-off of the original, while the other is the real deal.
To tell the difference, the real one has ‘Charcoal Stoves’, and dining is only on the restaurant’s first floor, while the fake one uses an electric stove, and you can dine on both floors.
Visiting the original restaurant was an adventure by itself as once there, you need to climb a 45-degree wooden staircase to get to the first-floor dining area.
Challenging myself up the stairs, I found the restaurant no larger than a deluxe hotel room with about 8 small dining tables.
It looked more like an antique store with heavy wooden floorboards and a huge prayer altar mounted on one wall.
The green colour on the walls made the place look like some sort of bar from the eighties. Honestly, it was as tacky as it gets, but this is all part of the experience.
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| Grilled Fish with herbs and vegetable dish at the restaurant |
The art of preparation is done by the chefs, and a waiter or waitress brings the raw dish to your table and cooks it on the spot showing you how it’s done before attempting to do it yourself.
Mind you that there is only one dish, and this is it. People come here for the experience, so do not expect much.
As a travel foodie, I tried the fake restaurant and the original one to satisfy my curiosity about this so-called traditional dish.
The unique dish is prepared with a hot coal stove brought to your table while bowls of raw food and condiments are accompanied.
Whitefish pieces, local vegetables, turmeric, herbs, Pho (Vietnamese Noodles), Onions and Peanuts with a local sauce and oil are placed on your table.
As the person cooks it in front of you, the pungent aroma of the fish and vegetables fills the entire room while the condiments are slowly placed.
Finally, after about 3 to 5 minutes, the dish is ready and served in a little bowl with the Pho noodles. You then attempt to do the next round, which can be an exciting adventure altogether.
Well, to be very honest, I doubt these people have really travelled much to be able to pass such opinions.
So what if the experience was expensive? That’s what you pay for when you want to try something authentic in another country.
The funny thing is travellers nowadays are very opinionated and sometimes for all the wrong reasons. Anyway, such is life, and everyone has their own personal opinion, just like how I like fish and you like chicken.
If you love fish and vegetables, this is your stop but be prepared to pay VND120,000 per person for the experience here.
Overall, I would eat this again due to the dish’s uniqueness. They are a little oily, but you can tell them to reduce the oils.
The video above is taken at Hanoi’s Fake Cha Ca La Vong Restaurant. They use an electric stove for cooking, so you should know which is real and which is fake. Anyway, the food here was not as tasty as the real one though it is similar.
The overall ambience at the fake place was terrible. Remember, the original restaurant is along Cha Ca Road in Hanoi’s Old Quarter.
You can tell by the wooden statue and plants in the front. The dining area is upstairs, and you need to use an old wooden staircase to get up there.
Cha Ca La Vong Restaurant Address
14 Chả Cá, Hoan Kiem
Hanoi, Vietnam
Telephone Number: +84 24 3825 3929
Price: VND120,000 per person
Conclusion
My review is based on 2011 before all the famous newspapers, magazines, bloggers, and influencers came here to review this place.
The place has also been renovated and looks a little different from the original setting, so it is high time I paid for this place a re-visit once again.
Here is my tip for enjoying this restaurant: If you are travelling as a couple, I recommend you order a meal just for one person.
Tell them you have already eaten and would like to try this famous Vietnamese fish dish, as there is nothing wrong with doing that.
The same goes if you are in a group of four; just order a two-person meal to experience the famous Cha Ca La Vong Restaurant in Hanoi, Vietnam.
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