Emperor, Hanoi

A very romanic place to spend with the one you love. Prices are high for Vietnam, but the food and staff are of the highest standard. The set menu is really expenisive, so i recomend ordering dishes off the normal menu. The portions of starters and meals are a good size. Although drinks are not listed on the menu, they are still fairly cheap. A glass of beer from their tap set me back $2 a glass.

You might want to think about making a reservation though. They are quite busy.

Favorite Dish: The spring rolls are out of this world!

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Before I went to Hanoi, I heard so much about the Emperor Restaurant from my friends and VTers. I decided to check out the Emperor Restaurant on my first night in Hanoi. Getting to the restaurant was a breeze. It was a short 5-minute walk along Le Thanh Tong Street diagonally across from the Opera Hilton Hotel. The entrance to the restaurant is a facade of a refurbished French villa. On entering the villa, there is a small private room on the lower level with a wooden staircase leading up to the upper level. Attentive hostesses dressed in the traditional Vietnamese long dress attend to your every need. One of the hostesses told me that the Emperor restaurant is very popular with guests from Singapore and the Singapore Ambassador in Hanoi entertains at the Emperor restaurant.

Favorite Dish: We ordered chicken in lemongrass, imperial beef, assorted spring rolls and crab and asparagus soup. The taste was exquisite and the fresh aromatic taste from the lemongrass and herbs lingered on in my mouth.

Wherever you are in the world, try to avoid eating the crap they serve in the hotel. Oftentimes, it's tasteless and devoid of imagination, even it's a 5* hotel. Having said that, I can't say much about the food they serve at Hanoi Hilton but I can only sing praises for the charming villa restaurant down the road called the Emperor

Favorite Dish: The service there was excellent and the waiter genuinely happy when we took all 3 of his recommendations - green papaya salad, chicken grilled with lemongrass and fish steamed in a banana leaf. All these were his personal favourites, he mentioned, with a twinkle in his eye...
After the meal, I gave my verdict, the best dish was the Green Papaya Salad! It was every bit as delicious as the waiter said it would be. Silvers of tangy green papaya with pork and shrimp,flavoured with peanut, fish sauce and chilli.

Each dish cost an average of US6 each.

If you can, go the Emperor at night, the attentive service , candle-lit tables in the airy villa beckon a romantic evening with your partner.

Favorite Dish: As mentioned, this place prepares refined Vietnamese food. Other than the delicious, tangy green papaya salad, hubby and I enjoyed the steamed, flaky white fish in a banana leaf and chicken skewered with lemongrass. They were best dishes in the house and our waiter's personal favourites.

Each dish cost an average if USD$6.

Very elegant restored french villa. Service does not match up to the sophistication of the surroundings. Excellent Food. As usual the wine was tasteless, tropics dont augur well for the storage of wine, plus the lack of a wine drinking culture.
Full of diplomat types. discreet dining. intimate and romantic.
My favourite restaurant so far in Hanoi

Favorite Dish: Grilled Giant Tiger Prawns
Waterlily fried in garlic. ( when they translate into "fried" in the menu, they actually mean, sauteed, )