Sorry for the silence, I’ve been very lazy with my writing. It’s like exercise, once you stop doing it, your body becomes lazy and it’s so hard to pick up again. Anyway, here’s a bit more on my trip to Vietnam. If you’re looking for some good French food in Hanoi, La Badiane is a place I’d definitely recommend. My friend and I went for lunch and we opted for the USD15.50 three-course menu. If you up for more posh ingredients in your food, you can go for the three-course Gastronomique menu (USD41) that’s available during lunch and dinner. The Degustation menu is only available for dinner.  

There’s outdoor seating for the smokers and those who prefer dining alfresco. There’s a breezy, tropical, resort-like feel with the wicker chairs.

If you, like us, cannot tolerate the cigarette smoke from other diners, head indoors.

Some lime juice to quench our thirst after our 30-minute walk there from our hotel amidst crazy traffic.

I had the Duck French rillettes & Tartar Sauce as a starter. Rillettes is similar to a paté. The baguette was nicely toasted and the rillettes was so smooth and flavourful. Delightfully sinful stuff.

My friend had the Tomato Tartare with Feta Cheese and Basil Perfume. The ingredients were fresh and the dish tasty, but it didn’t excite as much as mine did.

For my main course, I chose the Pork Ribs Caramalised in Ginger and Sesame Sauce and Mashed Potato. If you don’t like sweet stuff, then you probably won’t like this dish. But because I do, I loved this dish. The meat was so tender and it fell off the bone so easily. It had absorbed all the flavours of the seasonings and the mashed potato was so smooth and buttery. I’m not usually into mashed potato and will only eat it when it’s done well – I licked every bit off the plate.

My friend had the Duck Confit in Arabic Spices. This was an interesting take on the traditional duck confit and it was really good. The mashed potato was as good as mine but this dish had more layers in its flavouring because of the mix of spices used in the dish. I can’t quite recall now what were the spices I tasted though, sorry!

For dessert, we both had the Stewed Apple with Cinnamon and Caramalised Hazelnuts. Well, it’s cheap stuff really, but at least the humble ingredients were dressed up to look good. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of apple stew since it feels like I’m eating baby food.

Service was also good and this place is a thumbs-up for me.

10 Nam Ngu Street, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi
Tel: +84 (4) 39 42 45 09