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Just did my first lunch at Kamon. Based on others' reviews, we stuck to the Japanese pancakes (okonomiyaki). We made the mistake of ordering far too much food, assuming that we needed one pancake per person. While the prawn and yam pancakes were fairly small, the special Hiroshima pancake (the name doesn't inspire much confidence or appetite, but the combination of pork and noodles was fabulous) was huge. Two pancakes would have been plenty. The "pancakes" are a homey combination of cabbage, a thin, almost crepe-like dough, salty sauce, meat/prawn/yam/squid/cheese (your choice) and (I think) egg. If it was the Portuguese that brought tempura to Japan, then I think it was a lonely Eastern European sailor who managed to introduce this pork and cabbage combo into the Japanese kitchen. Each pancake costs between 4 and 6 USD. I've knocked off a star because it took a good 25 minutes and a couple of "em oi"'s to get our food.
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After months of vowing that "tomorrow I will call about that motorbike," this last weekend I decided that I am more of a renter than a buyer. Within twenty minutes of a phone call to Quan, I had a motorbike rented for the next 6 weeks. The process was easy and convenient, the motorbike is in great shape (though it's definitely done its fair share of traveling), and there was no problem renting mid-month or for an odd amount of time; they just prorated the monthly charge.
Quan recently fixed my boyfriend's motorbike. Showing up at his shop with no appointment, my bf gave Quan his ailing motorbike. Quan had it fixed, cleaned (poncho neatly folded), a new battery installed, and even drove it back to our apartment building that same afternoon for a total cost of... less than 10 USD. Awesome.
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Dinner for two might have been cheap (110K), but it would have been even cheaper to have just microwaved the dumplings and poured the hot water over the instant noodles myself. The special noodle soup was a combination of pho and instant noodles, tough pieces of liver, a single shrimp, and a few lonely greens. The dumplings were fine but bland, and the pork buns were worse than the banh bao I buy on street corners for 3000 dong... overall a very underwhelming dining experience.
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If you're looking to add a little extra to your experience, make sure to visit this museum on a weekend. Never in my life have I seen so many brides in one place. The outside portion of the museum turns into a giant Glamour Shots studio, with porcupine-haired photographers chasing down couples decked out in outfits often more fascinating than those housed inside the museum.
The museum itself is interesting, with generally well-written captions (in English and French as well as Vietnamese). The best part is, by far, the outdoors section featuring examples of houses from various ethnic groups. The highlight for me was the closet-sized "room" (bamboo wall separation) featured in one stilt house; newlyweds get 3 days in this room after the wedding to try their luck before it returns to functioning as a communal closet and storage space. The wooden sculptures surrounding the giarai funeral house aren't bad either...
Overall, a nice way to spend a weekend afternoon and a great place to take your visitors.
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Had a nice weekend brunch here this morning. The atmosphere on the second floor is great on a not-too-hot fall day: a small balcony opens up to a not-too-busy street, the room is airy and not over-crowded.
After finally resolving the eternal brunch problem of whether to lean toward breakfast or lunch and admitting to myself that past noon a simple croissant just might not do it for me, I settled for an iced coffee and the chicken curry sandwich. The iced coffee was very average, the milk winning out over the coffee, while the price was slightly above average. The chicken curry sandwich (48K dong) arrived... the portion would have easily fed a small village for a week. The sandwich itself was tasty (I managed half and took the rest home), while the salad was slightly less appealing, having been drowned in a suspicious looking off-white dressing of some sort. The cheese plate was also enormous, though its orderers were more savvy and had decided to split the plate.
The bread at this place is great. I live next door to another bakery frequented by ex-pats, and Maison Vanille leaves my neighborhood bakery in the dust. The pastries looked delicious and were fairly well-priced, ranging from a few thousand dong to about 20K.
Overall, a nice spot to enjoy a delicious baguette or pastry and to satisfy your Western food cravings... but be warned that portions are equally Western!
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Posted Sunday September 23rd, 2007.
Just south of Tran Hung Dao St on Ba Trieu, across the street from Western Canned Foods, there are lots of bike shops.
In response to the question: Hello fellow Hanoians, Where can I buy a decent used bicycle? (I asume a new bike would get stolen pretty quick!)...
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monica
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In Hanoi SinceThursday March 1st, 2007
Here UntilSaturday April 18th, 2009
New Hanoian Member SinceSaturday June 23rd, 2007
