Green Tangerine, 48 Hang Be, Hanoi

Nestled behind a quiet courtyard in the Old Quarter, Green Tangerine restaurant spices up European cuisine with Vietnamese flavours.  From the Vietnam News. Words and snaps by Alyssa Worsham.

June 29, 2006 UPDATE: I just dined at this place for lunch as part of a Hanoi-wide review for a US newspaper. The service is good. The food is superb. The set lunches are excellent value at less than $7. The a la carte menu is varied and one of the most inventive in Vietnam. Comments in the comment box aside, I highly recommend this spot.

Comments

[Matt]

I did a walk in a while back but it was full and the manager looked at me like he had stepped in large odorous turd and flounced off. French.... Still I do hear it is excellent so I may well swallow my pride after a cooling off period.

[pieman]

I've been Matt, when they were 'soft opening' quite a while ago. The service was sloppy - I'm sure they've sussed that out by now - but the food was very good. I went with three frogs.

The French do get a bad press manners-wise don't they? Mostly deserved I'll say. Maybe it's our problem, us Brits, we're way, way too polite even when it's really not needed.

However, I do remember one dinner I went to in Hanoi some years ago. it was for a Frog diplomat who was leaving. The waiter came with the wine list and gave it to me - I must have been looking unusually cultivated that night. The female diplomat intervened in French and said, "He's British, what does he know about wine, I'll choose."

I stifled a laugh. Her statement, while factually correct, was not as tactful as it could've been. What was interesting was there were only three stunned faces on a table of around ten (all frogs apart from me). Noodlegirl is frog, thankfully she looked stunend and the other two open mouthed stunned people became our mates soon immediately. The dip. and her entourage whinged and whined through the whole meal, had a thoroughly bad time and I think they liked it that way.

Don't let the turd looks put you off, I though it was pretty good.

[tim]

It's true that it has a nice cortyard, but that's about it. I've been there four or five times now and each time the white wine has been served very warm- not in itself that bad until you realise that the wine comes to over 50% of the value of the meal ($30 minimum). Tonight, I asked on arrival very gently specifically which wines were cold and was treated with a very haughty response by the owner-"all our wines our cold" Well, it wasn't once again. This time, I mentioned my disappointment (after 5 meals there and over 500$ spent by me and my friends/colleagues). In return I received an unfortunate lecture in front of other diners on how,although it was indeed at 16 degrees, the wine did not need to be cold(perhaps, being English I didn't realise it, the owner suggested, but French wines are more sophisticated and shouldn't be served too cold, unlike some Anglo-Saxon wines). Nevermind that it was Italian wine from the Veneto (suggested serving temperature 9 degrees). In fact the white bordeaux he obviously thought I was drinking should be served at 6 degrees C (being patronised is so much more annoying when the person patronising you is also lying or utterly ill-informed).

This sadly inappropriate response ruined the meal (warm white wine and bad manners really suck) and I left vowing never to return. I wouldn't mind, but the last time I was there I wore a suit and was treated entirely differently . So I would say turd looks sums it up.

There are plenty of beautiful courtyards and great gourmet restaurants in Hanoi, without being ripped off and patronised. And they serve delicious, crisp cold white wine. Try Booby Chinn's, Vine or the Press club.

By the way, I'm also a diplomat, so maybe whinging goes with the territory!

[Eduard]

Sorry about my terrible English. I didn't realise that the British people were as snob as you look, but after read what was written before I have to change my opinion. How can you ask for expensive wines in a Hanoi restaurant? How can you expected the wines to be cold in that climate? Although the Green Tangerine is quite expensive for a Vietnamesse restaurant, I didn't eat better in the whole Country (except maybe a Hue´s style restaurant in HCM city near the Caravelle, wich name I don't remember) Is the perfect place for Europeans that arrive Vietnam and are not acostumed to asian flavours. I have to complain with your opinion of French education. Definetly they're not polite in the european way.

[Pierre]

Hey guys, remember that most French people are nice and that a chef whatever the country of origin will not gladly welcome a bad review. Moreover we are talking about Vietnam. It's a country where the staff turnover is huge and there are therefore no place where you can be sure to be served by an experienced and able waiter.

As a French guy I was very warmly welcomed, the food was good but the wine was too warm indeed :-)

[mildred thompson]

I visited the Green Tangerine last week with a group. The setting is very nice. However, if you complain about the food - look out. My medium/well done steak was crisp and brown on the outside and raw in the middle. I could not cut it, nor chew it. When I asked for a steak knife I was told they did not have these and the chef could cut it up for me. My complaints of bad food were ignored - not even an apology.
As I was with a group I was not as forthright as I would have been on my own. Eat elsewhere

[Karl]

How can we expect wine to be cool in this climate, Eduard? Er, fridges? Ice buckets? There are, I believe, a few of these in Vietnam.