This meal was amazing. It was better than any two or three star meal I have had anywhere. “GIA” is pronounced as “za” which we didn’t know until we arrived.
I saw some mixed reviews before going, and my hypothesis is that people who don’t like this cuisine just don’t like fish sauce. So if you don’t like fish sauce, or Vietnamese food, you might not like it here. But if you like those things, this meal is superb.
The meal is only about $100 USD per person or $135 with service charge and taxes. It’s expensive for Vietnam, but as a westerner this seemed like a hot deal for fine dining.
The surprising standout was the cocktails. We had Vietnamese Negronis to start. We had previously had the cacao Negroni at Capella Hanoi which was our favorite so far until we tried it at Gia. We then had the clarified milk cocktail (which the name of is escaping us). This was somehow even better than the Negroni. The servers surprised us with a tasting flight of Vietnamese spirits after asking them about Vietnamese drinks. Our favorite was the Làng (dragonfruit fermented rice wine). They told us that a Làng Tonic was a popular drink in Hanoi so we ordered one of those and wow! Our socks were knocked off. Highly recommend!
The food was SO GOOD. We didn’t take photos of one of the mains (lobster yam) and the first desert (tofu jasmine) but I’ve posted the others. The standout dish was the mackerel cucumber. It was the most unique dish I’ve ever had. The two desserts were delicious as well, my favorite being the mango pandan (I typically dislike mango flavor). I can see why some items are polarizing because I would LOVE a dish and my partner would feel meh about it, and vice versa. We typically always agree on what’s good or not so these dishes are more dependent on personal preferences I suppose.
We got a tour of the kitchen and then they showed us their fermenting room which was quite impressive.
Their English was also very fluent which isn’t the case at most places in Vietnam, including 5 star international hotel chains.
by buffy575
2 Comments
This was the first Michelin star restaurant my wife and I visited. It was part of our honeymoon and we absolutely loved it!
I have a theory that the best/most innovative fine dining is usually found in developing countries as only there can the labor necessary for ultra complicated dishes be found for cheap enough.