Hanoi Old Quarter Restaurant is located on Victoria Drive and they specialize in North Vietnamese cuisine. They are also the sister restaurant of Mr Red Cafe. I’ve been to Mr Red Cafe many times and I really wanted to try out their unique dishes here. I came with a few friends to catch up over lunch.
Interior
The interior has a decent amount of space and easily configurable for small to large groups. It has similar decor to Mr. Red Cafe. The seating is comfortable and lots of space to move around.
Kids
They do have one high chair for the entire restaurant, so if there are multiple kids dining at one time, the rest will be out of luck. When we were here, there were no other kids dining here.
There is also no changing tables in the washroom.
Menu
Egg Coffee
Egg Coffee is a Vietnamese beverage made with egg yolks, sugar, condensed milk and coffee. It is served in a hot bowl of water. At first it seemed very strange as every time you drink the coffee, some water droplets may drip on your clothes. The water bath is there to keep the coffee warm.
I really enjoyed the egg coffee. You mix everything up before you consume so it so the egg mixture, coffee and sugar all combine. It’s really good. The egg adds a nice touch. The coffee is still bold but it adds depth, texture, and character to the drink.
We really enjoyed it.
Vietnamese Coffee with Condensed Milk
The Vietnamese Coffee with condensed milk isn’t served with the metal dripper contraption like other places. It’s already done for you. Some love to put it together themselves and others don’t. As there is a lot of ice in the cup, we drank this so fast.
Westlake Shrimp Cake
This is pretty fantastic. I haven’t seen this anywhere else in Vancouver. It’s like a deep fried potato pancake with a shrimp on top. Then is it paired with some greens and sauce.
Fresh Avocado Rolls
There are 4 rolls to an order and it was really delicious. It is paired with a peanut sauce on the side. A great appetizers that is lighter, but very good.
Deep Fried Chicken Wings
There are a good amount of wings to an order, but I wanted more flavour in the wings. It is served with a wedge of lemon and salt and pepper.
It was a bit too bland for me.
Steamed Rice Noodles with Grilled Pork Patties and Pork and Shrimp Spring Rolls
This is not what we imagined this dish to look like. It was more like a platter of the items described plus greens, herbs, beansprouts, and cucumbers.
We weren’t really sure how to eat this, so we grabbed a bit of everything and ate it together with the rice noodles.
Chicken Lemongrass with Rice
There is 2 pieces of lemongrass chicken, broccoli, rice, and sauce. The flavour of that lemongrass chicken was really good. A good dish for an individual person.
Free Range Chicken Pho
This was the special on their board. It was very fragrant and had a good depth of flavour. Lots of noodle and a good amount of chicken.
Final Thoughts
Hanoi Old Quarter Restaurant is pretty good and a great addition to the neighbourhood with it’s Northern Vietnamese cuisine. Not all Vietnamese cuisine is the same, so it’s great to experience different types of dishes from that region.
The food was pretty good and the only item we didn’t like were the wings. Everything else was solid.
Address:
5207 Victoria Dr, Vancouver, BC
Website:
https://www.mrredcafe.ca/Menu?selectedStore=HanoiOldQuarter