Thursday, July 24, 2008

Hanoi's Bobby Chin: Fun for Cocktails, Skip the Food

Restaurant Bobby Chinn
Ba Trieu St
Q. Hai Bà Trưng
Hà Nội, Viet Nam
+84.4.934.8577
www.bobbychinn.com

Bobby Chinn worked with Hubert Keller at Fleur de Lys in San Francisco as well as with Gary Danko, and ran Carmargue in Saigon before opening his own place. He now does kind of a modern Vietnamese-French-fusion cuisine, and offers a vegetarian menu.

I wasn’t too impressed with the food (rather bland), but the décor was fun with red silk curtains hanging throughout, dim lighting, rose petals scattered on the tables. In other spaces there were comfy chairs and sofas for more relaxed parties. It's definitely a matter of style over substance. A good place for a drink and dessert or appetizers – although beware the mixed drinks as my chocolate martini was deadly.

The place is a visual delight and lots of fun, but the food leaves something to be desired.