On 31st of August 2013 we opened our first small restaurant, in 20 Ngo Huyen, very close to the Cathedral, not being aware that this is one of Hanoi's backpacker streets.
Accordingly we adapted our menu. While it was initially geared towards Vietnamese, especially Vietnamese families, we soon added more and more international dishes. On the other hand we added more traditional Vietnamese dishes as they were often demanded by tourists. Then it turned out that there is a big demand for vegetarian and vegan dishes, so we added them. In the end, for obvious reasons, we started an authentic German section. The resulting menu was pretty large and allowed even groups with very diverse demands to find something for everybody.
Our kitchen team, under the leadership of MasterChef Vietnam 2013 Top-7 Contestant Minh Thuy performed outstanding. Also the front-of-house staff always had the wishes of our guests in mind. And it paid off. Expats became regulars, and are now friends. Tourists gave us best ratings and within 4 months we were ranked on TripAdvisor, the world largest travel site, as Top 13 amongst about 700 restaurants in Hanoi. We could keep a high rating over the whole time we were open.
TripAdvisor rewared our efforts with their "Certificate of Excellence" for two years in a row:
