>Orite I don’t feel like describing much on my own words because I’m lazy to blog today… but since I still drooled over the lunch buffet had in Sen, let me share with you in case you’re travelling to Hanoi and wanna look for nice buffet.
Nestled by a lotus pond near West Lake, Sen (Lotus) Restaurant is the ideal enclave for nature and food lovers alike.
The owner has designed the restaurant to overcome the narrow lanes of the area, giving the space a good view of West Lake. Inside the two terracotta-roofed villas, the wooden furniture, Vietnamese paintings and vases of lotus evoke the feeling of an ancient house of the Orient.
With the idea of designing the garden as a northern rural village market to provide patrons a beautiful setting to enjoy a meal, food stalls were made from rattan or bamboo frames baskets, round bamboo trays, and low bamboo tables. Female stall servers wear traditional four-paneled traditional dresses, and male servers wear plain brown clothes.
The special buffet is offered in the garden, which is out of the air-conditioning, but is still cool from the breeze off the lake and sweet-smelling from the blooming palm trees.
With the evening buffet at VND110,000 and lunch at VND90,000 – not including drinks, patrons have a wide variety of favourites to choose from – 60 traditional foods from three regions.
Traditional dishes such as thenem sen (lotus rolls), cha ca (grilled fish), bun cha (grilled pork with noodles) or banh duc look particularly tempting.
Nice environment. Spacious and relaxing.
The interior. I am not sure why we were seated inside instead of in the garden per described. Everything was arranged by our Vietnamese friend. Really wide variety of food to chose from!
Food time! See what did we get.
Drinks not included. But at reasonable price.
Lotus deco everywhere in the garden. ‘Sen’ is the name of the restaurant, meaning Lotus. Great value of food quality at the price paid.
My rank: 4/5 (for buffet)
No 10, Lane 431, Au Co Road, Tay Ho District, Hanoi
Tel: (04) 7199242, 9135225, 7199857
Hours: 11am – 2 am (lunch) and 6pm – 10pm (dinner)
Comment: Outdoor atmosphere, view of West Lake, traditional food
The Princess Diaries - Cheryl's Food Talk 