A Good Sampling of Hanoi Food Culture

(Originally posted in 2007)

Corporate meeting attendees are often treated to lavish gala dinners and ‘make-belief’ themed parties in hotel ballrooms or large outdoor function areas. Yes, the attendees do get that VIP treatment and feel pampered. However, with such meetings lasting at most 2-3 days, attendees do not normally get a taste of real local culture outside the hotel.

In Hanoi, Vietnam, looking for an out-of-hotel venue that could fit over 150 guests for a sit-down dinner is not an easy task. There are many quaint, interesting restaurants and cafes in town, but most are housed in small French colonial villas or traditional Vietnamese courtyard houses that cannot accommodate everyone on the same floor, in the same room.

Sen Restaurant is one venue that can house nearly a thousand guests in its various pavilions, and each pavilion can host between 100-300 guests for sit-down buffet dinners. It has a very wide buffet spread of international and local food to suit everyone’s taste buds. Guests can witness how traditional Vietnamese dishes are prepared and enjoy a spectacular view of a surrounding lake covered with lotus.