Vietnam

[fortunehunter]

Any must to go food place in district 1?

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Go eat their pork (heo) macdonald burger

 

[Tooi Kono Machi De]

May I know which mall I can find this restaurant?

Went to thao dien vincom hoang for lunch, total about 400k with 4 drinks and a bia for 4 pax.

Cripsy yam with cuttlefish, jhj.

Freid spring roll with meat

Fish with veg + those like bee hoon and veg.

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[Electron168]

2 more weeks before I fly again.
Go there until numb liao.

 

[mamboeidos]

Go eat their pork (heo) macdonald burger

ah...pork fast food....will def try...but only in their shopping mall then have fastfood rite?

 

[mamboeidos]

depends what kind of cuisine u going for. past few pages on the thread i got share some recommended restaurants alr

open to all kinds but more towards local food.
BTW all those u post are in D1?

 

[Andrew20]

Try Secret Garden, local cuisine

Oh ya this my fren also recommend but other than that?

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[Junken]

May I know which mall I can find this restaurant?

bro... it's literally there in his caption and his picture haha.

 

[Junken]

2 more weeks before I fly again.
Go there until numb liao.

i station there lei, who more numb? haha. used to it liao

 

[Junken]

ah...pork fast food....will def try...but only in their shopping mall then have fastfood rite?

macdonalds don't have too many outlets in vietnam. in d1, iirc there is one that is a standalone, not in a mall.

 

[Junken]

open to all kinds but more towards local food.
BTW all those u post are in D1?

yup all i post are in d1.. u can click on the google maps link for more info. quận 1 means district 1. usually people hang around in d1 so my suggestions will all be there.

 

[Electron168]

i station there lei, who more numb? haha. used to it liao

at least u not tired me is super tired. last time think damn fun, now damn shag when thinking of it. its the traveling time and wait time at airport that kills and the immigration queue.

 

[Henabi]

Try Secret Garden, local cuisine

For the view. Atmosphere can

Price... Too ex and serving very small

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[mamboeidos]

For the view. Atmosphere can

Price... Too ex and serving very small

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Maybe will skip then... 1 person still wat view n atmosphere...

But any nice roof top bar?

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[Henabi]

Maybe will skip then... 1 person still wat view n atmosphere...

But any nice roof top bar?

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Yes. Plenty.

You can go to bitexco Eon bar 51 or the ice bar at Landmark

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[Junken]

Maybe will skip then... 1 person still wat view n atmosphere...

But any nice roof top bar?

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oh u 1 person ah... then don't make sense to eat at secret house/garden.. it's more like order to share one.

 

[mamboeidos]

oh u 1 person ah... then don't make sense to eat at secret house/garden.. it's more like order to share one.

ya lor jin sian....cannot order alot n share

 

[Junken]

ya lor jin sian....cannot order alot n share

but no problem for jiak street food and jiak buibui buffet

 

[fortunehunter]

May I know which mall I can find this restaurant?

You can go google map and search for Hoang Yen Vietnamese Cuisine.
Don't go to the wrong one Hoang Yen hot pot.

 

[invisible999]

Using Grab, FastGo, GoViet and Be in Vietnam

Hello everyone,

Just got from our four days in Hanoi and want to provide some information about riding apps in Vietnam and Hanoi in particular.

There are currently four (might be more but I have not found) apps: Grab, GoViet - this is GoJek at Vietnam, FastGo and Be. Last two are local apps.

Note - GoViet currently only has motorcycles ride, for hiring a car you need to use other three.

Bottom line after four days: if you need a car, use Grab as your first option and only use FastGo if Grab is not available.


Now details for each app:

Grab

Grab: Not much to add, everyone is already familiar with it. Biggest market share, about 80% I was told.

Grab in Vietnam/Hanoi - cars (GrabCar, not GrabTaxi) are better/nicer and upscale - never seen any run-down car for more than dozen rides. While drivers do not speak English, at least they try to communicate asking 'ok/not ok' when adjusting aircon or dripping you at the location. Instead of dealing with cash better to use credit card even if your credit card company adds fees for foreign currency transactions. Note that some local Singapore credit cards have promotions for Grab.

Price for rides:

From HAN to Railway Street - 285K VND plus 30K add-on fee for parking. BTW, return trip booked via local hotel was 300K, but it used local (run-down) taxi.

Railway Street to Bat Trang Pottery Village - 159K outgoing and 179K return.

From Railway Street to Ethnography Museum - 65K and 80K return.

Note about surge pricing - it might be the case that Grab's price will be 2-2.5x higher than other apps due to surge pricing and even in such time there might be no cars available.

One more thing about Grab in Vietnam - it offers to give tip to the driver. But it asks after ride is completed, not before, like FastGo. Again - I would go with Grab as #1 option.


GoViet

GoViet is GoJeck's Vietnam app/division. However it at this moment only has motorcycles and not cars. We've been three travelers so it made unstable for us.

Also, based on some feedback - quality of GoViet service is not that great. I know a local person who works at GoViet and I got an advice to use Grab instead (Sic!).


FastGo

This is local riding app. As with Grab you can use credit card for rides.

App usage: supports English on interface, however updating car's movement before arrival at your pickup is inconsistent. It might show that car is not moving for 5 minutes and then suddenly it shows that it has arrived. Also, it took more time for drivers to respond, accept the ride and arrive at the pickup point - expect that double of the time compared to Grab.

Regarding cars: they are lower quality than you get with Grab, even when you select FastCar (analog or Grab's GrabCar) you might end up getting local 10-15 year old taxi which rattles during the ride, there is pertol smell and windows do not fully close. Also drivers instead of sending messages via app, are calling you - you need to have someone who speaks Vietnamese to answer them.

Price for rides: they are always the same price or cheaper, sometimes significantly. At one case, Grab displayed rate estimation of 151K VND while FastCar was only 56K VND. Also, contrary to Grab, FastGo offers/asks for a a tip before even you click 'book' button.

Overall - if Grab is not available or significantly more expensive - you can use it.


Be

This is the the second local riding app. I really wanted to use it but could not. I was told that it is the cheapest option, you can ride from the airport for the half price of Grab.

However there were following problems: first, the interface is only on Vietnamese. While I with the help of Vietnamese colleague could navigate around it, three times trying to use it in Hanoi were not successful - drivers canceled all times. Twice they canceled after calling and hearing 'Hello' from me - call was hung up and then my ride canceled. I was told that if drivers see international number (I used my phone with roaming instead of local SIM) they don't want to deal with tourists and cancel the ride.


Couple of more tips when using apps:

Always try use pick up points which the app knows instead of using drop pin. Usually the app offers the pick up location either via address or via landmark.

Your chances for successful pick up will increase if you are at clearly identified/located place, like a hotel, shopping mall, landmark, etc. Note that some hotels are located inside narrow streets where car can't go (like nearby Railroad Street). In this case go the place which has clear access to the road.

If there are no cars available at this moment, there might be after 10-15 min. Or, when you close and re-open the app and at that moment it will show where on the map nearest cars are. It might worth to walk 5-10 min to that area to increase your chances. Finally, have some cash if you have to fail over using local taxis but make sure that you hair the recommended ones.

At the very end - have enough time to arrive at your destination. Call car at the middle of Hanoi in rush hour on weekday and expecting to be at the airport in 30 min is foolish.

 

[Irenicis]

Hey guys,

I'll be going to Hanoi for holiday soon. Would changing SGD 50 per day worth of VND be sufficient? Say won't be buying too much stuff and just eating normal food (maybe 1 times good meal at 4P Pizza).

Thanks!