M and I went for our weekly golf practice this morning at Hanoi Club's driving range. It was a rather sunny day and the range was crowded. Luckily, we got ourselves a shady spot to practise. We hit 100 balls each but the practice session didn't go as well as I would like. Guess I am still far from being a decent player. Sigh X100.
The driving range in a sunny morning M was rather sweet today and suggested lunching at Hanoi Club so that I didn't have to whip up something at home. Typically, Sundays are our "dine-at-home" days with me being the chef. :) I happily agreed and we decided to try the Chinese Restaurant at Hanoi Club, called Shui Gong Restaurant.
The entrance of Shui Gong
The restaurant, located at the 2nd floor, was not very crowded when we arrived. We had a window seat where we enjoyed the refreshing view by the lake.
The view by the windowThe chef of the restaurant was very friendly and recommended us the "Special of the Day", which was fishball kway teow soup. (While this is a common dish in all Singapore hawker centres, it is rarely found in Hanoi.) It took me less than 3 seconds to decide to try the fish ball kway teow soup. M succumbed as well and chose the dry version. :)
I was pleasantly surprised when the dish was served. The kway teow (it's actually "pho" or Vietnamese rice noodles) soup came with an assortment of fish balls, pork balls, prawn, crab meat and pork slices. The soup was slightly bland to me initially but after adding some soya sauce, it turned out quite good. M's dried kway teow version was very much to his liking and he commented it tasted like "bak chor mee". The chef later explained that he didn't add too much salt or soya sauce when preparing as he was afraid some customers might want it healthier. I thought that was really considerate.
I was pleasantly surprised when the dish was served. The kway teow (it's actually "pho" or Vietnamese rice noodles) soup came with an assortment of fish balls, pork balls, prawn, crab meat and pork slices. The soup was slightly bland to me initially but after adding some soya sauce, it turned out quite good. M's dried kway teow version was very much to his liking and he commented it tasted like "bak chor mee". The chef later explained that he didn't add too much salt or soya sauce when preparing as he was afraid some customers might want it healthier. I thought that was really considerate.
My fish ball kway teow soup
We decided to order desserts and I tried the red bean soup while M had his usual herbal jelly. The chef recommended the lotus paste pancake which I was soooo tempted! But we were both quite full already so we decided to give it a miss.
My red bean soup - not the usual fare
My red bean soup was very good and tasted different from those sold in Singapore! Besides red bean paste, there were other ingredients like sesame, coconut milk and finely ground peanuts (I think). A rather unique combination which won my heart. The soup wasn't too sweet so it made me less guilty about the sugar count (as mentioned in my earlier entry, I am striving towards a sugar-"less" diet).
For someone like me who misses local Singaporean fare greatly, the dishes served here are comfort food as the taste is good yet authentic (the chef is a Malaysian). So I would definitely come here again, especially since it's so near to my house. And the lotus paste pancake will be on my order list the next time. :)
Shui Gong Chinese Restaurant
(located within Hanoi Club)
76 Yen Phu, Tay Ho, Hanoi
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