Bird Star Dining

Some places are always the same. Same walls, same menu, same staff, same ho hum whatever is going on. Others evolve and change, like lava lamps with too much to think about. This place doubles as an art gallery, showing different exhibitions of Vietnamese artists. As such, the permanent traditional rustic look is spiced up in a new way every now and again with different pieces of art hanging from the walls or laying on every flat surface. Ceramics, sculpture, painting - I've seen all in my time here.

On this particular Saturday night, it's crowded in just the right way. The atmosphere feels almost festive, no doubt heavily influenced by the delicious rice wine they serve here (I recommend the apple!). Clientele here is combined Vietnamese / foreigners. It seems to be a popular meeting place for groups of Vietnamese. Tonight there is a big group of men lounging around, playing cards (which we are invited to join in on), dining on delicious food whilst partaking in shots of rice wine and whiskey and generally laughing up a storm.

This is a place where you sit on the floor on cushions, upstairs is the main gallery slash restaurant and this is where the atmosphere in the place is. You can sit downstairs at wooden tables if the thought of a cross legged meal sends you searching for Dencorub, but the service here is good and fast so if you can, steel your knee caps for the upstairs adventure where most of the clientele will be.

Our veges arrive first, rau bi xao or sauteed pumpkin buds. It's a mix of stems and leaves, sauteed with big chunks of garlic and slices of chilli, served with a sauce of soy, chilli, garlic and a sprinkle of sugar. This veg is fantastically tender, melt in your mouth fresh and tasty, the dipping sauce giving a kick to it all. We haven't been to this place in a while and were a bit alarmed to hear the word on the streets that it had changed. Thankfully it looks like this meal will prove that although the menu itself has been redesigned - it now comes in a wooden box like creation - the food remains just as good as ever.

Next up the stairs is dau sot ca chua, delicious chunks of golden fried tofu served in a light sauce of tomato and chives, garnished with a generous amount of fresh coriander. This dish comes so piping hot that the first bite almost takes out the lining of my mouth, completely worth the torture though. I'm guilty of immediately having another piece; the crunchy outside gives way to a soft creamy innard that is just too hard to resist. At about the same time the com nee nuong, mountainous sticky rice, is plonked down in a clay pot sprinkled with the delicious roasted flakes of onion and we set to them both like starved pilgrims.

The muc xao can toi, squid sauteed with garlic, is piled high on the plate. The squid is sauteed in such a variety of vegetables it's enough to make any vege vendor proud and there's the fresh coriander garnish again, lavishly laid on top, adding a light fragrance to the table. Pork ribs, suon xao chua ngot, complete the feast, delicately fried, placed in a sweet and sour sauce, with succulent flavours - a fine end for any pig.

So I am very pleased to report that in this case, the Hanoi grapevine has not checked its facts. Chim Sao was, is, and will hopefully remain, a ripper of a place to dine.

The Beak
Sauteed pumpkin buds, mountainous sticky rice, tofu in tomato sauce, squid sauteed with garlic, sweet and sour pork spare ribs, 3 large Halida beers, and two cold wet towels to wipe the dust from our faces - 168,000 VND (US$10.57, AUD$14.43)

Chim Sao
65 Ngo Hue
Hanoi
Phone: 976 0633