Very good menu, with lots of choice and everything we tried was of good quality. The setting is very pleasant, the staff incredibly friendly. All for a very reasonable price.

The Hanoi Essence is the hotel, deep in the heart of backpacker central and the screaming streets of the Old Quarter, Hanoi. Essence Cafe is their restaurant. This is a cool, beautiful, quite elegant retreat when it's all getting a bit much out there. You'll pay more for roughly the same food as the street-food joints, but you'll get wine served in a glass, a white table cloth and great service instead of a grubby blue plastic stool and hand-signals menu. There's a time for each. This restaurant is reliable, comfortable and the food is very good. Make a booking, because everyone else thinks so, too.

Very attentive and helpful staff- they show you how to prepare and eat some of the courses. Good menu range. Pricey compared to restaurants down the street, and rather bland decor/atmoshere etc compared to local haunts, especially as you will eat your breakfast in the same room if staying overnight. Good if you want a quiet night in, or want 'safe' authentic food.

Enjoyed our visit to this small but well appointd place in the Old Quarter.

Tried beef & papaya salads and a shrimp based salad and these were very good, though might have benefited from more lime juice, perhaps on the side.

We're disappointed with the rice pancakes that were too heavily battered, and nowhere near as good as the version served at sibling Gourmet Corner.

A beef and vermicelli dish was alright, as were the spring rolls. We also tried a beef pho and a chicken pho ande these were very good. We heeded the caution to go easy on the hot chillies that came with the lime accompaniment.

Even after several beers and a soda, the bill came in at a pretty low price.

Given the charming service and the surrounds, this has to merit a rating of very good - shame about the pancake else an excellent rating was within reach.

We dinner here 3 times during our stay in Hanoi and the meals and service were just amazing on each occasion. The staff were so lovely they were genuinely interested in us and our travels in their country. The last meal we had there they even gave us a 10% discount on our meal due to our patronage to their hotel. Even though we were not staying in the essence hotel though they treated us as if we were guests. Overall the service and food was excellent and if we were to return to Hanoi we would consider staying with the essence as well.