Seafood fit for a king

Feasting on  top-quality seafood for $10 might seem too good to be true. And in most cases, it is. But at Quan Phu'ong Nguyen in Hanoi, I found that these dreams can become a delicous reality. Below is a deep fried snake-head fish. Crispy on the outside, meaty in the middle, and when wrapped in a paper roll with dill, salad, starfruit and herbs and immersed in fermented prawn dip (pungent yet indulgent), it can make in the fullest of stomachs rumble at least once.

This place also did the simple dishes to perfection. Stir fried squid with chilli and viet basil ticked all of the right boxes.Tender flesh without a trace of rubberyness, chilli kick and the occasional note of aniseed were all in evidence. 

On the slightly more indulgent side, myself and fellow diners opted for prawns deep-fried with a salty egg batter. The sweetness of the sea-dwellers' interior married perfectly with the crispy, salty and unctuously rich egg exterior.

The only slight let-down were the fried soft shell crabs with tamarind sauce. The soft shell crabs did possess the usual sweet-from-the-sea overtones, but the tamarind sauce wasn't quite the right partner for these crustaceans.

This restaurant combined pretty decent service with a great view over the West Lake, and whilst it's a bit further from the usual attractions of the Old Quarter, it was certainly worth the taxi ride across town.