Cau Go Vietnamese Cuisine

We arrived for an early dinner and were lucky to catch the most beautiful sunset. The restaurant, a Michelin-recommended spot, occupies the top two floors of the building, and while we sat on the first floor (indoor seating only), the balcony still offered a lovely view overlooking Ho Hoan Kiem and Den Ngoc Son. The decor is charming, though it has a slightly temporary vibe. The menu features a wide variety of authentic Vietnamese dishes, and we had quite a feast. Our favorites were the deep-fried spring rolls—crispy and flavorful, the clay pot rice—comforting and perfectly seasoned, and the traditional Hanoi grilled fish (cha ca)—a standout with its fragrant local herbs and spices. The fermented shrimp paste served with it was savory and packed with umami. Other dishes like the southern-style grilled unicorn leather jacket fish, soft-shell crab, grilled squid, deep-fried tofu, and sour pork rib soup were solid and enjoyable. However, the Hue-style sautéed baby clams with rice crackers was a letdown—it lacked the smoky "wok hei" and tasted more like the clams were just steamed. Service was attentive and friendly, but one thing to note is that they tend to bring all the dishes out at once, which can feel rushed. It’s hard to savor everything when you’re worried about it cooling down. My advice? Order your starters first and then the mains later to better control the pace of your meal. Overall, a great spot for authentic Vietnamese flavors and stunning views, with just a few small tweaks needed to make the experience even better.

Restaurant does not live up to the hype and reviews I have read about it. Decided to try fine dining in Hanoi (this restaurant was mentioned in the Michelin Guide). In a nutshell it was disappointing experience - nice view of Hoe Kiem Lake but the food and service was disappointing. The table setting for 2 is really small. The irony was the head waitress was try to push us to order more dishes. I was looking forward to experience Vietnamese cooking in an upmarket restaurant. What I saw on the menu were versions of Hanoi street food such as Cha Ca (fried fish with chives and spring onions) or Bun Cha (deep fried pork rolls). My view is that it is to better experience these dishes at other restaurants around Hanoi which are famous for these dishes. I opted for recommended Vietnamese dishes which turned out to be very ordinary and similar to middle of the road offerings of Asian cooking in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Service was average at best. Head waitress was keen to push us to order as many dishes as possible. I felt five dishes for 2 persons was more than sufficient! Waiter serving our table was inexperieced and had problems placing the dishes on our small table. What bothered me most was the rush to deliver all the food ordered at the same time. The serving team does not appreciate that I was there to enjoy the experience the nice view and would like to enjoy each dish properly. It felt like I was been rushed in a very popular Pho restaurant in Hanoi with many customers waiting for a table. I could not see the rush as restaurant was not busy that evening. Pricing was okay. Not at Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur or Singapore level. But food was very ordinary given all the expectations.

It was a wonderful evening. Our waitress Thu Thao was really sweet and caring. The Price-performance ratio was okay. Expected two pieces of artichoke since the hot pot is recommended for two people. A bit more rice noodles or other side dishes would have been nicer in exchange for some mushrooms. Would recommend that place because the quality was really good!

We had the regional fish dish, spring rolls, tofu and fried banana! Highly recommend. Great ambiance, stunning view, and delicious food. Pamela was amazing and so kind.

The view and ambiance are great (upstairs outside terrace), the food was nice but didn’t feel that special so we found it a bit overpriced. Paid £60 for 1 starter, 2 small, mains, and 4 glasses of wine. A small but memorable negative is also that we were told no when we asked for another plate of prawn crakers because they come as a set within the dish. I would have expected a higher end restaurant like this one to have figured this out as it’s a common starter (usually complimentary) snack.

Kitty our sever was attentive and gave excellent service. Everything that we ordered were excellent! Beautiful view of the lake to enjoy our 25th wedding anniversary dinner.

We had a great experience at Cau Go restaurant. Our hostess Mai Huong was phenomenal! She was good at recommending dishes and she was very helpful in helping us understand portion sizes and made sure we weren’t ordering too much food. Mai was the best hostess you can have and she took really good care of us. Everything we ordered was delicious! The atmosphere and ambiance of the restaurant was also great. I highly recommend this restaurant if you’re in Hanoi.

This is probably my favourite restaurant in Hanoi. This is my fourth or fifth visit and I always walk out with a smile across my face and a very happy, full belly. Mai Trang, or Pamela, was a lovely help: kind, nice, knowledgeable about foods and intolerances — she asked me about mine, a first in a long time anywhere — and proceeded to recommend some fantastic food. The ambience and the menu are sophisticated in an understated way. Jazz sounds in the background without being intrusive, and the food on offer is just delicious. Everything on it is mouth-watering. But the pomelo salad… that is a must. Highly recommended place.