Is the money spent on these dishes worth their promised health and nutrient value or is it just for the glamour of dining in fancy places? Only insiders can answer.
At S.H. restaurant on Ly Thuong Kiet Street, 50 kg of lobsters are consumed every day. Though it costs VND3.2 million ($150) a kilogram, lobster is one of the favorite dishes here. Some customers spend dozens of millions of dong just on this.
T., a waitress at the restaurant, says it happens ever day. She lists some expensive appetizers like red snapper fin and crab-roe soup (VND1.5 million), bird’s nest and shark fin soup (VND1 million), and Australian abalone soup (VND1 million). A meal for six could cost $1,500 without drinks. Wines cost $1,000. Customers can bring their own drinks, but corkage is $15 for wine and $20 for booze. The waitress says hundreds of customers come every day, with weekdays being busier than weekends.
“They usually come to talk business.
Since they pay a bill of $1,500 without batting an eyelid, I guess they are not spending their own money," said the waitress.
2. A bowl of pho costs 100 kilos of rice
A bowl of pho costs $34, as much as 100 kg of unhusked rice - yet the dish has been warmly received and eagerly consumed by many customers, said Mr. To Lam, General Director of the Hanoi-based Capital Garden (Vuon Thu Do) Restaurant, where this special and shockingly priced beef noodle is served.
The place offers mainly two kinds of beef noodle: the VND650,000 ($34) Sagagyu beef noodle served in fine china gold gilded bowls with curved spoons, and the VND125,000 ($6.5) American beef noodle served in normal bowls with straight spoons. The service is also more elaborate: broth and noodle is served in one bowl, and machine sliced beef served in a separate dish. The VND500,000 ($26) Kobe beef, or the VND220,000 ($11) Wagu beef are also available here.
Prohibitive as it is, the dish is in such a demand that his three restaurants, accommodating 150 guests, are often overloaded – guests are mostly businessmen and wealthy families.
A man is tasting the expensive pho at Capital garden
3. Hundred-dollar beefsteaks
My Way restaurant on Hanoi’s Ly Thai To street serves beefsteak made from expensive Japanese Kobe beef at VND1.9 million (US$900) for tenderloin and VND1.7 ($800) for strip loin. Each dish includes a 200g steak, mashed potato, bread, salads and a choice of five different sauces: green pepper, red wine, BBQ, cherry tomatoes and mushroom cream. At lower prices, customers can choose Japanese Wagyu for VND1.28 million (US$500) or American and Australian beef starting from VND380,000 ($20). The reason for such high prices is due to the high costs of the ingredients and the complexity of the preparing and cooking process.
Ho Toan Thang, the restaurant chef, said about 20 guests visit the restaurant to savor the steaks every day. Besides curious people who wished to try the expensive dishes once, 70 percent of the guests are frequenters who take family, friends and partners to the restaurant. There are also reservations for a table for two with candle lights, Kobe beefsteaks and Spanish wine for a sweet proposal night.
4. Drinking gold wine to prevent HIV/AIDS
A gold wine brand called G. is said to contain 22 carats of pure gold to help increase iron levels in blood, decompose stones inside organs and increase energy. Each 500ml bottle is sold for VND1.5 million (US$75).
At the same price, consumers can buy a set of three bottles of Korean gold wine, which is said to help prolong lifespan, brighten skin and prevent HIV.
“My husband bought them during his business trip to Korea,” said a gold wine seller in Ho Chi Minh City.
“Take one glass before each meal and you’ll see the effect in a week.”
Doctor Do Thi Ngoc Diep, director of the HCMC nutrition, said no research had shown gold to have any benefit to human health. It is not listed as a healthy nutrient.
“There is no need to eat gold,” Diep said. “On the contrary, overeating can cause poisoning since gold is a heavy metal.”
5. Eating golden turtle to cure heart diseases
If you think these Hanoi restaurants and their patrons are decadent, they pale in comparison to what goes on the Mong Cai border in Quang Ninh, where rich people feast on golden turtles.
According to a rich man living here, golden turtles are very precious and rare. Since they live in high mountain habitats, they breathe the freshest air and are very nourishing.
Eating them can improve one’s health and wine mixed with turtle blood or gall can help cure heart disease, he claims.
Their price? A turtle no larger than a cup costs VND50 million ($2,400).
6. Local chef, local ingredients, international price
Chef Vo Quoc’s high-class catering has got popular by word of mouth, and he does not pay for marketing or advertising, but instead lets his clients find him.
Every time he receives an order to cater at a house or company party, Quoc introduces his clients to three simple courses with five dishes each. Depending on the quality, each course can cost VND2-8 million (US$100-400) per guest. At the highest price, the menu includes fresh seafood, abalone and shark fin.
An abalone dish prepared by Vu Quoc
Quoc caters six luxurious parties like this each month.
“Parties I cater cost more than usual because I pledge not to use salt, sugar, MSG or any other addictives,” Quoc said.
Quoc said that other than Australian beef and Japanese abalone, he uses mostly local produce.
“I buy vegetables and spices at Ben Thanh Market. There are two stands that sell fresh vegetables from Hoc Mon District. Seafood can be found in Cu Market on Ham Nghi Street. Their prawns, crabs and squid are fresher than those in any other market.”
When asked who is willing to pay such a high price for a party, especially in these troubling economic times, Quoc said, “I cannot reveal clients’ information. What I can say is that they are high-class and very gastronomic.”
7. Dining like an emperor, paying like a millionaire
Long Dinh restaurant (Hanoi) is renowned for its “golden room,” an unabashedly decadent place that gives its customers the impression of dining in a royal palace. Its gold inlaid tableware sparkle on a perfect white table.
But to dine like an emperor does not come cheap – it could cost a person US$1,000, the same as Vietnam’s per capita income. An appetizer like a bird’s nest and crab-roe soup costs $46, bird’s nest and chicken soup is $65, while South African abalone soup comes at $96.
“We have 300 dishes here for the equivalent of a few quintals of rice,” a waitress says.
Even a small pack of cashew costs VND800,000 ($40).
Considering the high prices, you would think few people go there, right? Wrong. Long Dinh is always packed, and one needs to book in advance to get a table.
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