I've been trying to break up the tedium in my life lately by doing one fancy thing a week with some good friends rather than going to the local pub every night for the same ol' same ol'. So far it has reaped rewards but this time we went even more upmarket to a place that had an Italian buffet combined with a Thai buffet and both things came with all the red/white/bubbly wine you can drink... which for my group, is quite a lot.
This is apparently quite popular in the nearby city of Hoi An, but I don't make my way over there very often because it is extremely touristy. This was proven to me when between the walk from the taxi to the entrance to the restaurant we were hounded by 4 touts (people selling random shite) on the streets that were quite aggressive. In Da Nang you are almost never approached by anyone to buy things on the street and I definitely prefer that. But let's stay positive.
This place is considerably more fancy than the sort of establishment I would normally attend and the price was high enough to keep the riff-raff out. 1.2 million VND or around $42 a person in order to have the 3 hours or so of wonderful food and wine that will keep getting topped up until you put your hand on top of your glass. I never put my hand on top of mine unless I was switching brands.
I decided on mostly Thai food because Italian is just so common in Da Nang that even if it is done really well, I tend to not really appreciate it. Don't think incorrectly here! I think Italian food is some of, if not the, best in the world, but I am just exposed to it so frequently that it no longer feels special.
Seating was good, staff were very attentive and it seemed as though at least one server was always hovering to make sure we had everything that we need. Something that might just seem commonplace to you but is rare here was that they would come and clear any dishes or cups that were no longer being used. To me this is exceptional service even though it is just kind of the norm in the West. At most Vietnamese places the plates just stay on your table until you leave and this can be quite annoying at times.
Unfortunately, a great deal of the primo places to sit were not available on this day because we have been experiencing exceptional amounts of rainfall and I suppose that would be my only criticism of this place. Because of the lack of outdoor seating we were all kind of crammed indoors and the acoustics were quite bad. I had difficulty simply hearing the people at my table but I'm not going to fault the restaurant for this... they can't control the weather.
It is my understanding that this establishment does this ever week so if you find yourself in Hoi An, Vietnam and want to do something slightly fancier than a street sandwich or bowl of noodles, why not head over to Hidden Thaiger for brunch on a Sunday. At $40 that is expensive to those of us that live here, but for anyone coming from Europe or North America, this is a real deal!