If you ask the locals where to find Nom Thit Bo Kho in Hanoi, they will most likely direct you to the small street of Ho Hoan Kiem that’s next to the Hoan Kiem Lake.
Long Vi Dung – Nom Thit Bo Kho
23 Ho Hoan Kiem
Hanoi, Vietnam
Tel: +84 90 465 67 08
Opening hours: 8.00am to 9.30pm daily
I must say Long Vi Dung wasn’t the place we were looking for initially. We were recommended by a local to try the Nom Thit Bo Kho at Hai Sinh (53 Ho Hoan Kiem) but somehow when we reached Ho Hoan Kiem, we were so ‘excited’ upon finding Nom Thit Bo Kho that we just stepped in without realising we were in a different shop. After-effects of food coma probably, lol.
Anyway, yes, we found Hai Sinh about 2-3 units away after we had finished our meal. Well, I guess we would have to leave till next time to visit it, haha.
Ok back to Long Vi Dung. The menu with pictures and English description is on the wall. To place your order, just point to the items and tell them the number of portions you want.
Nom Thit Bo Kho literally translates to ‘dried beef salad’. Long Vi Dung’s version (35,000 VND per portion) consisted of green papaya, herbs (mint leaves, coriander, etc), sliced beef, dried beef and chopped roasted peanuts in a fish sauce dressing. The sliced beef looked like char siew with red edges but didn’t taste anything like it at all – it was probably more like plain boiled beef dipped in red colouring. The dried beef was just like beef jerky – texture was dry, tough and chewy. Though the green papaya gave a refreshing crunch to the salad, overall it was still a very meaty dish because of the generous portion of meat. Ingredients were on the bland side so you’d need to toss the salad thoroughly in the dressing though it would be quite tough to do so as the plate was too small.
All in all, I thought this was a nice dish to try but it didn’t wow me as much as it did for the husband. I’m normally a meat eater but when there’s too much tough and chewy meat in a dish, it can get quite sickly and annoying too when the meat gets stuck in between the teeth. I had a whole plate to myself but I could only manage half. If you’re coming here in a pair like us, just share one salad will do and perhaps order something else for variety. If not enough, then order another portion because it’s very quick to prepare and they don’t take long to serve it up.