Britomart's Cafe Hanoi Has Moved into the Old 1885 Nightclub

Britomart institution Cafe Hanoi is celebrating its birthday this year by moving into a bigger and better site in the downtown precinct. From Wednesday, 2 September,​ the ten-year-old Vietnamese restaurant will open across the street in the guts of former late-night haunt, 1885.

Co-owners Tony McGeorge and Krishna Botica (Saan and Xuxu) worked with esteemed designers from Cheshire Architects on the new restaurant​, which is a nod to the "faded elegance of Hanoi's Old Quarter," and opens into​ the laneway of the soon-to-open Hotel Britomart.

Cafe Hanoi 2.0 features a larger dining space than its predecessor with room for 200. In addition, there's an open kitchen with chef's table counter seating, a conservatory with windows looking out onto Galway Street, a separate bar and a large private dining room that can accommodate more than 40 guests. A new concept from the pair will launch in the downstairs space in the coming months.

Comensa Group executive chef Nathan Houpapa has created a new menu that draws on his culinary travels throughout Asia, as well as the ​traditional French influence in Vietnamese cuisine. The new menu is broken down into sections covering raw starters, rice paper rolls, nourishing noodle soups, and heftier meat and poultry mains. Of the dishes, Houpapa picks the chargrilled octopus as his favourite.

The Vietnamese-style ​charcuterie board is also billed as standout. The sharing platter features pork and liver pate,​ Vietnamese chua lua pork sausage and ​duck breast prosciutto, alongside pickled vegetables and warm banh mi.

Mains include soft shell crab with shredded kohlrabi, lemongrass-stuffed squid with pork, roast duck a l'orange, and pork shoulder and coconut hotpot. Houpapa's dessert menu is just as mouthwatering on paper. It includes plated options like a bosc pear tarte tartin with palm sugar ice cream, as well as traditional French patisserie items and boozy liquid finishers.

Cafe Hanoi 2.0 opens at 27 Galway Street on Wednesday, 2 September. For more information and to make a booking, visit cafehanoi.co.nz.

Top image: Sam Hartnett.