Both me and my dining companion were initially wary of this place. We’re both of Vietnamese background and have been to many great Vietnamese restaurants in Adelaide. We figured Madame Hanoi would just be a more expensive and pretentious version done by a white guy (yeah I know, that’s racist of me!). After dining here, I still feel the same way – but hey, that doesn’t mean the food is bad. If the price point doesn’t bother you, this *is* good food with good service to match. There definitely could have been more done with this French / Vietnamese connection, but I doubt there was much desire to explore anything too challenging. 

The most annoying thing about Madame Hanoi though is the awful cultural appropriation that’s going on in the interior design for this place. Maybe I’ve used Tumblr too much and it’s now infected me, but It would have been nice if they had been able to draw a distinction between Vietnamese and Chinese. Mainly it’s Emma Hack’s huge mural of a body painted cheongsam on the jelly jube nippled woman but it continues with the Chinese women on the back of the menus to the random Chinese artwork on the walls. About as thoughtless as the vintage light fittings that are mandatory in about every restaurant fit out these days. There’s even a piece of communist propaganda on the walls which is cute! I know I know – it’s just set dressing, but when you go to a place like this, you pay for the ambience as much as you do for the food. Food – good; design – eh.

Location

City Centre