LOCATIONOn Giles street between Tench and Kennedy Streets.
PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIAHoang Hau offers a winning mixture of standard Vietnamese and Chinese dishes that Australian customers are familiar with, and ones that you cannot easily get anywhere else in Canberra. Hoang Hau’s fixed menu is typified by the former – it is full of meals that are well known, loved, and generally very well priced (especially by Kingston standards). In general, the menu has a good mixture of soups, stir-fry dishes, hotpots, fried goodness and the obligatory rice and noodle dishes. There is also a nice balance in the variety and choice of different meat dishes and a full page dedicated to vegetarian options. For more adventurous diners, the blackboard (or as it is in reality – coloured paper sticky-taped onto the wall) specials are definitely not to be missed. The range offered is very wide and nicely complements the more tried-and-true fixed menu. "Fried rice paper with crab and Vietnamese dressing” was just one of the specials on offer when we visited.
Although the emphasis at Hoang Hau is most definitely on food rather than drinks, there are a good few Asian beers available and the wine list should keep most people happy. If it doesn’t, Hoang Hau is BYO and there is an IGA a couple of doors down on one side of the restaurant and a bottle shop on the other! The food here is definitely not pretentious, and neither is the decor. The restaurant is tastefully appointed, very clean and not as crowded as many others in Kingston can be. And while it may not be the place that you'd take someone if you wanted to wine and dine them, it is perfect for a relaxed meal with family or friends and somewhere that people come back to again and again.
Elizabeth Hall, September 2009