Koto Restaurant Reopens In Hanoi

Filed under: Vietnam Written by:Chris Mitchell.

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Koto is one of Hanoi's best restaurants which has just reopened after a major refurbishment. Not only is the food delicious, the entire restaurant is dedicated to training and providing a culinary career for former Vietnamese street kids

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One of my favourite restaurants in Hanoi, Koto has just re-opened its doors in new, bigger premises just a couple of doors down from its old site - so it's still opposite the beautiful Temple of Literature, and it's still a short cyclo ride from the Old Quarter to get there.

Koto has an excellent range of Vietnamese and international dishes, but the best thing about the place is the staff. They greet you with dazzling smiles and are very keen to show off their nearly fluent English and welcome you to their restaurant. Most of them are Vietnamese street kids who have been taken on by the Koto training program where they are given a home and learn both English and the necessary skills to operate and manage a busy restaurant. The success rate of Koto's training program is huge, with most of its trainees going on to work in Hanoi's most prestigious restaurants and hotels, where their new skills and mastery of English means they can command good salaries and have a whole new set of possibilities open to them.

For me, the best thing about Koto is that I get to stuff my face for a good cause - as all proceeds go back into running the restaurant and maintaining the training program, it's possible justification to have two puddings. Given its location by the Temple of Literature, it's a great place to go for lunch or just for a drink and sit down.

The only sad thing about the new Koto opening is that it herald the close of one of my favourite blogs, Our Man In Hanoi. OMIH was written by Steve, a volunteer from the UK who worked at Koto for the last 3 years and whose blog documented the highs and lows of volunteer life in Hanoi. Steve writes with a truly engaging, vivid style, with plenty of Geordie wit and a real ability to explain issues and emotions very concisely without platitudes or cliches. With the new Koto opening, Steve's time has come to an end in Hanoi, and earlier this week he posted his last entry on Our Man In Hanoi. For anyone who wants an insight to living in Hanoi, it's definitely worth exploring the archive - and if you are thinking of volunteering overseas, it's invaluable. Steve is off to help with another restaurant in Grenada in the next couple of months and will be writing a new blog to document his time over there.