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Nestled by a lotus pond near West Lake, Sen (Lotus) Restaurant is the ideal enclave for nature and food lovers alike.
The owner has designed the restaurant to overcome the narrow lanes of the area, giving the space a good view of West Lake. Inside the two terracotta-roofed villas, the wooden furniture, Vietnamese paintings and vases of lotus evoke the feeling of an ancient house of the Orient.
With the idea of designing the garden as a northern rural village market to provide patrons a beautiful setting to enjoy a meal, food stalls were made from rattan or bamboo frames baskets, round bamboo trays, and low bamboo tables. Female stall servers wear traditional four-paneled traditional dresses, and male servers wear plain brown clothes.
The special buffet is offered in the garden, which is out of the air-conditioning, but is still cool from the breeze off the lake and sweet-smelling from the blooming palm trees.
With the evening buffet at VND110, 000 and lunch at VND90, 000 – not including drinks, patrons have a wide variety of favourites to choose from – 60 traditional foods from three regions.
Traditional dishes such as thenem sen (lotus rolls), cha ca (grilled fish), bun cha (grilled pork with noodles) or banh duc look particularly tempting. | 
