A Google disappointment

We are now in Ha Long. Pleasant cheap journey of 3 hours in a 10-seater van. We paid the equivalent of CHF 20 per person. The locals who boarded paid about CHF 12 per person. That's good. The tourists lower the ticket prices for the locals and the cars don't drive around half-empty.

The van had time to Google for a seafood buffet restaurant. She found it. 20 minutes by taxi. about CHF 15 per trip.
On the way, the taxi driver asked in surprise about our choice, why we would go so far just to eat, because our hotel is in the best area of ​​restaurants and there are at least a few restaurants with seafood buffet..... Our restaurant is in a pure tourist area.
Well, that's how far we were before we got there.

It turned out to be a very large restaurant where we had to wait outside until we got a table in the middle of one of the three halls. With CHF 30 per person, it's clearly a tourist price. About 6 times more expensive than in the restaurant at our hotel. OK, supporting the economy.

It is a kind of bourguignon, so in the middle of the table there is a very large pot with broth. The flames are so large that you could heat about 5 pots with them. It must be like this because there is a draft from all directions in the middle of the hall, and the gas fires are not wind-protected, it blows the flames away again and again. They came uncomfortably close to us. So the pot can only get hot enough with big flames. That's why we had to eat at the corners of the table.

When I visited the buffets, I noticed that everything was raw. So you have to know how and how long to dip the things in water. Unfortunately, almost all the sauces were almost empty. Several dishes were just leftovers and they were not replenished during the whole hour we were there.

Then I found a very good salad and rice noodles too. I finished the bowl right away. This bowl was never refilled until we left.

Van prepared some scrims and mussels that were very good. But Van said the rice noodles were overcooked. The solution: Van discovered a mountain of ready-made noodles from the supermarket on a buffet table. Normally about CHF 20 each. So they were there, stacked in the package, like in the supermarket. So now we cooked the noodles ourselves.
I found some pre-grilled items. But they were all so tough. I didn't feel like chewing on a few types of chewing gum.

Implemented in Swiss restaurants: Give the guest a ravioli can with an opener and a table stove with a cooking pot. The rest he has to do himself. ( == Ready-made noodles from the supermarket - cook them yourself). Or a Hero ready-made rösti and a frying pan for the stove at the table - the guest has to make sure his rösti turns out well.

The orientation of Asian people is somewhat poor, as are taxi drivers. It was fortunate that we learned to read maps in school in Switzerland. It didn't help the taxi driver that he drove straight through the rave party on the tourist beach to our hotel. We were stuck in traffic for half an hour. Maybe it was less stressful to work that way, or he simply enjoyed the small talk with Van. Laura fell asleep while doing so.

Well, today we will probably eat at one of the local restaurants.