Restaurant Report - State-Run Food Shop No. 37 in Hanoi - NYTimes.com Thiep Nguyen Both the menu and design of this tiny restaurant mimic state-subsidized eateries of the past. The dining scene in Hanoi has flourished in recent years. Travelers can feast on international fare like sushi and tapas, as well as on innovative takes on Vietnamese cuisine. But this tiny restaurant, which opened in the fall of 2012, evokes a simpler time: the decade starting in 1976, when the state controlled the economy so tightly that restaurants were barred from having names, and privately owned businesses were illegal. Pham Quang Minh spent 10 years restoring an old house near Truc Bach Lake to resemble one of the state-run canteens that peppered the city in those years. "I remember queuing up to buy food and fuel," he said of that era. I wanted young people to see what that was like. At State-Run Food Shop No. 37, visitors buy "ration coupons" to order food, and the servers are authentically brusque. Trying to order grilled chicken with honey during a recent visit, we were met with a terse "We're out." Gone, too, was the fresh tofu. But we happily dined on aromatic ginger-roasted chicken and cubes of bean curd immersed in a delicate plum tomato sauce. A rustic preparation of stir-fried pumpkin packed a punch from slivered garlic. While the menu changes seasonally, you'll always find staples like rice supplemented with chunks of sweet potato and cassava (grains were in short supply in the 1980s) and a side dish of pickled greens stir-fried in lard, which steers the crunchy leaves into surprisingly decadent territory. The whitewashed brick walls are lined with period artifacts, including a portrait of Ho Chi Minh, and what were once luxury items: a radio, a TV, an old bicycle. Food is served in historically accurate tin bowls. "In the old times, when people ate at public canteens, they brought their own metal bowls and a pair of chopsticks," Mr. Minh explained. Many Hanoians recall the subsidy era with nostalgia, despite the hardships they endured. When the restaurant opened last fall, it was so popular that customers had to book tables in advance, a highly unusual situation in the capital. "Young people order rice with sweet potato and say it's tasty," Mr. Minh said. But I tell them, you're just eating it once. Try to eat it for a whole year. State-Run Food Shop No. 37, 37 Nam Trang, Hanoi; 84-4-37-15-43-36. An average meal for two, without drinks, is about 200,000 dong, $9.75 at 20,435 dong to the dollar.