Koto

With a name that translates as “know one, teach one,” this not-for-profit eatery follows a model similar to that of Jamie Oliver’s renowned Fifteen restaurants where street kids have been trained in the kitchen arts so they can go on to have careers in the restaurant business.  The 120-seat Koto, right across the street from the Temple of Literature and near Craft Link, is staffed entirely by Hanoi street kids and disadvantaged youths, who enroll in a two-year training program in hospitality, cooking and English. Most of the Vietnamese-Continental cuisine is quite good, and the staff is eager to please.