A restaurant in Hanoi may be slapped with a fine after photos surfaced on social media showing waitresses in Cau Giay District wearing bikinis while serving drinks and food to customers.

To Van Dong, director of Hanoi’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, was quoted by Thanh Nien News as saying his agency would announce a strong punitive measure.

He added that the act was “against Vietnam’s traditional culture and fine customs”.

The images, believed to be taken on May 8 at a restaurant on Tran Thai Tong Street, shows women serving beer and sitting next to male diners.

Lam, the restaurant owner, has claimed that the women were hired by Saigon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage JSC (Sabeco) for promotional purposes of their beer brand.

Lam said the “promotion girls” were dressed in formal attire except for a few.

“The ones in bikinis were here for only one or two minutes. We asked them to cancel the promotional campaign after seeing how they were dressed,” Lam said.

But the Director of Sabeco’s northern branch, Truong Van Tuan, has denied that his company ran the campaign.

The incident follows a similar occurrence on May 6, when a staff member at a Hanoi electronics store was fined VND40 million (AUD$2,456) for employing girls wearing bikinis as art of an advertising campaign.

– with other agencies.