public ActionResult Index()
{

    List<MenuItem> allMenu = new List<MenuItem>
    {
        new MenuItem {Id=1,Name="Parent 1", ParentId=0},
        new MenuItem {Id=2,Name="child 1", ParentId=1},
        new MenuItem {Id=3,Name="child 2", ParentId=1},
        new MenuItem {Id=4,Name="child 3", ParentId=1},
        new MenuItem {Id=5,Name="Parent 2", ParentId=0},
        new MenuItem {Id=6,Name="child 4", ParentId=4}
    };


    List<MenuItem> mi = allMenu
    .Where(e => e.ParentId == 0) /* grab only the root parent nodes */
    .Select(e => new MenuItem
    {
        Id = e.Id,
        Name = e.Name,
        ParentId = e.ParentId,
        Children = allMenu.Where(x => x.ParentId == e.Id).ToList()
    }).ToList();


    ViewBag.menusList = mi;

    return View();
}

public class MenuItem
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int ParentId { get; set; }
    public virtual List<MenuItem> Children { get; set; }
}

@helper ShowTree(List<Scaffolding.Controllers.MenuItem> menusList)
{
    <ul>
        @foreach (var item in menusList)
        {
            <li>
                <span>@item.Name</span>
                @if (item.Children != null && item.Children.Any())
                {
                    @ShowTree(item.Children)
                }
            </li>
        }
    </ul>
}

@{
    var menuList = ViewBag.menusList as List<Scaffolding.Controllers.MenuItem>;
    @ShowTree(menuList);
}