Archive for the 'Restaurant Review' Category

Huy Long Viên

Published
by
Gastronomer
on May 8, 2008
in Chinese, Dim Sum, Restaurant Review and Saigon
. 3 Comments

April 20, 2008
Cuisine: Chinese

99 Nguyen Du Street
District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Phone: 823 7799
Website: none

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All U Can Eat Dim Sum (120,000 VND per person)

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I like everything about dim sum except for the time of day it is consumed. For me, mornings are about whole grains and fresh fruit, not soy sauce and porky oiliness. Don’t get me wrong, I love the swine, just not before 1 PM.

The Astronomer, on the other hand, is always hankering for meaty dumplings. I gave into his wishes a few weeks back because he did lots of research to locate the best dim sum in town.

We headed to Huy Long Viên with Hawkins and Hanh (The Astronomer’s Vietnamese teacher) in tow on a sunny Sunday. Although I wanted to avoid overeating, the all-you-can-eat deal was just too irresistible to pass up. Plus, everyone was doing it and I’m a follower.

Unlike traditional dim sum joints with rolling carts and brash women, here we ordered off a menu and the food was made to order. It was civilized and all, but missing the rowdiness that I love about dim sum places.

The shrimp, beef and pork wrapped in thin rice paper sheets and drizzled with a soy broth were some of my favorites. The shrimp and scallop dumplings were also damn good. However, after a solid hour of dim summing, each container of steamed dumplings started to taste like the previous. And that’s when we knew it was time to get out of there.

The all-you-can-eat option also comes with unlimited desserts. The only item that appealed to Hanh and I was the mango pudding and sadly, they were out. Unfair!

We left Huy Long Viên filled with too much meaty goodness in our tummies. To work off our feast, we headed to a nearby playground…

Here’s Hawk having a dizzying time.

And The Astronomer doing the same. I stayed on the sidelines and snapped away. By the way, playground equipment in Vietnam is much more fun because there’s always an element of danger.

Chả Cá Hà Nội

Published
by
Gastronomer
on May 7, 2008
in Restaurant Review, Saigon and Vietnamese
. 8 Comments

April 18, 2008
Cuisine: Vietnamese

5A Tran Nhat Duat Street
District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Phone: 8484240
Website: www.chacahanoi.com.vn

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Chả Cá Hà Nội - fried fish fillets with dill and spring onions (89,000 VND per person)

Fixins - vermicelli rice noodles, peanuts, fresh herbs, rice crackers, limes, fish sauce and shrimp paste

Ca Cuong Drops - a pheromone liquid from a tiny gland behind the wings of the male Ca Cuong, a beetle that lives in the rice fields (28,000 VND per drop)

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Ever since The Astronomer made his way to Hanoi and tried Chả Cá without me, I’ve been suffering from palette envy. In order to even the score, we headed to Chả Cá Hà Nội in Saigon with our friend Hawkins a few weeks back. I’ll make my way to Hanoi one of these days, but until then, this southern version will have to suffice.

Even though the restaurant is named Chả Cá Hà Nội, it actually serves a number of other dishes, but we came for the house specialty. Before the star of the show arrived, our waitress brought out an array of accouterments including spliced spring onions, noodles, toasted peanuts, herbs, limes chilies, shrimp paste and fish sauce.

Wandering Chopsticks sent me an interesting article a few months back about the joys of pairing water beetle musk with Chả Cá, so we ordered a squirt of ca cuong out of curiosity. I was expecting our waitress to extract juices from an actual beetle, but instead she had a sterile little bottle filled with clear liquid.

I tasted the fish sauce both pre and post beetle droplet and couldn’t tell the difference between the two, which was rather disappointing. We could have shelled out 28,000 more dong for another drop, but were too skeptical (and cheap) to do so. Next time, I’ll just ask the waitress to squirt the musk directly onto my tongue and have the beetle essence permeate the dish that way. To the left is a picture of our waitress adding a drop of water beetle essence into our nuoc mam.

The fish arrived sizzling on a frying pan and was placed on a table-side burner to continue cooking. Our waitress added a pile of greenery including fresh dill and scallions to marinate with the fish.

After the fish and herbs were perfectly melded, we excitedly assembled our bowls of Chả Cá Hà Nội. I began with a cool pile of noodles, added in toasted peanuts and broken bits of rice cracker, spooned on the hot fish and herbs, drizzled on some shrimp paste and squeezed in a smidgen of lime. The end result was not only pretty, but spectacularly delicious too.

I sometimes feel that Vietnamese food can get a little redundant due to the constant employment of pickled vegetables, fish sauce, fresh herbs, etc., but Chả Cá is definitely a unique treat within the genre. What sets this dish apart from other Vietnamese standbys is the pungent shrimp paste and strong shot of dill.

According to The Astronomer, the version we had down south was just as good as the one he enjoyed in Hanoi.

Cơm Tấm Mộc

Published
by
Gastronomer
on April 25, 2008
in Restaurant Review, Saigon and Vietnamese
. 6 Comments

April 9, 2008
Cuisine: Vietnamese

85 Ly Tu Trong Street
District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Phone: 8248561
Website: none

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Com tam thit kho (30,000 VND)

Com tam suon bi (25,000 VND)

Com tam bi cha (22,000 VND)

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Air-con street food is a popular trend sweeping through the Saigon dining scene. The formula for this genre of eateries is pretty straightforward—ditch the dirty, embrace the modern, halve the portions and double the price.

Plastic stools are replaced by solid furniture, wall calendars of Hong Kong movie stars are traded in for eye-catching color schemes, and inattentive waiters are given lessons in service and hospitality.

Pho 24 is the current leader of the air-con street food movement with hundreds of locations throughout the country. Although not nearly as prevalent, Cơm Tấm Mộc is one of the powerhouses in the realm of broken rice. The decor features light-colored wood furnishings and minimalist decor.

The Astronomer, Matt and I decided to try fancy broken rice after Plan A for lunch fell through. I ordered the com tam bi cha (broken rice with shredded pork and pork skin with a slice of pork loaf), which was high-quality, but wimpy in the size department. Whereas most Vietnamese establishments serve a lot of rice and a little meat, Cơm Tấm Mộc piles on the meat and skimps on the rice. This is perfect for those still on the Atkins Diet, but a growing girl demands more rice.

On a sunny note, the pork loaf was the best I’ve had in the city—the yolk-y topping was fresh and the pork actually tasted like pork. Fancy that. Sadly, I could not get my com tam with a fried egg on top.

The Astronomer was also quite pleased with his com tam suon bi (broken rice with shredded pork and pork skin with slab of barbecued pork), but had to order an extra portion of rice (com them - 4,000 VND) to round out his meal. The hunk of grilled meat was well-seasoned, but truly no better than broken rice sold street-side.

Matt’s com tam thit kho (braised pork bits) was damn good, but missing some hardboiled egg action. Thit kho without eggs is like Lucky Charms  without marshmallows, you know what I mean?

If Cơm Tấm Mộc started offering more eggs (fried and hardboiled) and increased their rice portions, I’d be all over it like white on rice.

Black Cat

Published
by
Gastronomer
on April 24, 2008
in Breakfast, Restaurant Review and Saigon
. 7 Comments

April 6, 2008
Cuisine: Breakfast

13 Phan Van Dat Street
District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Phone: 08 829 2055
Website: none
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Mango (32,000 VND) and soursop smoothies

French Connection - homemade cinnamon swirl bread dipped in egg and fried in butter served with maple syrup with homemade sausage and apples (99,000 VND)

Toast with blackberry jam

Hello Kitty - strawberry crepes filled with passion fruit cream and topped with toasted almonds and whipped cream (54,000 VND)

Whole grain bagel with “the works” (65,000 VND)

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A half-marathon, 3K, 7K and 10K road race was organized earlier this month as part of French Cultural Week. Neither The Astronomer nor I were up for the half-marathon, so we both signed up for the 10K. The course, which weaved in and out of traffic, took us through downtown Saigon and along the riverfront. The Astronomer finished in the low 40s, while I finished in the low 50s. Our friend Matt who was visiting from Boston finished somewhere in between, and our Canadian friend Nina manhandled the 7K. Unlike the BBGV road race we participated in last September, this event attracted a good number of elite Vietnamese athletes. These boys and girls looked scrawny, ran barefoot and totally kicked my ass.

After pounding the pavement in the Saigon heat, The Astronomer, Matt and I wanted to carbo-load, and a hot Viet-sized bowl of noodles wasn’t going to cut it. We headed to Black Cat, which was voted one of the “Top 10 Places in the World You Must Eat” by CNN.com in 2006 and is home to the city’s largest cheeseburger.

Although indulging in a mammoth burger before noon was awfully tempting, all three of us stuck to the breakfast selections. The Astronomer had the French Connection brunch prix fixe that included a soursop smoothie, cinnamon French toast with sausage and apples, and buttered toast with blackberry jam. Although I prefer French toast made with thick slices of brioche and paired with real maple syrup, this version was definitely above average for lacking both elements. The sausage was well-seasoned and texturally unique due to its lack of casing, but the toast was a little too toasty for The Astronomer.

Matt ordered a mango smoothie and strawberry crepes with passion fruit cream; he shared a bite with me, which was super pleasant. It’s hard to go wrong with dessert for breakfast.

I ordered a toasted whole-grain bagel with “the works”—smoked salmon, lettuce, tomato and cream cheese. The bagel sandwich lost major points due to the dangerously skewed ratio of cream cheese to lox. Whenever I drop major dong for a sandwich that tastes no better than a 5,000 VND banh mi, I get mighty depressed. Oh, well.

Breakfast was fun, but forgettable. I will return to eat the famed burger because I like a good challenge and I know that gas•tron•o•my readers will appreciate another post about western food.

Phở Chay Như

Published
by
Gastronomer
on April 16, 2008
in Restaurant Review, Saigon, Vegetarian and Vietnamese
. 10 Comments

April 4, 2008
Cuisine: Vietnamese, Vegetarian

54 Truong Quyen Street
District 3, Ho Chi Minh City

Phone: 8242816
Website: none

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Pho Chay (15,000 VND)

Com Tam Bi Cha Thit Nuong Chay (front - 20,000 VND)

Com Tam Bi Cha Thit Nuong Chay (back)

Bi Cuon Chay (3,000 VND per roll)

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If you’ve ever thought to yourself:

“Man, I love com tam bi cha thit nuong, but I feel so guilt-ridden eating three types of pork in one sitting. I sure wish there was a vegetarian version…”

Head to Phở Chay Như immediately.

gas•tron•o•my reader Michael recommended this eatery to me months ago and I finally got around to trying it recently. Thanks, Mike!

The Astronomer and I started with the restaurant’s signature dish, pho chay (vegetarian pho). Up until this point, we’ve been quite disappointed with the vegetarian interpretations of our favorite broth and noodle dishes because they’re usually a little watery and worlds away from the real deal.

What sets the pho chay here apart from other versions is its spot-on broth. The essence of star anise and charred onions thoroughly permeates the soup, bringing about a very accurate and familiar pho flavor.

Although we came for the pho, we left enamored by the com tam bi cha thit nuong. All I can say is, I can’t believe it’s not butter!

Every element of this dish looked so real, crazy real. Taste-wise, the saucy slab of barbecued pork was the least believable. However, the bi, cha, and nuoc mam could have fooled me.

Lastly, we each had one bi cuon, which are spring rolls made with bi. Another excellent use of mock meat. Bravo.

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