Restaurant Review
06 Jun 2008

Au Parc – Ho Chi Minh City

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May 7, 2008
Cuisine: French, Mediterranean

23 Han Thuyen Street
District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Phone: 8292772
Website: none

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Garden salad with roasted vegetables (35,000 VND)

Bagel toasted with Brie, caramelized onions and green apple shavings (67,000 VND)

Pasta with lamb, cashews, coriander pesto and Parmesan (95,000 VND)

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When it comes to restaurants, I don’t believe in second chances. The world is filled with too much goodness to waste precious little space on unworthy morsels. That being said, I had to return to Au Parc for research purposes (I was assigned a piece about Saigon sandwiches for AsiaLIFE). My first visit was dangerously unspectacular, but luckily my second experience was a different story.

The Astronomer and I shared a garden salad with roasted vegetables to start and found it satisfactory. Salads can never be truly great, you know what I mean? For my main, I ordered a bagel sandwich with toasted Brie, caramelized onions and green apple shavings. Let me quote myself:

There’s something about toasted bread and gooey cheese that just couldn’t be anymore perfect. Au Parc’s toasted bagel with Brie cheese takes this classic combination up a couple notches with the addition of caramelized onions and green apple shavings. The tart apple cuts the Brie’s richness and the toasted bagel ties all the components together into one neat and satisfying package.

The Astronomer also scored. His pasta with lamb, cashews, coriander pesto and Parmesan was flavorful, nuanced and filling. Th lamb chunks were moist and seasoned lightly so that the lamb flavor really came through.

My brother and his girlfriend never fault the kitchen for bad meals; instead, they blame themselves for ordering poorly. Or vice versa.

The Astronomer and I ordered really well on this occasion at Au Parc.

Street Food
05 Jun 2008

Lunching in Binh Thanh District

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When The Astronomer and I are noodled out, we cross the bridge to Binh Thanh District for lunch. Binh Thanh reminds us a lot of our home base in District 4, namely, helmets are totally optional and street food is abundant. Even though helmets are mandatory by law these days, as soon as motorbikes reach the halfway point on the bridge, everyone takes them off because there aren’t any traffic cops around. It always cracks us up how safety takes a backseat to fashion and comfort.

The banh xeo in Binh Thanh were larger and flimsier than the Da Nang-style ones that I prefer. But at 3,500 a go, we weren’t complaining. The Astronomer hates the large mustard leaves that are traditionally eaten with banh xeo and prefers romaine lettuce. I can go either way.

We also got an order or goi cuon. I firmly believe that hoisin sauce can either make or break this dish. This version was really watery, so it broke the dish (so to speak).

Our final course was banh bo nuong (5,000 VND)—a rice cake of sorts made on a waffle iron type device so that the sugar in the batter is caramelized and the texture is invitingly chewy. The Astronomer ate steamed banh bo stuffed inside a savory doughnut a few weeks back.

A lovely mini-food tour, but the lunch lady’s still where it’s at!

Restaurant Review
04 Jun 2008

Black Cat – Ho Chi Minh City

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The Team – clockwise from top left – The Gastronomer, Nina, The Astronomer and Hawkins

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Ever since I discovered that Black Cat (a local ex-pat haunt) had a 1.4 kilogram burger called The Big Cheese on the menu, I’ve been dying to give it a go. The restaurant’s walls are adorned with pictures of brave eaters who have attempted to down the whole thing solo, but I know my limits, so I came with The Team. It was an average Sunday and we weren’t even planning on ordering The Big Cheese, but after perusing the menu, it seemed like the right thing to do.

The burger is the size of a large dinner plate, made with lean Argentine beef and stacked with four slices of American cheese, six slices of bacon, three tomatoes, one whole onion and butter lettuce. The toasted sesame seed bun is made in-house. To make our task more manageable, the waitress quartered the burger onto separate plates. The Big Cheese definitely looked very impressive, but I was skeptical about how it would taste.

For my first bite, I stretched my mouth ridiculously wide and managed to pull off a clean bite that included every component. I knew instantly that this burger was a winner. The bun was sturdy, the cheese was melt-y, the bacon was crisp, the beef was seasoned beautifully and the onions were lightly sauteed. The Big Cheese is SO good! Hats off to Chef Deetz for managing to super-size while maintaining quality and flavor.

To round out our gluttonous brunch, we also shared a large order of fries because burgers without fries is just plain sad. Although I prefer shoe string fries, these crinkly ones were solid and the accompanying aioli was lovely as well. I cannot wait to eat another Big Cheese. Next time, I’ll attempt to eat half. Wish me luck!

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Black Cat
13 Phan Van Dat Street
District 1, Ho Chi Minh City
Phone: 08 829 2055