We then moved on to the other signature dish, Banh Xeo – paper thin egg pancake stuffed with prawns, pork, bean sprouts and vegetables. Served with fresh herbs and lettuce leaves as well as its own special sauce, the idea is to wrap your own using lettuce leaves as the skin. A great dish for those who’d like an extra serving of greens in their diet without compromising on other flavours and yummy godness inside.
Since this was a pre-opening tasting, we couldn’t go past the three more substantial tasting plates. First up on our journey through Vietnam, the Taste of Saigon which is also the restuarant’s signature dish and includes a sample of Goi Cuon – prawn and pork rice paper rolls with a Southern peanut sauce and Chao Tom – juicy grilled prawn paste wrapped around sugar cane skewers served with vermicelli, herbs, lettuce and roll your own rice paper wraps.
Next up the Taste of Hue, home of Last Emperor where there were many food created specially for our King before. The platter comes with the usual trimmings of vermicelli noodles, lettuce, pickled vegetables and fresh herbs to accompany a serving of Nem Nuong – grilled pork meatballs, which are moist and have a wonderful barbecue flavour. A generous serving of Banh Cuon Tom – finely shredded prawn wrapped in freshly steamed rice paper completes the dish.
My personal favourite though, is the Taste of Hanoi. This is also our capital city, my hometown- Northern of Vietnam. Home to the historic and alluring capital, Northern Vietnam cuisine retains many French influences from a by-gone era. The platter consists of Banh Cuon – mushroom and minced pork steamed rice paper roll with freid shallots. It’s melt in your mouth perfection of flavours and textures and by far my favourite dish of the day. I’m a big mushroom fan but my fellow diners tend to agree that the rolls are something else! The other part of the Hanoi experience is Cha Nuong Ha Noi – grilled marinated pork skewers served with the wrap your own trimmings. They taste fresh and are a good serving of all meat for those who prefer their protein in the form of meat.
My close second favourite of the day was Goi Ngo Sen – lotus stem and mix vegetable salad with grilled pork and prawn. Crunchy and fresh with a wonderful blend of lime juice, fish sauce and peanuts in the dressing. It’s a side salad, but it’s big on flavour and generous in serving – I would happily order this as my “main” and be completely satisfied. Oh and it comes with a handful of prawn chips on the side, that’s always a bonus.
To round up the experience we also tried one of the few fried dishes on the menu, the Cha Gio – lightly fried spring rolls of crab, prawn, pork, egg mushrooms and vegetables, and Cuon Roi – a vegetarian tofu and vegetable steamed rice paper roll. While the spring rolls were nice, I am probably the last person who should be commenting on them because I’m not a big fan of fried foods, but those who tried them enjoyed them very much. The vegetarian tofu roll, on the other hand, has easily made it into my top 3 favourite dishes. Lightly smoky and really fresh, wrapped in soft rice paper pastry.
The food was super fresh with generous amounts of herbs, lettuce and pickles to balance the flavours of meat, extremely flavourful and each dish had its own characteristic flavour, which was nice to see. The menu is easy to navigate and you can order by numbers, as well as practice your Vietnamese as all dishes are spelled out phonetically as well. And yes, Pho = fur.
The absence of preservatives and a healthy serving of fun with every meal will definitely have me going back for more. A great concept and fine execution. And a place where grown ups can play with their food.
That is fabulous！
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