What a great discovery. I have been on the prowl for banh cuon for awhile now only to find that they have a restaurant that specializes in it.
The interior is pretty standard in terms of Vietnamese noodle houses - long benches, soup spoons, chopsticks and condiments on the caddy.
The menu is actually pretty extensive from the printed menu to the specials they have written on the dry erase board. There's quite a few dishes you don't see at other Vietnamese noodle houses, which is always exciting. Besides banh cuon, they also offer a similar dish, banh uot which is rice sheets with goodies piled on top.
The main attraction here is the banh cuon. In general if you visit a Vietnamese restaurant with the name of the dish in the title, that should be the first thing you should try! I ordered the combination with ground pork, grilled pork, and shrimp. Yum! Pass on the shrimp. It's those tiny dried up ones. They weren't bad per say, but the other two were much tastier. Dip those light rolled sheets of delicate noodles in the fish sauce, and you'll be wowed. It's a nice simple and clean taste. As if this treat couldn't get better, the banh cuon also came with a few slices of regular and spicy pork roll as well as a cold mung bean salad and fried sweet potatoes. Definitely a nice bonus!
I came in and tried this dish at eight thirty five at night... The waiter looked a bit annoyed and it affected his service, but I swear I am not one of those inconsiderate customers that stays past closing time. I left promptly at nine.
The second time I visited I ordered the banh mam, which is like a fish stew noodle soup. It came with a nice arrangement of veggie add-ins. I was expecting something a bit more fishy, and the plentiful catfish pieces were fishy... maybe in not a good way, but the broth itself was not, but instead deep and a bit spicy, soaking into the bits of chewy pork, shrimp, eggplant, and vermicelli noodles. My dining companion ordered the mi quang. It was another winner! The flat yellow noodles were fun to slurp up, and the slices of pork roll, shrimp, and giant sesame rice crackers made this a gorgeous and tasty dish. Both soups were full of flavor, though there was a film of orange fat that clung to the spoons. But I didn't mind too much. You know where the flavor is coming from.
On my last visit I ordered the bun rieu. It was just okay and a bit bland. It didn't have the great marriage of flavors I enjoy in this dish. It wasn't served with shrimp paste.
Side items here are available such as pork rolls, quiche, meal balls, and even fried rice. We ordered the tau hu ky - tofu wrapped over shrimp paste as our appetizer. They were very nice and crisp, though they brought out and charged us for two servings even though I specifically and clearly asked for one serving. I didn't realize we had two servings because it was my first time ordering it, and it was all brought out on the same plate. I only discovered it was two servings when I got up and paid and was charged double.
I will probably be back again even though the service leaves a bit to be desired, and charging someone for something they didn't order is a bit sketchy. Will have to pay extra close attention next time. Unfortunately the service really affected the stars I gave them despite having some really incredibly delicious food.
*update*
On my last visit they didn't have something that was listed on the menu and they brought out something that I didn't order. After telling me they don't have what I ordered on the menu, she took back the dish and brought out something similar... which I again did not order. They were out of duck soup I requested instead. I gave up at this point as my dining companion was almost done eating and just left. Pay no attention to the pictures on the menu. Several of them are just the exact same picture with different dish numbers in front of them and is not the dish at all. Ugh. read more