Downtown Hayward was not a place I thought about much until I saw a recent episode of "Check, Please! Bay Area" where a Vietnamese restaurant was praised by the guests. The video segment got to me because owner Alice Nguyen was recounting her own story as a Vietnamese refugee raised in France and how she learned how to master patisserie at the same time she was learning her own cuisine. She also admitted she comes to the restaurant at 5AM and doesn't leave until 11PM. That's dedication.
I saw evidence of her unwavering diligence when I paid the restaurant a late afternoon visit on a weekday. Unfortunately, rush hour traffic was especially horrendous as I later found out a street festival was happening at the same time. I tucked into the last open spot in a parking structure and dodged speeding cars to come over. Alice looked to be the only one working at the front of the restaurant, so I sat at one of the small tables next to the window. She came by right away with a menu and some ice water. The menu was quite comprehensive and took a while for a first-timer to review.
At the same time, I glanced over at the extensive display case that housed all her patisserie. I made a mental note to browse it when I was done with my meal. Speaking of which, I ordered one of the House Special Dishes, the $16.95 Vietnamese Crepe with Chicken and Shrimp where they made a large envelope of a crepe made of rice flour, crisped it on a grill, and stuffed it with bean sprouts and white onions as well as sautéed chicken and shrimp. It came with lettuce leaves, cucumber slices, and pickled carrots, but it was a bit awkward to turn the crepe into finger food (photo: https://bit.ly/3CEXkC2).
Bottom line, the ingredients were right although the crepe was a tad too oily for my taste. Of course I ended up buying some of her baked goods to take home. The $2.75 Ginger Bread Boy was a nice holiday treat considering it wasn't the holidays. A generous size with a nice crisp and gratefully no sugary icing (photo: https://bit.ly/3AxIRov). The $2.50 Coconut Meringue was masterfully made and another generous portion (photo: https://bit.ly/3R0xMmY). The scene stealer, however, might have been the $2.75 Palmier Cookie (photo https://bit.ly/3AUJz0E).
They managed to make the laminated puff pastry crispy and quite substantial. Amazingly I found myself passing by Hayward a week later, so I thought I'd try one of the pho bowls that the "Check, Please!" crew raved about, I was tempted by the seafood selection but decided on the $13.75 Boneless Chicken Egg Noodle with Pork Wonton (photo: https://bit.ly/3crcOih). Green onion, fried onions, bean sprouts, jalapeños, and cilantro were added to the bowl. I was surprised there weren't that many wonton, and the broth was lighter than I was hoping given that chicken was the main ingredient. Of course I got a mocha meringue to go. Oh yes, I'll be back.
FOOD - 4 stars...the patisserie is 5 stars, the crepe and pho were contenders but not quite at the same level
AMBIANCE - 3.5 stars...a big open room but not really cozy
SERVICE - 4.5 stars...Alice works hard, she deserves more help in front
TOTAL - 4 stars...now I know where Downtown Hayward is
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