I found myself in Malmo and craving Vietnamese food. To my surprise, there are multiple options for Vietnamese in Malmo, but Nam Đô (Southern City in Vietnamese) stood out to me. When I arrived, I was charmed by the ambiance but disappointed to be told that they couldn't serve me because they were booked and I didn't make a reservation in advance.
However, the greeter asked me how quickly I could eat. I was dining alone, so pretty quick. She decided to seat me at a long table, set to serve a party of eight or so, by myself. I promised to finish within 30 minutes before the party arrived.
I sat down a looked around. The decorations were charming, and did in fact make me feel like I was in Việt Nam. The walls had fake window covers in the colonial French style. There was a small cart straight from Việt Nam in the center of the restaurant, from which a street vendor might sell handmade foods. And at the entrance wall there is a life-sized poster of a busy street with motorbikes in Sài Gòn, with frantic electrical lines haphazardly strung across the sky. And indeed, above the restaurant there were "electrical lines" randomly strung throughout the restaurant, to make you feel like you're living inside the poster. Very nice touches.
Alas, this sensation and the kindness of my greeter were the highlight of my experience. For someone who sat me down on the promise that I had to eat quickly, they kept me sitting there with the menu for quite a long time. I ordered an appetizer and a classic Vietnamese dish of Vermicelli, grilled pork, and eggrolls. The appetizer was not what I expected it to be. I read it from the Vietnamese in the menu and even accounting for regional differences in dialect, I was pretty confused by what I got. Maybe I was tired from traveling so I won't count that against them. The appetizer was fine although I would have called it something different and had I known this was what I was ordering, I wouldn't have bought it. As for the main dish, the fish sauce was very authentic and delicious. The pork and the vermicelli were good. There were even picked carrots that were delicious. All was great, except that the eggrolls with this particular dish were of the Chinese sort, with cabbage inside, which was not the right sort of thing to go with this dish or to go with fish sauce. The sort of eggroll in this dish was the kind that goes with sweet and sour sauce.
I can't believe someone would serve Chinese egg rolls in this particular Vietnamese dish -- they are two completely different things -- and made me question the judgement of the chef. I had gotten off a 12 hour flight and took a 45 minute train to get here. I was craving a specific thing, and I felt tricked by what I got.
Kind staff. Great decor. Food is decent but ultimately disappointing. read more