Saigon Soul is an effortless 4.2 for me.
Gosh, I wish this was our local Vietnamese restaurant. It's a cute understated place with adorable food. It doesn't have stereotypical Asian decor, instead going for an engagingly quirky look that screams comfort and warmth rather than style. It's quite a sizeable place with a decent back area and we liked it very much. Today we chose prawn dumplings which were soft, flavoursome and lovely and very well made. This was our first introduction to the subtle spicing and seasoning in the dishes here. The dishes don't hit you between the eyes but rather creep up on you. The duck spring rolls were in the same style. Lovely and crispy with great filling and with that subtle flavouring that was by now really beginning to intrigue me. As if the entrees weren't good enough, the mains really hit the heights. The excellent East meets West dish consists of beautifully tender and flavoured grilled chicken. It's a really lovely dish with chilli, garlic, lemongrass and coleslaw topped with mixed herbs. I could eat chicken this good any time. Our dish of the meal though was Week to Week, which is a steamed barramundi fillet - a huge one at that - with caramel, soy, fish sauce and garlic topped with cilantro and pepper. This dish is off the charts good. The barramundi fillet was huge and just magnificently cooked. The flesh just fell away but was still full of abundant moisture. The spicing and seasoning again here was masterful. Delicate and understated yet lovely enough to leave that wonderful residual warmth on the lips. We adored this dish which is one of the world's great food steals for $19.
We had a wonderful meal here. With places like Saigon Soul in Ascot Vale, Cochin in Richmond and Tien Day in Box Hill I'm pretty much convinced that the best Vietnamese food is off Victoria Street these days. We'd like to thank Thien for the kind invitation to dine here. Could you give higher praise than wanting Saigon Soul to be your local. read more