My first food blog
Saigon Cafe
In a fit of boredom I deceided to drag a friend of mine out to eat pho . It didn't take much; just a bit of whining and bribery. (Cause I'm good like that -_^)
I started out the night with Vietnamese iced coffee which is one of my favorite ways to drink coffee. Coffee was introduced to Vietnam by the French so needless to say it is NOT your typical American weak brew. No, it is pure espresso served in a French press that is suspended over a collins glass with a separate glass of ice. What makes this drink so unique is the thick layer of sweetened condensed milk that lies in the bottom of the glass. So when your press is done dripping you grab a spoon, stir, and pour the mixed coffee over ice. What you get is a sweet, creamy, and strong iced coffee drink. Nummy!
Next we each had an appetizer so we could share. I had the pork and shrimp spring rolls and my friend ordered the egg rolls. Spring rolls are similar to egg roll, but are not fried. The rice paper wrapper is generally rolled around thin noodles, lettuce leaves, mint, bean sprouts, shrimp, and in this case pork slices, served cold. The dipping sauce, quite unique to Vietnamese cuisine, is a mixture of sugar, vinegar, chilies, and grated carrots. The spring roll was good, but it didn't have the mint or bean sprouts tucked in like I'm used to. The egg rolls were well seasoned but the pork was still a bit raw.
I had the Hu Tieu Mi and my friend had the Pho Saigon. My dish was good. It is a similar noodle dish to pho only its made with both egg noodles and rice noodles, then topped with Chinese bbq pork and seafood instead of beef. This soup is made to be a meal and trust me there is plenty of food. All the noodle soups are served with a plate of bean sprouts, basil leaves, sliced chilies, and pieces of lime. There are always condiments such as Siracha sauce, soy sauce, and hoisin sauce at the table. This way you can garnish and season your soup to your taste. My only complaint is that the broth at first was a bit sweet, but a squeeze of lime and a squirt of Siracha sauce solved that. My friend says her broth was a bit bland but the meat and meatballs were good. Both had plenty of noodles to slurp up. In fact, neither of us could finish our bowls.
Service was quick and friendly. Be sure to tell the staff you want your appetizer first so they can hold off on making the soup. It's a very quick meal to put together so it came out when we were still trying to finish our appetizers. Was it the best pho/mi I've ever had? Well, no. But the restaurant is in a good location, close by, and they make a pretty good bowl of noodle soup. I'll probably be back in a month or so.
Food: 7/10
Service 8/10
Price: Cheap and filling.
Authenticity: Missing a few ingredients but all in all pretty close to what I'm used to back home.
In a fit of boredom I deceided to drag a friend of mine out to eat pho . It didn't take much; just a bit of whining and bribery. (Cause I'm good like that -_^)
I started out the night with Vietnamese iced coffee which is one of my favorite ways to drink coffee. Coffee was introduced to Vietnam by the French so needless to say it is NOT your typical American weak brew. No, it is pure espresso served in a French press that is suspended over a collins glass with a separate glass of ice. What makes this drink so unique is the thick layer of sweetened condensed milk that lies in the bottom of the glass. So when your press is done dripping you grab a spoon, stir, and pour the mixed coffee over ice. What you get is a sweet, creamy, and strong iced coffee drink. Nummy!
Next we each had an appetizer so we could share. I had the pork and shrimp spring rolls and my friend ordered the egg rolls. Spring rolls are similar to egg roll, but are not fried. The rice paper wrapper is generally rolled around thin noodles, lettuce leaves, mint, bean sprouts, shrimp, and in this case pork slices, served cold. The dipping sauce, quite unique to Vietnamese cuisine, is a mixture of sugar, vinegar, chilies, and grated carrots. The spring roll was good, but it didn't have the mint or bean sprouts tucked in like I'm used to. The egg rolls were well seasoned but the pork was still a bit raw.
I had the Hu Tieu Mi and my friend had the Pho Saigon. My dish was good. It is a similar noodle dish to pho only its made with both egg noodles and rice noodles, then topped with Chinese bbq pork and seafood instead of beef. This soup is made to be a meal and trust me there is plenty of food. All the noodle soups are served with a plate of bean sprouts, basil leaves, sliced chilies, and pieces of lime. There are always condiments such as Siracha sauce, soy sauce, and hoisin sauce at the table. This way you can garnish and season your soup to your taste. My only complaint is that the broth at first was a bit sweet, but a squeeze of lime and a squirt of Siracha sauce solved that. My friend says her broth was a bit bland but the meat and meatballs were good. Both had plenty of noodles to slurp up. In fact, neither of us could finish our bowls.
Service was quick and friendly. Be sure to tell the staff you want your appetizer first so they can hold off on making the soup. It's a very quick meal to put together so it came out when we were still trying to finish our appetizers. Was it the best pho/mi I've ever had? Well, no. But the restaurant is in a good location, close by, and they make a pretty good bowl of noodle soup. I'll probably be back in a month or so.
Food: 7/10
Service 8/10
Price: Cheap and filling.
Authenticity: Missing a few ingredients but all in all pretty close to what I'm used to back home.
posted by OnigiriFB at 11:13 PM
1 Comments:
Ooh, you are making me hungry! I could really go for some Vietnamese iced coffee.
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