Tuesday, December 22, 2009

#10 Minh Tan II (190-192 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Penny, Andrew Be, Craig, Mike

Chopstick Chowdown Challenge took a step towards international fame with a couple of English visitors joining us. The venue – Minh Thanh 2 (does this mean there is a Minh Than 1 to be looking forward to?) which is described outside as Vietnamese Chinese BBQ. The restaurant spreads over 2 street numbers, the strung up roast ducks and acccompanying duck cutting master take up most of the wide front window. A narrow entrance opens out into a spacious area, characterised by the yellow outside and cream inside. This is contrasted by the blue light panels on one wall which give it a slight nightclub feel.

By the door there is a display cabinet where you can purchase fluffy pork buns and various desserts. Andrew is eyeing these off. To my right is the mandatory plasma screen. Here we have a twist – the plasma screen advertises menu items with accompanying photos, including some of the more unique items such as chicken feet and peking duck (which according to the photo is a whole duck, head inclusive).

I can see the duck cutting master at work and am about to draw everyone’s attention to his artistry when he picks up a duck and using a giant cleaver, with one rapid motion slices it through the middle letting liquid and innards flow out. I only have a moment to recover as the waiter stands over me waiting for the order.

Andrew and I comment on the recurring ornaments at Asian restaurants (like the gold waving cat that is always pointed at the door to greet customers). We debate the meaning of an ornament which has one large apple and lots of little ones. There is a feeling of clutter, yet our table seems expectionally spacious.

Our English friends are looking a little pink from the day's excursion and Penny comments on her own inability to tan. "That's because we work in IT," jests Andrew.

The waiting staff stand at attention. They run a tight ship here. I don’t know if I’m speaking loudly or if they have special mind-reading abilities but as soon as I complain about the lack of condiments for my dumplings, a bottle of vinegar lands under my nose. The manager is multi-tasking, a portable phone on one ear, while barking instructions at staff and noticing everyone who enters the restaurant. He’s all over it.

Being a massive fan of dumplings I have done the rounds of dumpling restaurants (I will give Hutong Dumpling a free plug here for their excellent xiao long bao and chilli wontons). The dumplings here are more like dim sims but still quite tasty.

Number 27 is another soup of Penny's 'favourite' consistency - 'gelatinous'. It has a distinctive fishy flavour which I will attribute to the shark fin. It is not to everyone's tastes but Mike is happy to finish off the leftovers.

Again we can't stay away from the peking duck and it is excellent. The deep-fried soft shell prawns come out looking great but there is only one word to describe them...'salty'! But there is the joy of eating prawns whole and while some baulk at munching down on the head, I contend that it is the best bit. To ensure everyone is sufficiently fed, we order a pork and eggplant hotpot, which was surprising spicy, tasty and has a thick curry consistency.

Extra points go to Minh Thanh 2 for the complimentary duck salad that we try to send back. However, we shouldn't have questioned the ability of this disciplined waiter army to get our order correct, as we are politely informed it comes with the peking duck.

Our English friends give it the thumbs up and thank us for showing them a restaurant they wouldn’t have got to themselves. If you don't trust their word, then maybe the queue of people waiting for tables speaks for the quality of the food here.




Ratings
Rice paper rolls 7.8/10
Peking pork dumplings 7.6/10
#27 (sweet corn and sharkfin soup) 6.4/10
Special (deepfried soft shell prawns) 6.4/10
Peking duck 8.2/10

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

#9 Bien Bo Hue Co-Do (196 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Mark R, Andrew Bl, Andrew Be, Penny, Steph, Luke

It is our biggest turn-out at Chopstick Chowdown Challenge and Co-Do has us squeezed onto a centralised round table, which makes it difficult for the waiters to get to the other side of the restaurant. As Steph says there are many distractions here: the plasma screen (which seems to switching between the Terminator, music video clips and Vietnamese soap operas), the mirrors, the people…Probably the biggest distraction, however, is our group because I notice how quiet the restaurant is when there is a momentary lapse in our raucous conversation.

Warning bells ring when a resturant defines itself as Vietnamese-Chinese. Is it a case of when you try to be good everything, you end up being good at nothing? The menu is extensive and has all the usual suspects categorised by main ingredient. This restaurant distinguishes itself by having box of tissues on the table, assumedly as a replacement for serviettes.

Number 27 is vegetarian spring rolls, which are stuffed with corn and make me think of the corn version of the Chiko roll you used to get at fish and chips shops. The sweet chilli dipping sauce though is great, and has a real chilli kick that you don’t get very often. The rice paper rolls are not dry, which rates them above most we’ve had so far.

There are slim-pickings when it comes to specials on the wall. Duck soup is a good name for a Marx Brothers’ film but might be difficult to share in such a big group. We are left with “sugar cane prawn”. This turns out to be reconstituted prawn in batter impaled with thick, fibrous sugar cane. It is all difficult to chew and largely tasteless.

Those of us with pho experience are quite pleased with this one. The beef is remarkably tender and there is something particularly tasty about the broth. The lack of fresh chillis is compensated by a dollop of chilli jam, which satisfies me.

I’m enjoying the duck trend at Chinese restaurants so we order the “sizzling duck with plum sauce”. The duck is battered and of teeth-breaking consistency. Duck fail. Other dishes we order are coconut and lemongrass chicken (brightly yellow and creamy); the Westerner’s favourite, Mongolian beef (it didn’t taste ‘Mongolian'); and sizzling garlic scallops (the pick of the ‘sizzlers’). Someone suggests you need to bring your own fan as every sizzling dish blows steam in Luke’s face, who happens to be sitting at the only accessible place at the table.

The food takes a back seat as we dissect the rules and definitions of dating. Mark lays down the law saying “it’s not a date unless you go to the movies”, leaving us questioning how many dates we’ve actually been on. Of course it doesn’t count as date when two people already want to see the same film and decide to go together. And remember one person buys the tickets and the other the popcorn.

We learn that boys think going out for coffee is a date. Same goes for a business lunch. But what do you do when you find out half an hour in that she has a boyfriend? Downshift from witty banter to telling disgusting stories about trips away with the boys.

The company was great but the food was ordinary. However perhaps it has done its job in brining people together, as we continue to sit around long after the food is gone…waiting for the water we have asked for seven times.

(N.B. This blog does not endorse Mark Rose’s rules of dating.)


Ratings
Beef pho 6.8/10
Rice paper rolls 6.8/10
#27 (vegetarian spring rolls) 6.2/10
Special (sugar cane prawn) 3.6/10
Sizzling duck with plum sauce 6/10

Sunday, December 6, 2009

#8 Pho Dzung (210 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Emma, Sarah


The laughing cow is back. But this time it is joined by a boorish rooster. This is another specialist pho restaurant with a short menu displayed on the wall. It is in the shape of a rice bowl, as Emma observantly points out. There is also a limited list of specials tacked on the wall.

The menu does not extend to 27 and unfortunately unlucky number 13 is coagulated ox blood pho. With one bubble girl and Em flatly saying no to the addition of ox blood to her soup (coagulated or otherwise), it is rare beef pho all around.

The pho is fairly standard, nothing to write home about. Sarah is quite happy with her pho and when asked to give a rating, comments “it was overly spicy but that was my own doing”. A bit over-enthusiastic on chilli jam?

I enjoy the delicate spring rolls between mouthfuls of soup and noodles. They are thin cylinders which can be devoured in two bites.

From the specials we also get the Vietnamese broken rice. It is simply chopped up rice with a fried egg on top and pork chop and shredded pork on the side. There are few discs of cucumber around the edge of the plate. It seems to be accompanied by a small bowl of cold broth. As Sarah said, "it did its purpose"...being rice and broken...

On the night we were there Pho Dzing seemed to be attracting older white couples and families with BYO bottles of wine. Emma questions why there is pornography playing on the plasma screen. Sarah quickly corrects her that it is Michael Jackson’s Heal the World. I note that this is the second restaurant in the strip that is playing MJ video clips. Some vintage Jason Donovan follows on its heels.

Maybe next time we will try the beef pizzle pho...

Ratings
Beef pho 7.2/10
Spring rolls 7.3/10
Special (Vietnamese broken rice) 5.8/10


Pho Dzung Tan Dinh on Urbanspoon

Thursday, November 26, 2009

#7 BBQ Seafood House (5/240 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Steph, Mark R, Penny, Andrew

Am I in the twilight zone or is this place a replica of Pacific BBQ House four doors down? “Only someone who has eaten at every restaurant would make a comment like that,” says Mark in his first week of Chopstick Chowdown Challenge. The strung-up ducks in the front window are there, as is the wall covered in coloured papers with specials. But here we don’t have to wait for a table.

Even the font on the menu looks the same. I do a double take – is it the same menu? However a count down to 27 yields a different item. This week it is vegetarian corn soup, which we begin with, dividing out a small bowl between the five of us in spirit of communal eating. It immediately makes me think of Japan and the addiction that grew there with hot corn soup in a can out of a vending machine. Delicious in a snow storm in Kyoto but is unlikely to ever get a 10 out 10 in Melbourne restaurant.

Next are the plump spring rolls. I take a quick survey of the filling to notice shredded carrot, celery, cabbage and shitake mushroom amongst other ingredients. There is also the bonus of two sweet dipping sauces.

The tea tastes different and Steph suggest a hint of liquorice root. We end up working our way through quite a few pots of it.

Peking duck is becoming our backup staple at Chinese BBQ restaurants and those of us who participated in the Pacific BBQ House have problems shaking the memories of that divine peking duck. My first piece is a little thin on and a bit dry. Penny complains about her pancake falling apart, fatty duck and the lack of hoisin sauce by the time she has finished eating her spring roll with chopsticks. Still there is something about the combination of flavours and textures in peking duck that has me tasting it long after we leave the restaurant.

From the specials board we choose the deep fried oysters with special sauce and sautéed scallops with garlic stem. I love natural oysters and I’ve had Chinese fried oysters at yum cha before that left disillusioned at how the majestic oyster can be ruined. However at Seafood BBQ House the deep fried oysters are a pleasant surprise. Very tender (some suggesting they taste more like scallops than oysters) they had a mild flavour of the sea inside a perfectly fried shell with a touch of gently sweet sauce. Plus at $19 a dozen, a bargain. So good in fact that all five of us did ‘scissors, paper, rock’ over who got the last two.

The scallops come amongst a pile of green stalks that none of us had had before. The garlic stem was like a cross between spring onion and the stalks of Chinese broccoli. A subtle taste of garlic plus a sprinkling of carrot, mushroom and baby sweet corn in the dish. The scallops were perfectly cooked with a touch of sweetness.

We supplement all this with fried rice, which comes with unexpected pile of prawns on top (prawns, not shrimp) and has a great smoky flavour to it. I suppose it should in a BBQ restaurant... Though I find myself looking around for soy sauce and am suddenly struck the complete lack of condiments on the table.

By the time we have finished the restaurant is full. Maybe people are later eaters at BBQ Seafood House. The similarities with Pacific BBQ House are inescapable however lack of divine peking duck aside, I found BBQ Seafood House more even across the board and felt sated. Penny was just happy that nothing was gelatinous.

Ratings
Spring rolls 7.4/10
#27 (vegetarian corn soup) 7/10
Peking duck 7.2/10
Special (deep fried oyster with special sauce) 8.6/10
Special (sautéed scallops with garlic stem) 7/10

Average cost per person: $20

Sunday, November 22, 2009

#6 Thanh Phong (7/240 Victoria Street)

Attendees: Beata, Steph, Imogene

A heat wave has hit Melbourne. On a balmy evening it is perfect weather for a Vietnamese feast. After two weeks of Chinese restaurants, I am missing pho. At 7/240 we have another non-descript establishment with laminated tables (brown this time) and hard chairs.

For some reason this week turns into speed Chopstick Chowdown Challenge. We are in and out of there with full bellies in all of 20 minutes. Hello food, nice to meet you, you’re lookin’ alright this evening, let me devour you…next!

Everyone seems to be ordering Vietnamese pancakes and it is listed under the house specialities so we go with it. A crisp yellow pancake is folded over a mish-mash of chopped up seafood and loads of bean shoots giving it a crunchy texture. There is nothing holding it together and I feel like it could have benefited with some sauce. We make good use of the condiments to add flavour.

In order to cover our bases we get the dim sims off the specials board and they go alright with their crispy fried outsides.

Number 27 is broken rice with shredded pork and pork chop. I have my doubts about this but it is actually pretty good. The broken rice has a certain charm to it and the pork chop is lean, not too dry and has a Vietnamese flavour to it (is that a hint of lemongrass I can taste?).

The pho is pretty standard but lacks the chopped red chilli which usually accompanies it. Instead we have a massive pile of lettuce and bean shoots, which everyone seems to be getting no matter what they order.

I don’t know if it something in the food or the hot weather but we all nearly lose it in fits of laughter when Imogene tries to use a small pile of rice as a serviette. Imogene laughs so hard she is hyper-ventilating, which just makes us laugh harder. Can it also account for Imogene’s comment “I’m thirsty, I’m going to chew on this”, as she picks up a piece of iceberg lettuce?

Inoffensive, nothing outstanding but on the whole tasty. As Steph says at the end, “I feel this is very much a 7 restaurant” and I totally agree.

Ratings
Rice paper rolls 7.5/10
Beef pho 6.5/10
#27 (Broken rice with shredded pork and pork chop) 6.5/10
Daily special (Fried dim sims) 6.8/10
Vietnamese pancake with seafood 7/10

Thanh Phong on Urbanspoon

Sunday, November 8, 2009

#5 Pacific BBQ Seafood House (8/240 Victoria Street)



Attendees: Beata, Emma, Penny, Andrew

For the first time in the Chopstick Chowdown Challenge there is no room in the inn. Twenty minutes is given as the approximated time and we decide to wait. This place is obviously popular so the food must be good. Pacific BBQ Seafood House is one of those places where the front window is a graveyard for BBQ ducks and pork strung up on hooks. Tantalising. As we loiter out the front we can watch the chef with a cleaver chopping up whole ducks at such as speed that we worry about his fingertips.

People are crowded just inside in the doorway, waiting for both table and take-away food. Andrew goes inside to check on our table and is convinced a family has swooped in on our table while his back was turned. The waiter tries to move them but they are refusing. It’s a dog eat dog world when it comes to getting tables at Pacific House.

Never fear, within two minutes there is a table for us. When I say a table, I mean part of a table because everything is jammed-packed in here but it adds to the communal eating atmosphere.

I am dazzled by the fluoro signs covering the walls like a grand collection of flags. On these flags in black marker are both Chinese and English characters announcing different dishes.

As soon as we sit down small bowls of soup are placed before us. Excellent…we have food before we even have a menu! Getting a menu (or the waiting staff’s attention) is a little more difficult.

In the meantime I watch the folks around us, the vast majority of whom are of Asian descent. As a large bowl of saucy BBQed squares (pork? tofu?) lands on the table beside us, a granny attacks it with gusto, making swift movements with her chopsticks. She can’t get the garnish off quickly enough, lest it contaminated the food (assumedly).

There are no dumplings on the menu so we substitute spring rolls. They are crispy and plump and come with bright red dipping sauce. No complaints there. Number 27 (as a count down the menu ascertains) is vegetarian san choi bow. It has a pleasant BBQ flavour to it but as Penny says “it is missing something.” “Meat?” suggests Andrew. Alas there is no bacon in the steamed rice either.

As the girl next to me says, the Peking duck is “divine”. Succulent slivers of duck and spring onion in thin floury pancakes with a tangy hoisin sauce. Top stuff!

Off the wall we choose king prawn with king oyster mushrooms. Although the prawns are juicy, the gelatinous sauce lacks flavour and the wafer thin slices of mushroom may as well be tofu. Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce at $16 a serving is outrageous, especially as it is hard and stalky and the oyster sauce had slid off into wateriness.

I think this is one of those restaurants where you need to point to the table next to you and say “we’ll have one of those” because whatever the regulars were ordering looked the best. Or just stick to anything barbequed (like the delicious duck that beckons from the front window) as the restaurant’s name suggests.


Ratings
Spring rolls 7.6/10
Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce 5.1/10
# 27 (vegetarian san choi bow) 7.1/10
Daily special (King prawns with king oyster mushrooms) 6.3/10
Peking duck 8.8/10

Cost per person $25

Thursday, October 29, 2009

#4 Rice@Richmond (10/242 Victoria St)

Attendees: Steph, Beata, Imogene

(Disclaimer: Two-third of this week's contingent may have been intoxicated after spending the day at a winery festival, therefore take no responsibility for judgements made).

It has all the ingredients of an Australian Asian restaurant. Waving gold cat statue. Check. Bamboo plant. Check. A karaoke show featuring bad ballads playing on a plasma screen (their version Unchained Melody is particularly notable). Check.

The tables and chairs are solid wood, which is a nice change. At the back of the restaurant there is a wooden "bar". Well it says bar but I cannot see any bottles of alcohol. The table behind us slowly fills up with an Asian birthday party, while we drool over the idea of food.

There some confusion when we open the menus. Where are the rice paper rolls? No pho? Oh, we’ve stumbled upon our first Chinese restaurant in Chopstick Chowdown Challenge. Time to change the standards we order.

So we order a heap of food (is this becoming a theme?) The waitress returns after a couple of minutes and suggests that we have ordered too much food for three people and asks if we’d like to cancel something. Too much food? We’ll be the judge of that! Our stomachs feel bigger than ever and we stick with our order.

Complimentary seaweed peanuts are placed on the table. Interesting. Unusual. Steph happily comments “anything salty is good”.

All the dumplings are garnished with tangles of long, long strings of carrot. “How do they get the carrot so long?” Imogene questions in amazement. We are dumpling connoisseurs and these quite good.

The waiting staff is very attentive and polite. They stand at military-like attention as we take our first bites of food and fill up our tea as soon as our cups are empty.

We discover that Imogene is our barometer for MSG. Her allergy will tell us the next day whether there is any MSG in the food by displaying red welts. I question whether it is wise for her to be participating in the ChChCh but she is says it’s fine because she can fix herself with anti-histamines. Rice @ Richmond claims to be MSG-free on the menu and the sweet and sour pork is an unusual dark yellow sauce. Aha,Imogene says, because it is the MSG that gives it the radioactive bright red colour we are accustomed to. Meanwhile Steph is pulling out phantom statistics on the rate of circumcision in Australian men.

Number 27 is a “shredded pork and noddle soup”. This is no pho and tastes rather like chicken Maggi noodle soup with added broad bean essence. But we’re embracing the saltiness tonight, right? However the Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce takes saltiness to the extreme. Have they mistaken soy sauce with oyster sauce? It is too much for even my wine soaked palate. Plus it’s more stalky than leafy.

I had my doubts about Rice@Richmond. Perhaps it was its faux ‘hipness’ for the internet savvy generation, with a name that looks like an email address, but overall the restaurant is better than expected.

Ratings
Fried pork dumplings 7.3/10
Steamed vegetable dumplings 8.3/10
Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce 5/10
#27 (Sliced pork and noodle soup) 5.6/10
Special (Sweet and sour pork) 7.3/10

Next stop...Pacific House

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

#3 Thanh Thanh (246A Victoria Street)

Attendees: Steph, Beata, Emma

Bring a box of Wet Ones here, as Thanh Thanh is finger-licking good! See if you can resist getting hands on with the perfectly cooked BBQ duck and salty soft shell crab. In a nutshell Thanh Thanh is fresh, light and deli-cious! I thought we had another case of our eyes being bigger than our stomachs but no, the food was demolished and we came close to licking the plates.

The sign out the front boasts of fast ‘take way’. Inside the display of newspaper reviews is promising. Table décor is faux marble patterned and the black chairs even have some padding. Straight off the bat, Thanh Thanh gets points for the complimentary prawn crackers, delivered upon seating.

I fear we might have been a little abrupt with the well-meaning waiter in our ravenous frenzy, frantically calling to him for entrees and tea. In retaliation he swipes away the satay skewer plate before I had time to sample one of the pineapple pieces sitting on the side.

Thus far into the challenge we are yet to encounter any great rice paper rolls. Thanh Thanh’s are a little skinny for my liking and lose points for using shrimp instead of prawn. I am, however excited about tail of chives garnish coming out of the end. Emma gives them extra points for being tightly wrapped.

The chicken satay skewers we ordered on a whim are good but more like chilli than satay.

While we wait for Emma, we check out some of the patrons. I wonder if we should start rating the eye candy in addition to the food. Unfortunately for Steph, the ginger boy she has her eye on, has his eye (and arm) on a dolled-up Asian girl.

Calmed by having devoured the entrées and with this week’s contingent complete we politely order the mains. When it comes to ordering a daily special, we use the ‘Chef’s Pick of Menu’ board. We can’t decide between the duck and crab and after some debate conclude that our collective level of hunger warrants getting both. We are glad we did.

The soft shell crab is outstanding, accompanied by a salty, peppery, lemony dipping sauce. It is lightly fried – just crunchy enough for texture but nothing hard about it and melts in your mouth. The duck has a crispy maroon skin and a side of light plum sauce. Some bits are better than others but as we are all big fans of duck, it is very enjoyable.

Number 27 this week is quoted on the menu as “rare beef with lemond sauce”. This turns out to be a cold salad, prettily presented – a stack of julienne greens and thin piece of seared beef encircled by prawn crackers. It gets the thumbs up as it is both tasty and light.

The man who presents us with the pho says something incomprehensible. I stare at him then say “pho?” He replies and again I say “pho”. He says “ah you speak Vietnamese!” We banter as I laughingly admit “pho” is the extent of my Vietnamese conversational skills.

Speaking of pho, it is excellent. Emma comments that she doesn’t usually order pho but would order this. The only complaint is a slight lack of generosity with the meat. The broth is viscous and the noodles are perfectly cooked – slippery and melt in your mouth.

I am left with sticky hands, using my sticky spoon to scoop out the last bits of pho broth. Two entrees and four main sounds like a lot of food for three people but it has been demolished. It is a testament to the food that it is all gone and we are left feeling sated but without any bloated feeling. Plus we are given juicy wedges of orange to wrap up the meal. We wave goodbye to the three-different-sized-pigs at the back counter and leave to dream of crispy soft shell crab.

Ratings
Rice Paper Rolls (Pork and Prawn) 6.3/10
Beef Pho 7.8/10
#27 (Rare beef with lemond sauce) 8.2/10
Daily Special (Crispy soft shell crab with salted pepper) 8.3/10
Daily Special (BBQ duck with plum sauce) 7.3/10

Thanh Phong on Urbanspoon

Monday, October 12, 2009

#2 Little Saigon Pho (258B Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Steph, Penny, Andrew, Luke

A glowing red sign welcomes us to Little Saigon. The cityscape outline on the sign looks vaguely European but never mind. Inside the restaurant has a glossy veneer, right down to the extensive menu with over 150 items. Soups, entrees, chicken, beef, seafood…any which way you want it, you can probably find it here. Mongolian beef? I am starting to doubt Little Saigon’s authenticity.

I am intrigued by the table setting. A spoon and green chopsticks form a cross on a red serviette. A meeting of East and West? Some sort of feng shui? Am I supposed to be thinking about Christmas? I don’t know if it is the feng shui or my hangover but my bowl keeps ending up on one side of me.

We are asked if we want ice with our soft drink. Steph and I both have a moment where our minds panic about ordering ice in an Asian country. Hang on we’re still in Melbourne.

The waiter (manager?) is at best suggestive, at worst pushy. He shows us the daily specials and recommends the san choi bao and dumplings, his logic being that they had been approved by a table of young white girls behind us. Does our appearance scream ‘give us bastardised Asian food’? At another point he tries to talk us into drinks. Yes a coke is just what I needed. Wine? Mmm wine, muses Luke, slowly bending to the power of suggestion but is quickly shut down by the rest of the table.

The sparkling plasma screen is distracting. An Asian version of ‘Celebrity Dancing’ is soon replaced by Michael Jackson music videos. I find myself mesmerised by the scale and theatricality of these mini films and start pondering the role MJ has played in the evolution of contemporary music culture. Hmmm but back to the food…

Number 27 this week is crab meat and asparagus soup. There is one word that screams to mind when tasting this soup: gelatinous. It is very crabby. So crabby in fact that Penny deducts half a point for the crab shell she finds. The asparagus is surprisingly white and suggests tinned product.

The rice paper rolls are dry and even with the satay dipping sauce, difficult to swallow. Andrew is unfazed, announcing he is “a sucker for prawns” and happy gives them a high rating for the juicy prawns inside.

Our daily special choice (yes ironically the dumplings) are flavoursome. They are oddly triangular, reminiscent of wontons. Apparently fried, means deep fried, unlike the plump Chinese pot-stickers we are used to but the steamed ones have a delicate pastry and succulent filling.

The pho is good but the other mains we order are rather unmemorable, unlike the spelling mistake. ‘Sizzling chicken with honny and black pepper’, anyone?

We are stuffed, piles of dirty plates lay in front of us, the feng shui is all out. Why are we still talking about food? Buffalo wings, double fried chicken, prawns, curries. Luke is trying to unload a George Foreman grill and breadmaker. Penny starts clearing the space in front of her, unable to take the mocking scraps of food any longer. It’s a sign that it’s time to bust a move but not before playing with the mystical, smoking fountain at the door.

Ratings
Beef Pho 7/10
Pork and prawn rice paper rolls 5.8/10
#27 (Crab meat and asparagus soup) 6.2/10
Daily special (Pork and prawn dumplings) 7.1/10

Average per person: $18

Little Saigon on Urbanspoon

Monday, October 5, 2009

#1 Pho Thu The (270 Victoria St)

The first stop is just what you’d expect from a Victoria Street restaurant. Inconspicuous from street level, small in size, your standard easy -to-wipe-down tables and hard chairs. But the condiments…wow condiments galore! Brown sauce, red sauce, fish sauce, chopped up chillies, a mysterious jar of chilli jam and what is in here…sugar? It smells good too.

Up the back there is a bright sign across the back that looks like it hasn’t been updated since the 80s when fluoro was all the rage. There’s a red laughing cow (just like the one from the laughing cow cheese). I’m not sure that cow would be laughing if it knew its innards were going to end up in our soup. There’s an empty fish tank. Luckily there is no seafood on the menu.

The menu is on the wall. We encounter our first crisis. There is no number 27 on the menu. I question the waiter, “is that your whole menu?” “Yes we specialise in pho”, he replies and also points me to three specials on a laminated A4 sheet next to our heads. With some quick thinking we make a new rule: “If there is no number 27 we will order unlucky 13 (unlucky not to have 27)”. A brief sigh of relief as the challenge is back on track.

By the time Imogene arrives when have hit the stage of hunger where it feels like your body is eating itself. The jolly waiter had tried to take our order twice and now we can’t get his attention. Steph admits she had Asian soup for lunch (“I panicked in the Chinese shop…I didn’t know what to get!”).

When the meal comes out there is some confusion about the extra bowl of soup. Is it number 13? We question the non-English speaking server “13? Chicken giblets and livers?” We cannot compromise the integrity of the challenge. Our waiter comes over to help sort it out.

The pho goes down well, the broth is tangy and the meat is tender. As Steph says “they should do pho well as that’s what they do!” It’s not the best I’ve had but it’s pretty good. We ruminate that we may need some more experience in pho to truly judge. Never fear, there is plenty of that to come!





Next the giblets and livers. I am slightly overwhelmed by the richness of the liver and have to wash it down with tea. Steph takes two chews of a giblet and reaches for a serviette. “I felt like I was chewing on a ear,” she comments. Imogene happily chews and swallows her giblet saying “it’s ok, a bit like shithouse calamari.” Offal makes good broth though.

The Hanoi chicken soup (from the specials) is also tasty. The spring rolls are of the average variety but come with plentiful lettuce and a decent dipping sauce.

So as we sit there full of soup discussing hissing possums, testosterone and how everyone has gone a little crazy in this modern mixed up world, we conclude stage one of the Chopstick Chowdown Challenge has been a success.

Ratings
Special beef pho 7.2/10
Pork spring rolls 5/10
Special (Mien Ga Hanoi - Traditional Vietnamese chicken soup with vermicelli noodles, Hanoi style) 6.6/10
Number 13 (Chicken giblet and liver pho) 5.7/10

Cost per person: $13

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Introducing the Challenge

Victoria Street is Melbourne’s Little Vietnam. It is an ever changing landscape of eclectic restaurants, grocery stores and various other services all with lots of Vietnamese characters. At its busiest it is a bustling, lively community. At its quietest it is mishmash of darkened, dusty shop fronts and roller doors.

The challenge is to eat at every Asian restaurant along the strip. Along the way we hope to discover the best (and worst) eateries, as well as broadening our culinary tastes. And it’s something to do on often idle Sunday nights.

Like any good experiment we have set down the parameters:

1. We will eat at every Asian restaurant on Victoria Street between Church Street and Hoddle Road (once a week for however long it takes)

2. We will begin from east to west on the south side and return west to east on the north side, bringing our culinary journey full circle.

3. At each restaurant we will order the following:
i) The designated standards (depending on the cuisine)
ii) One of the daily specials
iii) Number 27 on the menu

4. The standards are:
Vietnamese: rice paper rolls (or spring rolls) and beef pho
Thai: satay skewers and prawn green curry
Chinese: xiao long bao, fried pork dumplings, vegetable dumplings and greens with oyster sauce

5. Everyone must sample each of the dishes ordered

6. Each attendee will rate each of the dishes and an average rating out of 10 will be determined

We can’t take full credit for this. Our inspiration comes from an article in The Age’s Epicure.

Now you might think we are some sort of aficionados of Vietnamese food. Why else do this? Because it’s there. Because we like a challenge and doing things in excess! Let the culinary journey begin...