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
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