Thanh Nga Nine is a cheerful place. Last time we walked past it on a warm summer night it was bustling with its front window open and looked like the sort of place where Vietnamese food meets a bar. The décor is colourful and despite it being over a week into January, the Christmas spirit it still here.
The bar is loaded up with a variety of bottles (plus the innocuous giant plastic lettuce) and has some day-glow signs. There's plenty of noise from ice-crushing machine and a colourful concoction in a tall glass topped with crushed ice keeps being ferried out. There is a back section partly partitioned off and past the feasting families you can see into the kitchen. The front sig
n advertises a free function room and karaoke but on this night there is no sign of tipsy tone-deaf Bon Jovi wanna-bes.
The menu thanks you for supporting ‘our family dishes’ and has pictures of the house specialities. There are so many sections of specials on the menu (vegetarian, thanh nga, chef's...) we feel slightly overwhelmed. We pick our special from the first page of house specialities and the rice paper rolls from traditional Vietnamese dishes.
First out is number 27 – vermicelli with shredded pork and spring rolls. “This is like make your own salad,” Steph comments. In a big bowl are mounds of noodles and bean sprouts, topped with halved spring rolls, slivers of pork and cucumber, crushed peantus and sprigs of mint. Vietnamese food done well is crisp and refreshing and so this dish is, especially with some spicy sweet chilli dipping sauce poured over the top.
The pho is disappointing. While the broth is OK it is nothing special and the beef looks grey. The pho loses major points for the chewy and at times grisly meat.
For the special we feel we should get something prawn related as there are prawns in all the newspaper snippets on the door. We stick with the safe option getting the chilli prawns over the mushrooms stuffed with prawns. Plentiful sweet and spicy sauce with array of vegetables, though we are not too impressed with the presence of common supermarket button mushrooms.
The rice paper rolls come out last. Steph describes them as a “taste sensation” and indeed there are many layers of flavours and textures. From first appearance it looks like pepperoni pizza in rice paper. Inside there is vermicelli, bean sprout, egg omelette, thin slices of Chinese sausage and surprisingly crunchy peanuts. We debate whether the minute golden bits are tiny dehydrated shrimp or fried onion. I rate this highly for its imaginative combination of ingredients.
n advertises a free function room and karaoke but on this night there is no sign of tipsy tone-deaf Bon Jovi wanna-bes.The menu thanks you for supporting ‘our family dishes’ and has pictures of the house specialities. There are so many sections of specials on the menu (vegetarian, thanh nga, chef's...) we feel slightly overwhelmed. We pick our special from the first page of house specialities and the rice paper rolls from traditional Vietnamese dishes.
First out is number 27 – vermicelli with shredded pork and spring rolls. “This is like make your own salad,” Steph comments. In a big bowl are mounds of noodles and bean sprouts, topped with halved spring rolls, slivers of pork and cucumber, crushed peantus and sprigs of mint. Vietnamese food done well is crisp and refreshing and so this dish is, especially with some spicy sweet chilli dipping sauce poured over the top.
The pho is disappointing. While the broth is OK it is nothing special and the beef looks grey. The pho loses major points for the chewy and at times grisly meat.
For the special we feel we should get something prawn related as there are prawns in all the newspaper snippets on the door. We stick with the safe option getting the chilli prawns over the mushrooms stuffed with prawns. Plentiful sweet and spicy sauce with array of vegetables, though we are not too impressed with the presence of common supermarket button mushrooms.
The rice paper rolls come out last. Steph describes them as a “taste sensation” and indeed there are many layers of flavours and textures. From first appearance it looks like pepperoni pizza in rice paper. Inside there is vermicelli, bean sprout, egg omelette, thin slices of Chinese sausage and surprisingly crunchy peanuts. We debate whether the minute golden bits are tiny dehydrated shrimp or fried onion. I rate this highly for its imaginative combination of ingredients.
I like the atmosphere at Thanh Nga Nine and it is busy. When we pay the bill, the waiter cheerfully asks us if we enjoyed our meal. Sure.
Ratings
Beef pho 5.3/10
Rice paper rolls with Chinese sausage 8.3/10
#27 (Vermicelli with spring rolls and shredded pork) 7.3/10
House speciality (Chilli prawns) 6.5/10
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