Sunday, February 14, 2010

#16 Bien Hoa (140 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Steph, Imogene, Duncan, Sabine

Chopstick Chowdown Challenge continues its journey towards international renown with German and Sydney visitors to this week’s round. We are proud to have presented the first taste of Vitenamese for German Sabine. Conveniently timed for her as she is due to fly out to South East Asia in a few days to sample some of this food on its home soil. "ChChCh...expanding people's gastronomical horizons!"

With some delays in the visitors finding Vietnam town (if you you think the restaurant is in a hospital you're in the wrong place), Steph and I wait at a front table by the pleasantly open window. It smells good, the menu is colourful and number 27 is duck. Excellent!

The rules of the challenge are explained to the newcomers. Our order has pretty much been decided but we allow the visitors the liberty of choosing the daily special and an additional main. After I order Duncan questions, “did we just order enough to feed a small army?”

I feel something is missing. Although we have been offered two bottles of water there is no tea. This is the first place during the Challenge where there is a lack of tea and I miss it. Points deducted for that!

The dishes come out slowly. First the rice paper rolls. These are rather soft and juicy but as Duncan points out, perhaps it is the sauce that is the best part. Next out is the rare beef with lemon.

From experience we know this is a cold salad and it has become a favourite. Bien Hoa’s version is delicious with morsels of pinkish beef and a refreshing combination of raw cucumber, celery, carrot, spanish onion, mint, chillies and crushed peanuts. A spicy sweet chilli sauce accompanies. The dish comes adorned with crunchy prawn crackers that have cracked paper baked into them which works well. Mmm-mm!

Our waiter is more than attentive. As I cut the rice paper rolls with a spoon, a knife surreptitiously appears on the table. So covert is the waiter's operation that when Duncan finds himself holding a knife he is puzzled, "why do I have a knife?" A few minutes later when Duncan drops his chopstick, the waiter has materialised beside him holding a clean one. As we have a laugh about his proficiency, he informs us with a omnious smile that he is watching us and motions to his eyes.

With our ever viglant waiter hovering and the appearance of food ceased, we wonder if he is waiting for us to finish the salad before the next dish comes out. We finish it just in case. I’m starting to wonder if the pho is going to be dessert but suddenly the rest of the food comes in a sizzling flurry along with mountains of rice. Did they intepret 2 serves of rice to mean 2 serves per person?

The pho is lacking a bit of tang and is low on noodles but comes with all the extras including chopped chilli and lemon, which some of the other places have been missing.

Although I can't describe the duck as either hard or chewy, I find it on the ordinary side, lacking flavour. The green chicken curry has a nice sauce with just the right amount of hotness but lacks variety in the veggies included. The sizzling scallops with garlic and ginger, however come with a host of vegetables and delicate scallops in a light sauce.

For me Bien Hoa was marked by an interplay of the things lacking and the things added. The rare beef salad a cornucopian highlight and the pho a disappointment. For the record we did over-cater and that hungry small army would have come in handy at the end. Overall a pretty good way to spend Valentine's Day night.


Ratings
Rice paper rolls (pork and prawn) 7/10
Beef pho 5.7/10
#27 (duck with peking sauce) 7/10
Daily special (green curry chicken) 6.9/10
Rare beef with lemon 8.5/10
Sizzling scallops with garlic and ginger 7.5/10



Bien Hoa Restaurant on Urbanspoon

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