I have fond memories of large group banquets upstairs at Minh Minh after a day at the MCG with plate after plate of delicious dishes coming out. It’s certainly a popular restaurant with Westerners and as I looked around on the night we go (coincidentally Mother’s Day) there is nigh an Asian face in sight.After experiencing so many delightful, little, authentic Vietnamese eatiers, I am now a little skeptical coming into Minh Minh. Serving Vietnamese, Thai and Lao are they spreading themselves a bit thin?
To attract the Westerners some effort has been put into the décor. The black tables contrast with the oranges walls. Traditional musical instruments and colourful material squares are arranged on the wall. There is no plasma for distractions. Tea is charged at $1.00 per head, which seems a tad fascist after the cornucopia of free tea we have been experiencing. As is the sign about dinner sitting times on busy nights and recommendations to order the banquet. However, the service is spot on the night we go.
We choose a mixed selection of spring rolls but neither taste nor look can tell them apart. Whatever the mush inside it, they are quite tasty. The rice paper rolls have a generous filling of prawns and pork with a good sauce.
Number 27 is egg noodle soup with wontons. A wheel of bbq pork with chopped spring onions and fried onion adorns the top, hiding a mass of thin egg noodles. The broth has sweetness to it which I find quite intoxicating. Even sweeter are the pork wontons themselves.A handwritten scribble announces today’s specials and we take a plunge on the third one. Stewed rat beef? We can’t decipher it. When the waiter confirms our order, it still sounds like rat beef. More likely ‘red’ beef, though. It comes out in a rich mahogany soup with tender slices of beef and chunks of carrot on top of another lot of thin egg noodles.
It makes me think of rendang. Penny comments that it tastes like “Indian with thai…Indian-Thai”. Craig just says it’s “gorgeous”. The kitchen must have been excited about us ordering the dish as an Asian lady comes out offering us “beautiful” bread to soak up the sauce. It’s got a good kick to it and a unique flavour that makes it the hit of the night.
I remember having enjoyed Minh Minh’s duck last time I was there and noticing another specials board we go for the Mongolian duck. It comes out on a sizzling plate with lean piece of duck slightly charred. I’m not entirely sure Mongolian sauce and duck are the ideal combination and the flavours are pretty standard.
I can see why Minh Minh is popular as the dishes are overall tasty. Best of all Minh Minh serves up another culinary treat in the rat(red) beef thanks to the ChChCh formula.
Ratings
Rice paper rolls (pork and prawn) 6.8/10
Spring rolls 7.2/10
#27 (Egg noodle soup with wontons) 7.5/10
Today's special (stewed red beef) 8.7/10
Special (mongolian duck) 7/10
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