#14 Huong Vuong 2 (150 Victoria St)

Attendees: Emma, Steph, Beata

Chopstick Chowdown this week is unexpectedly overshadowed by a street festival. With Victoria Street blocked off from Church St to Hoddle St (incidentally the scope we have set for ChChCh) the street is buzzing with life, activity and most of all lots and lots of people. This does not look like Melbourne...I am imagining being in Saigon.

Smokey food stalls sell barbequed corn on the cob, parcels of beef in bentel leaf on skewers, pork balls, fried squid tentacles and much more. There is a delight of smells and sounds and the occasional waft of burning. Each restaurant seems to be represented by a food stall. In addition there are stalls selling cheap clothing, DVDs and meditation (how the man is meditating amongst this cacophany one can only speculate...). I am most fascinated by the numerous sugar cane juice stalls where whole stalks are fed into a machine which spits juice out one hole and mascerated sugar cane out the other. Finally to complete the picture there are carnival rides.

However, the challenge must go on and after 20 minutes of searching for a parking spot and fighting my way through the hundreds deep festival crowd, I finally joined Steph and Emma at Huong Vuong for another dose of pho.

Another small cheerful place with the customary plastic tables, hard chairs and less than 27 items on the menu. But contemporary enough to be showing the Australian Open tennis on the regulatory plasma screen.

Pho is the speciality but we are also able to score some spring rolls. They are delicate, light and tasty. The size of a little finger they go down easily in two bites and although I am not able to discern what they contain, they are perfectly crisp and hit the spot.

The beef pho is good. The noodles are slippery and soft, the broth safe and the beef very thin and tender.

Proxy number 13 is chicken combination pho. The broth is delicious with a great body and saltiness. There is a wealth of chicken matter in the soup. Tender chicken pieces, a dark brown 3D rectangle (which we assume on tasting to be liver), kidneys and giblets. We are dubious after our previous giblet experience. “It’s like chewing on an ear” still echoes in my head. But I am prepared to give giblets another go and this one is nowhere near as chewy. Still one giblet was enough. Steph opts for the pork on broken rice which comes with a fried egg on top looking great.

Overall not much to fault this little pho eatery.







We lurched back out into the street to find dessert at the festival. It was banana coated in glutinous rice and batter. Fried. Smothered in a sweet coconut sauce with translucent bubbles (tapioca?). Yeah it was good!

Ratings

Beef pho 8/10

Spring rolls 7.3/10
#13 (chicken combination pho) 7.3/10

#13 Minh Xuong (154 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Paddy, Penny, Andrew Be

I’m apprehensive at first glance. Let's be honest, the place looks a little dodgy. The old neon lights around the sign. A couple of lonely roast ducks hanging in the window.

Inside it is sparsely decorated and as we look around for specials Andrew comments, “this is the only place we’ve been to with nothing on the walls.” Blank, cream walls stare back at us with a small number of paper lanterns as the only decorations. The meagre clientele looks hungry for a cheap feed. The tea comes in a stainless steel pot as opposed to the thermos we have become accustomed to.

We are excited about number 27 - jellyfish with shredded chicken. None of us know of jellyfish as anything other than something you squelch under your feet at the beach. When we order the waitress fires back that they are out of jellyfish. "It's unlucky number 13 then," Penny offers. Suddenly we are ordering braised pig trotters. When in Rome...

The food comes out all at once, with a disregard to the concept of entrees and mains. We scramble to make room for all the dishes.

In his first week of Chopstick Chowdown Challenge, having passed the inititation of finding the restaurant from minimum directions and securing a table, Paddy decides to dive straight in with the trotters. The meat is tender, the skin is slimy and it is all drowned in a ginger-flavoured gravy. Having had limited (by limited I mean zero) trotter experience, I feel they have done a good job. It is akin to a well-cooked casserole. Andrew avoids tasting the trotters and squirms at the traces of hair on the skin. Paddy quips “I’m sure the pig would have no qualms about eating you with hair”.

The peking duck is dry and so underwhelming that the meal is complete before I realise I still have piece left. It includes julienned raw carrot and sweet, floppy translucent strips. This is not what I expect of peking duck. Andrew questions where the sauce is. It seems to already be inside the pancake wraps. There goes our option of smothering something in sauce.

From the specials we choose the szechaun beef. It is advertised as hot but we beg to differ. In fact a dollop of chilli sauce is just what this dish needs.

I am not impressed with the pork and prawn dumplings in broth. The dumplings taste of sub-standard meat while the broth has no taste.

The pick of the night is the black bean chicken claypot. It comes out still sizzling and hits the perfect balance of flavours and saltiness. Furthermore the chicken melts in your mouth.

When it comes to ratings, Andrew refuses to rate the trotters, saying his prejudices will get in the way. Penny scribbles 'boo' on the voting card. When pressed he said he would give it 5 for novelty value. I discount this from the final count.

Despite a few gripes, nearly all the food is finished. Paddy happily stands out the front and gives it thumbs up.

Ratings

Pork and prawn dumplings in broth 4.6/10

Peking duck 6.3/10

#13 (braised pig's trotters) 7/10

Special (szechaun beef) 6.9/10

Chicken and blackbean claypot 8.1/10

N.B. Bonus points for finding the incongruous Anchorman reference in this post.

#12 Thanh Nga Nine (160 Victoria St)

Attendees: Steph, Beata

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 sign 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

#11 Thanh Ma (172 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Steph, Andrew Bl, Craig

It is the Sunday before Christmas and with many of our friends frantically busy with the festive season, we still manage to get 4 people together for the last Chopstick Chowdown of the year. Craig enjoyed Chopstick Chowdown Challenge so much the week before, he is back for another dose of Victoria St dining.

The first page of the menu announces that they have added new dishes to their 'traditionally family favourites'. Indeed the menu is extensive and unable to distinguish what might be family favourites or otherwise we stick with formula. Although from looking around it seems like Vietnamese pancakes are a speciality here.

Service is a little slow and we grab our own bowls. They are not on the ball with our tea either, as it unexpectedly runs out between mouthfuls of spicy food. Our conversation is distracting and far-reaching, from starting a union for over-worked young laywers to not realising you are being set-up at a dinner party where everyone else is in couples.

As chance might have it, number 27 is rice paper rolls. They have a tail of long chives strands. Again the rice paper rolls fail to impress with a dryness.

Upon Steph's request we have the pork and prawn Vietnamese coleslaw. It is crisp and refreshing, with a touch of dressing.

We scour the menu for pho. There is a variety of soups listed, but where is the pho? Judging by the corresponding menu photo we go for the han. If it sounds like pho, looks like pho and tastes like pho, we will count it as pho. And this is one of the best we have had. The noodles are exceptionally thin and light. The broth is so delicious I don't even bother searching for my usual condiment additions. Particular exciting is the bonus hard boiled quail egg floating in our soup.

From the chef's specials we go for the 'salted and pepper squid'. Despite the Vietna-glish, it's pretty good. It looks appetisingly golden and fresh chilli gives it the right kick. We play it safe with the other main getting the chilli and lemongrass beef, which also goes down well.

We celebrate the last Chopstick Chowdown for 2009 with a couple of beers and plenty of laughs across the road at the Avairy, and look forward to the gastronmic delights that await us in 2010.

Ratings

Beef han soup 8.4/10

#27 (pork and prawn rice paper rolls) 6.3/10

Special (salted and pepper squid) 6.4/10

Vietnamese coleslaw with pork and prawn 7.5/10

Chilli and lemongrass beef 7.6/10

#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

#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

#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