AU2012 - Hanoi Vietnamese

Conveniently located next to the Wollongong train station, Hanoi Vietnamese is quite popular for something quick and cheap.

 

 

That is, if you don’t mind the Westernised Asian food of rice or noodles, mixed with meat and sauce. Examples include Lemon Chicken …

 

 

… Sweet and Sour Pork …

 

 

… and Mongolian Chicken.

 

 

Other than the rice paper rolls, looks like Hanoi is a Vietnamese takeaway that is not quite Vietnamese!!

 

 

Hanoi Vietnamese Takeaway Food
Shop 3, 341 Crown Street, Wollongong, NSW 2500, Australia.
+61 2 4226 3379

AU2012 - Viet de Lites

Located at the exquisite dining and retail area of Little Stanley Street, Viet de Lites offers a range of unique Vietnamese delicacies in Brisbane.

 

 

By combining different Vietnamese cooking style and techniques of grilled, pan-fried and stir-fry, a unique menu that contains specially chosen dishes was developed. While there, our dinner started off with the serving of paper rolls.

 

 

Then came our mains of spring rolls vermicelli salad …

 

 

… beef pho …

 

 

… and grilled pork and egg with broken rice.

 

 

Since communal dining is very common in Asia, Viet de Lites aims to create an atmosphere where strangers can meet and become friends over good food and wine.

 

 

But I think they failed on that end since we didn’t get to meet new friends after dinner. LOL!!

 

 

Viet de Lites
4 Little Stanley Street, South Bank, QLD 4101, Australia.
+61 7 3844 8979
http://www.vietdelites.com.au/

AU2012 - Ha Long Bay

Besides Mylan, another Vietnamese restaurant that is extremely popular with the locals is Ha Long Bay.

 

 

Named after the magnificent World Heritage Site in Vietnam, we wondered if the food tasted as magnificent too?

 

 

While there, we had the Crispy Spicy Pork Chop, which unfortunately, wasn’t crispy at all, and the Lemongrass and Chilli Chicken, which is literally just chicken and a whole lot of lemongrass sauce.

 

 

I guess, if one is looking for an Asian restaurant that caters to the Western palate, Ha Long Bay may be a suitable candidate. But for something more authentic, I would suggest they give it a miss.

 

 

Ha Long Bay Vietnamese Restaurant
52, Crown Street, Wollongong, NSW 2500, Australia.
+61 2 4225 0338

US2011 - Little Saigon

Considered one of the best Vietnamese restaurant in Philadelphia by most, Little Saigon is also my favourite dine in place for noodle soups.

 

 

While there’s nothing special about their Chicken Pho, …

 

 

… their Banh Canh Tom Thit (special noodle soup with shrimp and chicken) is something not to be missed.

 

 

In addition, customers also get to savour a complimentary salad with every order.

 

 

And the best of all, Little Saigon is possibly the most friendly restaurant that I have ever visited.

 

 

Little Saigon
113 Fairfield Avenue, Upper Darby, PA 19082, USA.
+1 610 352 1002

US2011 - Saigon 48

Guests at the President Hotel can also choose from two on-site restaurants offering Japanese fare and Vietnamese cuisine.

 

 

Since Saigon 48 was offering a higher discount than the Japanese neighbour, I decided to check it out.

 

 

Here, I had the so-called “Vietnamese” House Special Fried Rice …

 

 

… and the Thai Iced Tea.

 

 

Yup, it did sounded a bit weird to have a Chinese-styled fried rice and Thai-styled iced tea in a Vietnamese restaurant.

 

 

Saigon 48
234, West 48th Street, New York, NY 10036, USA.
+1 212 247 8669
http://www.saigon48.com

AU2011 - Mylan

Just to have a simple 2.00pm lunch at this multi-award winning restaurant required us to book in advance. And to make things worst, even though we had a reservation, we still had to wait for about 10 minutes before being seated. That is how busy Mylan usually gets!!

 

 

From past experiences, it is usually worth the wait. So, during our recent visit, we ordered their Chicken Fillet Pho Noodle Soup …

 

 

… and Crispy Chicken Oriental Noodle Soup.

 

 

While it is usually worth the wait, this time, it proved us wrong!! Lesson learnt, never go to Mylan again during peak hours, unless we want another serving of harden crispy chicken and underdone chicken fillet.

 

 

Mylan Restaurant
193, Keira Street, Wollongong, NSW 2500.
+61 2 4228 1588

AU2010 - Mylan Restaurant

Have you ever walked into a restaurant, looked through the menu and kept on wondering about what to order?

 

 

That was exactly how I felt after going through Mylan’s dinner menu.

 

 

Fortunately, Mylan came up with a bright idea, their Chef’s Recommendation Banquet for Two!!

Without knowing what to expect, we decided to order the Chef’s Recommendation after being told that there will be four types of entrees and two mains.

The first dish of entree served consists of dim sims and fresh rolls.

 

 

Next, we were served prawn skewers and spring rolls.

 

 

Shortly after, rice and satay chicken were served …

 

 

… followed by chilli basil king prawns.

 

 

I reckon that the Chef’s Recommendation Banquet actually worked very well since I am sure a majority of people don’t know what to order when going into a restaurant that they are not familiar with.

AU2010 - VietCafe Vietnamese Restaurant

As winter is approaching, its probably a good time for us to search around for our winter warmers, and this time, we decided to give VietCafe a try.

 

 

VietCafe or V-Cafe (V-Cafe actually sounds better because VietCafe sounds like Weird Cafe) is a Vietnamese restaurant which claims to offer fresh modern Vietnamese cuisine with house specialties that are sure to please.

 

 

So, we decided to try their Crispy Seafood Roll for entree …

 

 

… and their House Recommended Vietnamese Steam Boat.

 

 

While having the steamboat, we were discussing on why some people call it hot pot and not steamboat. And guess what was our conclusion?  

 

 

For me, I would call it hot pot because, at that moment, there was a hot girl and a pot right in front of me!   :p