Tag Archives for vietnamese cuisine

That soup tasted funny

The one thing people need to know about me is, that from time to time I am surprisingly spontaneous. So the other day I was on a bus and was passing by this one restaurant called Thai Kitchen. No, this post is not about this restaurant. Hm, you see. Very spontaneous.

The taste of this soup was rather unexpected

The taste of this soup was rather unexpected

Anyhow. I jumped off the bus and walked back only to find out that the restaurant was closed due to vacation reasons. Damn. Now, I had to find another place to get my lunch. Luckily I was close to Naschmarkt around U4 Kettenbrückengasse. And yes, this is some sort of a China Town or better Asian Town. In this area of Vienna there are many rather authentic Asian restaurants, shops, haircutters etc. So I thought: no problem, I find something else. And so I walked towards Naschmarkt.

Eventually I ended up at Pho Saigon on Naschmarkt. Now this restaurant is connected to the restaurant called “Saigon” on Getreidemarkt und is more or less the mini version of that one. It also has a small Asian grocery store. During lunch time you get special meal offers and they are all Vietnamese food. Each lunch special consists of the daily soup, main course and dessert. In the beginning I was unsure what to take. I always think that Vietnamese dishes sound completely unspectacular. It is like “beef with basil and lemongrass”. Doesn’t sound fancy, or? But when you order it it is soo delicious! For me I chose the tofu with veggies. I had to take Vietnamese rolls in addition to the soup. I love Vietnamese rolls – no matter which one.

I love Vietnamese rolls - any whether they are cold or warm.

I love Vietnamese rolls. Any kind whether they are cold or warm – it doesn’t matter.

But first came the soup – the unexpected star of the whole meal. In the end I came to the conclusion that it was the Vietnamese variation of a sweet n’ sour soup. It had chunks of pineapples, it tasted chili spicy and sweet and unexpected. I have to admit I never tasted something like that before and I have tried a lot in my life. It had really nothing to do with anything I ever tried. It didn’t even come close. I have to say although I liked it I would not order a soup like that on purpose.

The Vietnamese rolls pretty much came with the main course. They were filled with seafood and covered in fried rice noodles. I always love the dip that comes with them. Fish sauce here we come. I really don’t mind that entree and main course sometimes come at the same time at Asian restaurants. I just eat cross-course.

The tofu with veggies was just as good as the other two courses.

The tofu with veggies was just as good as the other two courses.

And of course, I also enjoyed the main course. I think they put oyster sauce. It was really yummy. I really like that restaurant. Right at the spot where this restaurant is located you also have a number of other Asian restaurants. One is right on the opposite. It has Japanese, Chinese, Thai food. But don’t fall for that when you are at Naschmarkt. It is always much better not to choose the trans-Asian restaurants that offer all cuisines at once. They all have the same food and the taste is like an instant-food-jolly – all but not exciting.

Info: Phò Sài Gòn, Naschmarkt, Stand 191 – 194, phone: 01 585 02 24, internet: www.saigon.at, opening hours: Mo – Sa 11:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m. in summer and winter 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., they take credit cards, I am not sure about smoking but I guess it is non-smoking, you can reach the restaurant by getting off at U4 Kettenbrückengasse and walking towards the city centre on Naschmarkt, take the aisle of stands that is the furtherst left one and there the restaurant is on the right side.

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Vietthao: A Family Restaurant

From the outside it does not look particularly spectacular and compared to the other fancy restaurants in the first district it is not spectacular on the inside neither. It is a simple restaurant. When you enter it the first thing you notice is this retro photo of a young Asian couple. The Asian waiter talks to you with a perfect Viennese dialect. Touchez, I like!

Vietthao: a Vietnamese restaurant at Karlsplatz close to the Secession

At the beginning I was kind of suspicious. At the door they have the menu and I was kind of shocked at first. There they wrote prices like twenty euros etc. And I was already disappointed – also with myself because going for lunch on a Saturday always means you miss out on the lunch specials. “Shall I really go in?” was what I asked myself. In the end, my first impression was that it must be expensive. But then I decided now that I had come here for the restaurant I will take the chance and try it.

So I entered and noticed the interior – very simple, nothing special. Fortunately, the music was not this usual Clayderman music adapted for the Chinese something. I got the menu from the waiter. I know quite a few Vietnamese restaurants in Vienna. As a matter of fact I like Vietnamese food a lot. But on this menu I found lots of different food which you can hardly find in other restaurants. So I had a hard time with choosing what I wanted – well mainly for the starter since I knew immediately what I wanted for the main course and that was the fish.

Vietthao: as a starter I chose the summer rolls with pork and mushrooms

The reason why I was unsure about the starter was that they were not too cheap but then in the end they offer real good stuff like summer rolls with shrimp – this always means higher prices. Eventually, I decided for the summer rolls with pork and mushrooms as I was going to take the fish as a main course.

And let me tell you: the starter was delicious! Together with this red spicy peanut something sauce it was great. It was so delicious that I almost did not care about my dish manners. For the main course I had to wait a bit. This because there motto is that they prepare everything fresh. But that was ok for me since I was not in a rush. And of course, I could see what the others had. On the other table they had pho – also something I like. But then there was the big moment: the fish arrived.

The gilt-head bream was just delicious – excellent with the zucchini and the mango

It was soo delicious. Together with the fish came mango and grilled zucchini as a side order and of course rice, which was, fortunately, already included in the price. The size of the meal was just right and I was filled afterwards but not stuffed or felt to have eaten a bunch of stones.

This is definitely a great Vietnamese restaurant in my inofficial ranking of the best Vietnamese restaurants in Vienna this ranks very close to the top. So, I can truly recommend that restaurant. As it is close the many main Viennese attractions like the Karlskirche or the Naschmarkt it is a great option for a nice lunch or dinner.

Info: Vietthao, Friedrichstrasse 2, 1010 Vienna; phone: +43/1/585 20 31; opening hours: Mon – Thu 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. & 5:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., Fri – Sat 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.; credit cards: Visa, Master Card; you can reach the restaurant by going to U1/U2/U4 Karlsplatz and then taking the exit Elisbethstrasse