Vietnam House

This week was V, so off to Vietnam House.

I walked past Vietnam House at 10:58am, it opens at 11:00am, and there was no movement inside. No one getting ready. No one to be seen.

I was prepared to be doing this about some other V place in some random suburb.

I went to Oxlades, got a new pen and wandered back past.

Much to my surprise the word open was on the door. I walked in and was seated in the corner, table for one.

I sat down and perused the menu, I had decided what I wanted sort of quickly. Yes, there was duck on the menu, and yes I got it.

I didn’t order straight away though. I had enough time to go through the menu twice, and look around the restaurant at the decor twice, before the waiter came up and asked me what I wanted. It seemed that he was initially there to see if I wanted something to drink, but was happy to take my lunch order as well.

I ordered a vietnamese iced coffee, salt and pepper quail and stir fry duck in orange sauce.

When I googled Vietnam House the consensus was you have to wait a while for the food but it is good. This is true.

I waited only a few minutes for the vietnamese iced coffee. This was really good. It comes out layered from creamy white at the very bottom to clear brown at the top. The first sip let me know that one of my favourite liquids was at the bottom, sweetened condensed milk. I loved the taste of this. I mixed it when the drink had gotten a bit below the lip of the cup, and proceeded to sip tiny sips slowly until the appetiser came out.

About twenty minutes later I received my quail dish. The very look of it made my mouth water. I can still taste every bit of this beautiful, little dish. It didn’t look as moist on the outside as it was. I removed the drumstick on one and bit into it with no real expectation. I have had salt and pepper quail a few times, from a lot of different places and I was not expecting this to be any different. Quail, salt, pepper how much different could it be. It was pretty good. It may not be the best quail out there, but it is the best I have had so far. The diced vegetables that were with it were brilliant accompaniments for it. I am pretty sure I only left the bones on the plate.

About thirty minutes after I finished eating this, maybe twenty five, my duck in orange sauce arrived.

Ok, do not let this put you off but I have had better duck.

This is not the point though. This is the second time I have had duck in orange sauce, and I have really enjoyed it both times. From now on I am ordering duck in orange sauce whenever it is a choice on the menu.

This was duck, capsicum, onion and a few other things stir fried in orange sauce with a bow of rice on the side. After I ate all the meat and vegetables, I added the rice to the remaining sauce and ate the remaining sauce up.

As I said before, the internet was right. The food takes a while to get to you , but it is good. It may not be the best food on the planet, but it definitely tastes like the people really care about what they are cooking. I don’t mean other people don’t, I mean this place is worth the wait.

If you have nothing to do one day, head to Vietnam House with some good friends or a good book and settle in.

I don’t think you’ll regret it. Just make sure you don’t have anywhere else to be soon.

Night all. Eat well.