| Here’s something good about writing a food column: you learn stuff all the time. A recent jaunt to Newfoundland, for example, left me wanting more cod tongues with scrunchions (cubed fried pork fat), or fish and brewis, a salt cod and hard bread stew. Really, it did – they’re both pretty good.
Or take Ha Long Bay, a new Vietnamese restaurant on the 7th Avenue side of the Bow Parkade (240 - 7 Ave. S.W., phone 234-8804). Ha Long Bay is actually a World Heritage Site on the Gulf of Tonkin, with 1,600 small limestone islands poking out of remarkably clear water. In Vietnam, it’s considered the eighth wonder of the world. After seeing pictures of Ha Long Bay (visit www.vietscape.com/travel/halong/), you’ll understand why the ownership named the restaurant after it.
At the local Ha Long Bay, you’ll find a decent lunch. Both times I’ve been there, the staff has been helpful (if occasionally a bit disorganized), the food arrived quickly and is generally very fresh, and the noodles aren’t goopy. It’s becoming very popular at lunch – especially the takeout window.
For appetizers, the salad rolls, jammed with shrimp, noodles, cilantro and beef, and accompanied by a mild dipping sauce, were very tender, although at $5.75 for three they’re not the cheapest in town. The sauce was much improved with a blast of sriracha, the ubiquitous garlic hot sauce. The satay beef skewers, served with vermicelli and garnish ($6.75), must be the best thing a garlic lover has ever eaten, but I found the pungency almost too much, even for me.
The main dishes are what Calgarians have come to expect in Vietnamese restaurants – rice or egg noodles in soup with beef (pho), shrimp or pork; rice vermicelli, served warm or cold with a variety of meats (bun); and then Chinese-influenced rice dishes.
The shrimp, crab and pork noodle soup ($6.95) was generally good. The noodles were perfectly cooked and the broth was intensely flavoured, but the imitation crab was overcooked and I’m not sure how fresh the shrimp was, as it tasted a bit more shrimpy than I’d like. I think preparing Vietnamese soup is a ticklish thing and the ingredients can get overcooked very easily.
The vermicelli with beef, spring rolls and shrimp ($8.50) was much better – the spring rolls weren’t oily in the least. The fragrant vermicelli with lemon grass chicken ($6.95) and the stir-fried shrimp and chicken with rice ($8.50) were also well prepared.
Ha Long Bay is relatively expensive for a Vietnamese restaurant (in Chinatown, for example, these dishes would probably be at least a dollar cheaper), but rent is more expensive downtown. I also like that it has heaps of staff, so your cup of tea is always filled. It’s worth a visit.
RANDOM NOTES
Also worth a visit is Van Son, just east of 1st Street S.W. on 6th Avenue, a small, understaffed Vietnamese restaurant where the food’s surprisingly good. The menu is very simple and you shouldn’t expect the quickest service in the world, as there’s only one server at lunch, but the food is good and fresh. |
Copyright ©2003 FFWD. All rights reserved.