We have been to Quan An Ngon Restaurant in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) a couple of times in the past when it was in another location. I have to say their new location is fancier than the old place but the food is about the same. I think the place is nice but the food is not really the finest I have tasted in Vietnam and for being a fancy restaurant they treat you like cattle. The seating is terrible and the service not the most attentive. They need to step up the service experience to match the building, the building was spectacular but as a customer I did not feel spectacular. We even had to share a large table with other people, not very special. The food was good but the restaurant in Hue did it better. One thing that impressed me when I ate at the old location was the connection between the food being prepared and the customer. In the old location the cooking was done at small stations around the restaurant were the customers could easily observe the process. This connection gave the restaurant a more street food feel that was an experience that is lost on most customers at the new location. Yes, there is still cooking stations but the customer is not able to easily see them in the new location. I think they need to bring back that connection at the new location or go high class with a higher level of service. Please forgive my opinion as this is a great restaurant to give the average tourist a great introduction to Vietnamese food and I have my own bias as I have eaten a lot of local dishes all over Vietnam over the five times I have come to Vietnam. Review from TripAdviser.
Now to the food, first up was a dish that was my favourite in Hue; a stir fried clams with crispy rice crackers to eat the clams. As you can see the clams are not as tiny as the ones used in Hue as such the texture is not quite the same but the dish still had a good taste that was enhanced by the crispness of cracker. It was not as spicy as the dish in Hue but as this was made for a Saigon palate it was to be expected. The dish was technically corrected but it could not match the one in Hue for taste or presentation. I would suggest they chop the clams to give the dish the right texture. I think if we attempt this dish we will have to chop the clams as we will will never be able to get a consistent supplier of the clams we saw in Hue.
Next up for me was a traditional beef stew (bo kho) a favourite I have enjoyed for years. Their version did not disappoint as it hit all the proper favour points and the ingredients were good. As it was a stew there was not much to do with the presentation but they could have classed it up a bit. I love this kind of stew with rice and bread but of course I had to pick one so I had the bread. From the origins of this dish (French) I am always impressed with were the Vietnamese have taken the taste to; it is rich, meaty and so fragrant with the spices they use. I love this dish as it appeals to my ancestry while it tantalizes my taste buds with the exotic tastes of Asia; fusion food developed before the modern concept was acknowledged. It is the re-interpretation of an imported dish that lifts the dish beyond its simple beginnings. 
The group I was with had several dishes that they ate by themselves so I will not include here but one dish I tried after getting over a little reluctance. The dish was steamed blood clams, so called because the inside bloody looking. I tasted one but it just tasted like salty blood; sorry but I did not like them that much. The rest of the group loved them and ate them all so it must have been me and my cultural food bias. The picture is not the best as I was trying to take the picture as I ate.
To finish the meal I had a great tofu pudding drink that was soft and delicious. The texture and taste were heavenly and a great finish to this meal. Anytime I can find a way to enjoy tofu I am happy.
Mmmm... everything in your food-travel blog looks so yummy.
ReplyDeleteWe just experienced our first trip to Vietnam this year, and the food was certainly a highlight of our experience. Like many tourists, the first dinner of our trip was at the Saigon location of Quan An Ngon (a safe place to ease into things), but we ranged out quickly from there under the tutelage of a local friend. Naturally, when we returned to Vancouver we were interested to recreate some of our food memories locally.
There are so many restaurants serving Vietnamese food and snacks in Vancouver, but it can be tricky for the uninitiated to figure out where to go when they want to move beyond the ubiquitous beef pho and learn more about a complex and varied (and yummy) cuisine.
Imagine the challenge of not speaking Vietnamese and not knowing what anything is called, and the best question you can come up with is something like "Excuse me, do you serve non-pho?" :)
It was a revelation to bring back from the trip some of the names of at least some of the most common dishes, so we could have any hope of finding them at home. (Our vocabulary unfortunately maxes out around canh chua ca, bo la lot, com hen, banh xeo, ca kho to, cha ca thanh long, bun rieu, bun bo hue, com tam, banh bot loc, banh hoi, bun oc, bun mang vit, banh cuon, and of course sinh to, ca phe sua da, and che, but that's many more things than the 0 that we could name before! :) )
We're excited to visit Mui Ngo Gai, knowing of your efforts to bring some of the breadth of the cuisine to our fine city.
Best wishes for your success.