Que Viet on the Pho Mile

I’m still puzzled why it’s taken me so long to enter the doors of Que Viet, I mean I must have walked past it a thousand times and for some reason I have never entered.

Vietnamese food seems to work best after a sweaty session at the gym on a Sunday and it’s becoming a regular thing now.

After a few visits to Song Que and amazingly the place is still churning out good food all the time, which sometimes is no the norm as most places have ups and downs, or I’ve just been really lucky.

Anyhows back to Que Viet, as we were strolling down the Pho Mile, Que Viet was the only place that actually had peopled inside. These large restaurants are hell when they are empty, like graveyards on a wet windy Thursday morning.

It has an interesting interior, it’s a large room, but somehow the arrangement makes it look very cosy and small.

The menu is pretty varied and what I liked the most was that Pho was just given a small portion of the menu, too many places are overloading their menus on a million and one versions of Pho. Jumping on the bandwagon springs to mind.

So with a couple of Nem Ran of Crabmeat and Pork to start certainly wetted the appetite as they say. These crispy fried rolls were crispy as they should be with a light flavoursome filling that went pretty well with the slightly spicy dipping sauce.

I was tossing and turning between a Red Duck Curry or the Caramelised Pork, in the end the Duck won, but I know I’ll be back and that will be my first choice.

Also ordered was one of their Signature Dishes, Bun Thang, it’s described as a ladle f chicken broth over a bowl of vermicelli noodles and topped generously with shredded chicken, pork sausage and thinly sliced egg. Which basically summed it up really, except there was more than a ladle full. The waiter was particularly happy, as it was one of his capital’s best dishes. We never asked but we assumed he was from Hanoi.

The duck curry was damn good, the duck leg shredded apart very easily and with the curry sauce it was a pleasure to it.

The sauce was quite thin as with most southern dishes (Thailand included) rather than the northern curries, which are slightly thicker. I’m a fan of both versions but most of the time I prefer the lighter coconuty version that gently coats the meat and soaks into the rice creating rice curry sauce heaven.

The Bun Thang was subtle on flavour and with the addition of the sliced egg was a perfect light lunchtime meal.

We finished off with a couple of cups of hot Vietnamese coffee. This never came in the normal dripping filter a top of a glass of condensed milk. Instead the coffee was already in the cup, which was set in a small bowl of hot water to keep it warm.

The condensed milk came in another small bowl, which was to be spooned in to the coffee. I like my coffee strong and sweet, ie plenty of strong coffee with loads of sweet condensed milk to give me my daily kick. Sadly the coffee was too bitter and not enough milk to satisfy my sweet tooth. This was the only downside of the meal. Not a big thing and it never spoilt our enjoyment of Que Viet.

I have to mention this as this did make me chuckle throughout the meal, there was a couple on the table next to us, who basically over ordered as their eyes were bigger than their bellies. But it was when their Steamed Sea Bass came to the table. The waiter put it down and left, and their was silence, I glanced over and saw them looking at it with dis-belief.

Moments later I heard the girl saying, “I thought it was going to be more Chinese, but it’s not. It’s not Chinese food at all is it?”

God help us. I wanted to say something but I got a kick under the table to keep my mouth shut. Damn.