Vietnamese value and Asian fast food

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/10/2009 (6161 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two gilded laughing Buddhas face the entrance, flanked by a little shrine and a bamboo plant, a welcome suggestion of more space within than there actually is. There’s seating for a mere 30, and the menu is tiny as well.

Not only are its 80 items significantly fewer than those on most other Vietnamese menus, but a large proportion of those items aren’t available. Tu Moi’s menu, it turns out, is a holdover from the previous owner — or, possibly, owners, since this place has had more turnovers than I can keep track of.

Through all of the dispensations, though, the food has been Vietnamese, and that’s still the case. And although the present menu is limited, it does offer something that most other restaurants don’t, a local rarity that alone would make this one worth a visit — the classic Vietnamese seven-course beef dinner, which is not only interesting and delicious, but also one heck of a bargain at $25.95 for two. Nor should delicate appetites be daunted by it — the portions are small and most of the food is light.

The meal gets underway with a do-it-yourself dish, featuring a carpaccio-like array of tissue-thin slices of beef, to be poached briefly in the wee pot of rice vinegar that is boiling on a table-top grill. They are then wrapped — with shreds of marinated carrot and daikon, cucumber slices, bean sprouts, rice vermicelli and heaps of fragrant mint — in rice flour crepes that have been softened in a bowl of hot water, and enclosed finally in a lettuce leaf. If doing it yourself seems too intimidating, the friendly cook-owner-server will do it for you (the first one, at least) and all you have to do is dip the roll in the lightly sweetened fish sauce and dig in.

Another outstanding item was a three-in-one course — two kinds of grilled, sausage-like patties, one wrapped in la lop (a kind of spinach), the other seasoned with lemon grass, as well as a super-sized steamed meatball, all three marvellously flavourful. There was also an addictive slaw-like salad with slices of beef. Some other selections may vary from day to day — I do know that we didn’t get the listed beef congee, but I can’t remember which dish replaced it.

Those who aren’t prepared to go all the way with seven courses, however light, should have the a la carte Number 19, a.k.a. three flavoured beef, which combines the above three sausage-shaped meats ($9.50). And those who’d prefer pork should choose the skewers of tasty char-broiled pork balls, which come with the usual fresh veggies and rice paper crepes ($8).

The choices may be few, but those few are expertly prepared. One of the full-scale entrées I tried was that touchstone of Vietnamese cuisine, plump, juicy shrimp stir-fried with lemon grass, onions, green peppers and a potent hit of chili ($9.50). Shrimp were equally good in another classic, Vietnamese sour soup, a clear broth perked up by the sweet and tangy flavour of tamarind, and an underlying bite of chili.

Crammed with chunks of pineapple and tomato, bean sprouts and slices of celery (replacing the more usual bac ha, i.e. taro stem) the enormous $10 bowlful will easily feed four (chicken or fish are alternatives to the shrimp).

Although communication isn’t easy, the owners are enormously helpful.

 

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Communication was even more difficult at Palatal Express. Surprisingly so, at least to me, since — because of its three locations, its buffet-style service, its bolted-to-the-floor seats — I had thought it might be a franchise. It’s not; all three branches are under the same local ownership. The Express outlets are more limited in scope than the main restaurant on Pembina which offers, as well as a buffet, a Japanese grilled-at-table barbecue. However, since I was simply seeking an interesting and healthier fast-food alternative to a burger and fries, I chose the more modest Palatal Express.

The raw ingredients of your choice are placed in the bowl of your choice (there are two sizes) by a server behind the counter, and passed along to a little side room where they are stir-fried on a massive cast-iron round grill. Chances are the finished product isn’t Mongolian, neither is it a barbecue, but it does have its own attractions, namely fresh vegetables and lean meats cooked with relatively little fat and with MSG-free sauces. In other words, it’s good for you.

The lack of communication shouldn’t be a problem, since the staff are friendly and patient, and all the ingredients are displayed on the buffet, with the various choices listed on the wall menus. You can have as many veggies and noodles as you wish; the prices, which range from $6.49 to $9.99, and from $8.49 to $11.99, are based on the amount and kind of meat or seafood selected.

Actually the dish I liked best isn’t listed on the wall menus but on a flash card. The Korean Rice Bowl — an approximation of bi bam bap — was a savoury mixture of rice, ground beef and assorted veggies mixed with an egg.

The bland fresh Shanghai noodles with pork, mushrooms and veggies might have been improved by a second scoop, at 25 cents extra, of the Palatal house sauce (soy sauce, ginger, garlic and wine). Tasty chicken wings in barbecue sauce lacked the crispness of freshly fried wings, but they were also free of the usual greasiness.

Two caveats concerning the ingredients. The shrimp, although of decent size and texture, had no flavour at all, and the onions came mostly in chunks so big they remained almost raw in the finished dish.

marion.warhaft@freepress.mb.ca