The other night I had the pleasure of eating with my fellow blogger @MaryInVancity at Kin Resto Bar. It’s been on our radar for a while now because of the partnership with the great guy’s at VANEATS.ca, the have put together a great dining package called Kindle With Kin and for $25 it’s a great way to get a taste of the signature dishes at this great West End eatery.
The space is nice, it’s split into 2 area~one with a darker more intimate mood and a projector showing the game on the wall and a more lit dining area that can accommodate bigger groups.
We started with some beer, the Red Truck Lager was the drink of choice for us at $5.50 each, it went well with all the dishes in the package and was an extra cost and not included in the VANEATS.ca package.
For our starter we were served the Prawn and Thai Basil Rice Paper Rolls. These were totally delicious and we both gobbled them up, the prawn was nice and tender and the roll had some nice crunch from the lettuce and veggies and crispy noodles in the center, the dip for these baby’s was a great house made peanut sauce. These were enjoyed by almost every table that was dining when we were there and I can see why there so popular.
Next up was a combo plate of Beef Short Ribs and Kin’s Beef La Lot Rolls.
The short ribs were marinated and grilled in 17 different spices, they were sweet, savory and tender like a great Asian short rib should be, because they were so thin the meat melted in your mouth and again we loved this and should have ordered more.
The beef la lat rolls were something that I have never heard of or had at other Vietnamese restaurants, they consist of grilled minced beef, star anise, black pepper and jicama, rolled in betel leaves. They were totally delicious, the inside was crunchy from the jicama.
A salad was our next course, it was there Seafood Salad, it had shrimp, basa, asparagus, mango, grape tomato and rau ram sauce. Originally it was supposed to have scallops in it and we were both looking forward to this but they served it to us with the different fish so it was a bit of a let down, all the other ingredients were great~the shrimp were plump and juice and the tangy dressing with the sweet mango worked great.
The Chicken Chay Curry was our main you could say.
I’ve never had this before, it reminded me of a Thai yellow curry, it had chicken, lots of veggies and tofu. All the ingredients were cooked perfectly except a couple of pieces of yam which were on the underdone side but other than that it was a great bowl of curry, we could have easily eaten a bowl of this for each of us easily.
For dessert we split a Lemon grass Ginger Creme Brulee with Pineapple Chutney.
This was not your typical creme brulee, it wasn’t as heavy but still was satisfying and not overly sweet, the pineapple chutney was a great compliment to the custard, there was almost a jasmine tea sent to the custard part of the brulee. It was a great way to end the meal and we both really enjoyed this.
This was one great meal and for $25 it fed 2 people nicely, if you’re a more hungry eater a couple extra items from the menu would be a great addition to this dining package and would leave you full and happy. Were totally looking forward our next visit already.
To purchase a VANEATS.ca Kindle With Kin dining package they’re available till the end of February 2012, their for use during evening/dinner hours and the can be found by clicking here.
**Just a note of disclosure, this dining package was paid for by ourselves and not part of our normal previews of VANEATS.ca dining packages.**
On my hunt for good Pho downtown the one place that I have yet to check out is Pho Central on Davie street. Out of all the places to get Vietnamese downtown~all 3 or 4 of them, this place has been around the longest and is busy so they must be doing something right.
The place is small and only has 9 tables so seating can be really tight when there packed, the service is friendly and you get your soup fast so it’s a great place if your on your lunch break or if you’re in a hurry in general. I was lucky to come in the later afternoon after the lunch rush so the place was dead.
I had my order taken right away because I knew what I wanted-my usual standard dishes when coming to a new place for the first time. They served me tea but as you can see it was full of tea leaves.
The Vietnamese Spring Rolls here are stuffed with minced pork,taro root, carrots, onion, garlic, black mushroom and egg for $3.50. They were served with a sweet chili and fish sauce dip that is pretty standard to Vietnamese restaurants. The rolls themselves were awesome and have kick the ass of some of the places I have been to recently, the wrapper was nice and crunchy and the filling was nice and flavorful with all the different ingredients.
The pho here was really good and for $6.95 it’s a great deal, my beef was nice and rare as you can see and the broth was piping hot and full of aromatic vegetables and herbs
the noodles were cooked perfectly and they weren’t stingy with them. The beef ball was nicely spiced and definitely wasn’t bland. One thing that I did notice out of all the places I have been to for pho is the fact they use MSG more here and it was really noticeable by my extreme thirst, other than that it was a great bowl of pho.
Le Do is doing what good Vietnamese places do right-great pho and other classic Vietnamese dishes at a great price. The seating is tight inside but the table turn over is pretty good so you wont wait long and it’s also closed on Wednesday’s and cash only.
The salad rolls were $5.50 for 2 large rolls cut in half, the filling was roasted pork,shrimp,vermicelli and shredded lettuce and cucumbers. The pork was nice and sliced really thin, they served here with a bowl of hoisin, sriracha and peanuts that you stir all together for dipping.
This is my favorite type of pho-rare beef with beef ball, I don’t like tendons and tripe so this hits the spot quite nicely. The broth here has a great depth of flavor and isn’t heavy or to MSG laden, the noodles were cooked perfectly and for $5.95 for the medium size you can’t go wrong with that deal. The broth was also piping hot which is really important when your dealing with rare beef.
I was dining alone so some portions of the dishes I wanted to try were a bit on the large side so I’m going to have to wait to get back with some friends for a chow down and the fact on this visit it was the day before there 2 week vacation so I couldn’t get any pho.
Food wise I went with a combo plate that consisted of a couple great items like Vietnamese spring rolls, shrimp on sugar cane and a skewer of grilled pepper beef all for $12.
The Vietnamese spring rolls were OK, there filled with veggies and meat. The filling was seasoned nicely and tasted great but they were a bit greasy. At the end of the day I think if they were fresh out of the fryer I would have enjoyed them more.
This is the shrimp on sugar cane, it’s a shrimp mousse formed around a piece of sugar cane and then deep fried. It was a firm texture to it
and wasn’t light and fluffy like I thought it would be but it tasted OK dipped in the spring roll sauce.
The grilled pepper beef skewer was really good and I could eat a plate of them, the thin slices of beef were nice and tender and had a nice grilled flavor, the slices were separated with pieces of onion and red peppers.
Pho Goodness has opened it’s doors on Davie Street and it’s been pretty well received by the neighborhood, that being said the seating area is small and it’s busy here but fear not-the wait for a table isn’t that long. The service is friendly and you get your soup promptly but they need to be asked for tea refills and water to drink.
All the usual suspects are here condiment wise and the veggie plate for your pho is also nice and fresh
Soup wise I went with what I usually order on a first time visit and an order of Vietnamese spring rolls.
Vietnamese Spring Rolls $4.75, you can get just veggie or veggie and pork and they come with a fish sauce dip. These were ok but were quite greasy compared to the pho place at the end of Robson St but the filling was really good.
Rare Beef with Beef Ball Pho $7.75. When this was put down in front of me I was a happy man, the beef was beautifully rare and I like hot they top the pho with the thinly shaved onions and herbs. The beef balls were definitely on the firm side texture wise but were flavored really nicely. The pho really benefited from the basil on the side plate and the onions.
for this visit I stuck to the Vietnamese side of the menu.
now on to the food:
Vietnamese Spring Rolls $3.95. I started with the Vietnamese Spring Rolls after reading reader reviews recommending them, they were super crispy on the outside without being greasy and the filling was nice and flavorful and the dipping sauce wasn’t too sweet or to sour.
Rare Beef and Beef Ball Pho $7.25. The pho here is quite good and really affordable, the broth is flavorful and very herbaceous. The beef was melt in your mouth tender and the beef ball was tasty, I’m a fan of leaving the lime wedge in my soup after squeezing it so I get a nice citrus punch.
