so this past weekend i ventured out for the 1st of what i hope turns into a once every couple of weeks activity of picking a dining 'hot spot' from the sydeney morning herald's good living section to go out and see another side of this inspiring city.
this week after little debate vietnamese came up, and we decided upon red lantern in the trendy but still hip restaurant mecca that is surry hills.
so lets dig in.
red lantern's atmosphere is awesome. oddly enough the whole exterior covered patio (where biff and i sat) was candle lit highlighted by, you guessed it red lanterns. we were hungry and had already spent the better part of an hour an half at his place catching up so formalities were at a minimum and the desire for viet beers were at a premium. what we ended up with was the crisp and malty flavors of 333 a beer hailing from saigon. tasty stuff and its bite helped to accent a lot of the acidic and spicy flavors that would ensue.
for entree (note: over here they call appetizers entrees and what we amercans would call entrees they call mains. maybe i should start a column on 'how to really speak australian: a professional students quest to learn a familiar but still foreign language', alas that will have to wait) we ordered:
goi con little rice paper rolls stuffed with yamba prawns, pork, vermicelli, chives, perilla leaves, with a hoison sauce along side bo tai chanh which is leamon cured sirloin (raw meat cooked in the acid of lemon juice to make it tender as) served with a pile of bean shoots, saw leaf, basil, rice paddy herb, peanuts, and a fish sauce and chili sauce/dressing to go along with.
for mains we got the special kid goat hot pot which simply was tenderly roast goat served in a delicious broth studded with like 3 different types of asian mushrooms (i would try and say i knew them, but i had a couple 333 beers and lets face it i would be bullshitting), cabbage, and served with fresh lemon juice and white pepper to add a metallic and acidic flavor which worked - eat more goat. for our second main course we settled on the thit heo mam ruoc which was a very clean and simple dish of braised pork neck, shrimp paste, lemongrass, and chili. man oh man i could come close to eating a couple of kilos (2.2 lbs per kilo) worth of this. it was tender as could be since it was braised perfectly and i was very surprised to find that the powerful flavor of the shrimp paste only helped accent and really highlight the beautiful flavor of the undesirable cut of pork.
the experience was awesome. it inspired me to eat more in sydney. it helped solidify my obsession/addiction with all foods asian. and more importantly it offered me an awesome time to catch up with a good friend, share some food, and talk about life together.
where to next ...
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