Meal #14 - Vietnam (Part 2)

Vietnam is best known for the 16 year war between America (and its allies) and communist North Vietnam (and allies). With the great food that Vietnam has to offer, it's no wonder that the Americans were recalcitrant to leave!

Indochine
Vietnamese Cuisine
51 Carrington Rd, Box Hill. 9890 2966
Open 7 days. Lunch 11am to 3pm; Dinner 5.30pm to 10pm

Located in Box Hill, Indochine is a popular restaurant certainly not lacking in customers. Frequented by many Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese patrons alike, the restaurant was a hive of constant, noisy activity. Due to the high number of diners, we were forced to make our booking for 90 minutes later than we had planned, and still had to wait for a table to become available! However the staff were pleasant and professional about the delay, efficiently and quickly clearing table space to accomodate our group.

The décor, general Western styling with the occasional Vietnamese artifact or picture (plus some very early Christmas decorations), left some feeling trepidacious that the food served might be overtly aimed at Western sensibilities. Thankfully the meal was first-rate and authentic.


This week’s Viet Con (Vietnamese Connoisseurs) were Helen, Rami, Caroline, Nick, Naomi and Dom. Although Vietnamese food is, for the most part, focused on prawns and pork (and the best ways of combining the two), there were vegetarian, beef and chicken options for those that didn’t want meat beginning with “P”.

Entrée:

Nem (Hanoi traditional spring rolls) – exclusive to Indochine, with pork, shrimp, vegetable & mushroom in chewy rice paper; fried to a crisp golden brown, serve [sic] with aromatic herb, vermicelli & dipping sauce.

Cha gio (Sagion spring rools) – same as Hanoi traditional spring roll [but vegetarian], but with a wheat pastry.

Chim cut chien gion – 5 spice quail.


Mains:

Banh xeo (Vietnamese crepe) – a thin tumeric-fragant crispy crepe with bean shoots, mung beans, ground pork, mushroom & prawn, served with our special nuoc mam sauce.

Bo xao – Wok-tossed beef with French bean, capsicum & fresh basil.

Chao tom (Sugarcane prawn roll) – Sugarcane sticks wrapped in minced prawn, char grilled & garnished with peanuts. Served with fresh herb, vermicelli, rice paper & nuoc cham sauce.

Bo la lot – Char grill parcels of minced beef flavoured by betel leaf wrapping; garnished with peanuts and Vietnamese salad.

Ca fillet rang muoi – Rockling pieces lightly battered, quick fried, served with salad and chilli.

Bun with curry-lemongrass beef – Pronounced ‘boon’ our version of cold rice vermicelli, shredded salad greens & herb [sic], dressed in nuoc mam sauce & sprinkled with roasted peanuts.

Entrée:


The entrée was a battle between the northern, communist Hanoi spring rolls and the southern, democratic Saigon spring rolls – but unlike the war, there were no losers in this fight. Spring rolls are an integral part of Vietnamese cuisine and both these variations were gobbled-up gleefully. At first we were perplexed by the veritable forest of extras served with the spring rolls, but we soon cottoned on. The exercise involved placing a spring roll plus shredded carrot, vermicelli, herbs and nuoc cham sauce onto a lettuce leaf, wrapping it up and stuffing it into our mouths before the sauce escaped the lettuce leaf, ran down our hands and infiltrated our sleeves. Sadly, some diners fared worse than others in this battle...

Most of us have experienced bland vegetarian spring rolls, so we were glad to find that the Saigon spring rolls had a fantastic flavour, the fresh herbs heightening the taste of the vegetables. The Hanoi rolls relied more on the meat filling to entice, while the crunchy fried rice paper outside was unusual and very popular. Both were well complemented by the dipping sauce, a delicious combination of garlic, chilli and fish sauce.

The five spice quail had a gamey flavour reminiscent of duck, and was roasted to a golden brown, providing a crispy skin which contrasted with the succulent flesh. It was served with a salt and pepper dipping dish, but the flavour was well rounded and satisfying without the extra spices.

Mains:

Both the Chao tom and the Bo la lot were similar to the spring rolls, insofar as they were eaten wrapped in lettuce leaf with shredded carrot, vermicelli, herbs and nuroc cham sauce. Each offered enough difference in flavour and texture to make this similarity a novelty and not monotony. The Chao tom, cooked and served on a skewer of sugarcane, was delicate in flavour and suprisingly moist in texture. Maybe it was our imagination, but the meat seemed to have taken on some of the sweetness oif the sugar cane, making for a flavour not often experienced in western cooking. The Bo la lot took a different flavouring path, with the betel leaves providing a slightly bitter counterpart to the beef.

The crepe was not pancake as we know it- a wrapping of coarsely ground grains, crispily fried on the outside, while preserving the juiciness of the filling. This dish can sometimes skimp on the seafood, but we enjoyed a good number of plump prawns mixing with the vegetables, including the suprise ingredient, mung bean. The integration of the beans with the soft inner side of the pancake resulted in an interesting mixture of grainy textures.

The Ca fillet rang muoi was “Vietnamese fish ‘n chips” but far less greasy and with extra 'zing'; while the Bo xao offered a version of a basic stir-fried beef and bean dish with a sauce that was far from overpowering, and meat which was well cut and tender. The Bun with curry-lemongrass beef presented an appealing exploration of flavours and textures. The unfamiliar combination of lemnongrass and tender beef melded with the crispy peanut topping, creating an enjoyable and unusual dish.

Overall:

Indochine has won many awards, and it’s not hard to see why. The staff are friendly and the service is quick. Most importantly, the food is outstanding and comes in large servings. However, it appears that half of Melbourne has figured this out too, so we recommend booking well in advance. Prices varied, but we all managed to satisfy our appetite for approximately $20 each.