BENGALURU : The mention of Vietnamese food and the first things that came to mind are rice, fish sauce and spring rolls. While these form the core of the country’s cuisine, the Vietnamese Food Festival at Misu on St Marks Road gave us a glimpse into the country’s food and culture. First up on the table was the Spicy Noodle Soup.
The glass noodles cooked in coconut milk flavoured with chilli, turmeric and mushroom in the vegetarian option and shrimp for the non-vegetarian diner, was a soothing start. With the right consistency and just the right amount of spices – even before we finished the bowl – we were all set for seconds. Saving it for later, we went on to try the next dishes – the Vietnamese spring roles and Vietnamese Chicken Satay.
Crunchy on the outside and perfectly cooked on the inside, the classic golden fried spring rolls with julienne of carrots/chicken, shiitake mushroom, chinese cabbage, Thai herbs, glass noodles with sweet chilli sauce, this dish could have gone easy on the salt. As with the Chicken Satay, which, despite being tender was a little too salty. And slightly over charred. But the Vietnamese Chilli Prawns compensated adequately for the two dishes. The butterfried prawns tossed in sriraca and Vietnamese sauce hit the right spot on the palate.
A typical dish of the South-East Asian country, the Banh Mi, a Vietnamese baguette sandwich with greens, grilled tofu/chicken slice and home made spices, is loaded with fresh flavours and yet juicy with every bite. But, what’s a Vietnamese meal without a rice-based dish? Although we were stuffed beyond measure, we tried the Co’m Chien Duong Chau, a wok-tossed fried rice with mushrooms, babycorn, beans, carrots and scallions. After the comforting dish for rice and veggie lovers, we decided to skip the desserts.
But the chef egged us on to try the chocolate momos and hearing the word chocolate, we couldn’t resist it. When it arrived, we popped the the entire momo in our mouths and the nutella-based chocolate oozed out. Ah, heavenly! It definitely won us over. After the several-course lunch, we decided to make our way back a second time for the Spicy Noodle Soup which stole the show.