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LITTLE SAIGON
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by
Alexandra Bates
January 22-28 2009 |
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It’s the time of year again for Hamilton’s Winterfest, a celebration of all this city has to offer in the coldest part of the coldest season. There are many events going on between January 24 and February 8, including special displays at Hamilton’s civic museums and the Art Gallery of Hamilton, free swimming and skating at rec centers, and much more. All the details are available online at hamiltonwinterfest.ca. But most importantly for the purposes of this column, there will be a Sweet Taste of Winter event, where select restaurants in the Hamilton area will offer three–course set menus for between $15 and $30 per person.
My guest and I visited one of the participating restaurants — Little Saigon — on a recent Saturday night. It’s nothing special on the outside, just a little place on the Lime Ridge Mall ring road. The inside is clean and neat, with white painted woodwork, neutral walls, and a tiled floor. There’s some Vietnamese art on the walls, tastefully framed in black, and a little fishpond by the front door surrounded by live plants. The tables have pale yellow cloths with glass on top and the usual compliment of condiments. Most of the tables were full, but they were well spaced so it didn’t seem overcrowded. The take–out business was also pretty brisk. The lone server directed us to a table by the windows at the front and gave us a thick menu binder and a pen and slip of paper to write our orders down on. You just jot down the item number from the list with a brief description. Our friendly waitress was happy to answer any questions we had, though, so it wasn’t as if we were left to our own devices.
The drinks menu includes a variety of fruit shakes, and I ordered the jackfruit shake ($3.50). Jackfruit’s a sweet fruit, kind of like a milder, waxier pineapple, and it makes a great shake. My guest had a Tsingtao ($3.95), a light beer from China. They also serve a selection of bubble teas and fresh–squeezed juices ($3.50 each).
To start, we ordered a couple of dishes to share. First was Goi Guon Nem Nuong, ($3.99), cold rice paper rolls stuffed with Vietnamese sausage, vermicelli noodles, cucumber, carrot, and romaine lettuce. There were two of them on the plate along with a dish of peanut sauce for dipping. The veggie stuffing was super crisp and fresh, and the sausage was tasty without being too hot. We also had crispy won tons ($3.99), crispy little triangles stuffed with ground pork. Five of them were presented with a dish of orange plum sauce for dipping.
The options on the main menu are pretty extensive, with about 50 different Thai and Vietnamese dishes on offer. One of the more interesting items they have available for the winter is the Thai sour and spicy hot pot, where you receive a pile of assorted seafood and vegetables, and a little stove with a pot of hot sauce and oil to cook it all in. Unfortunately, shellfish is on the very short list of things I won’t eat under any circumstances, so we didn’t try it.
For my main course, I ordered a vermicelli bowl, the Bun Thit Nuong, Cha Gio ($7.25). A huge white bowl was filled to the brim with noodles, topped with thin–cut strips of barbecued pork in a sweet ginger sauce. Fresh julienned cucumber and carrot, shredded lettuce, and bean sprouts added some crispness to the dish. A fried, peppery spring roll with a sweet dipping sauce was also included. Again, everything was very fresh, plentiful and delicious.
My guest ordered the Bo Luc Lac ($11.99) from the woked menu. A large helping of lightly sautéed red and green peppers and onions were tossed in a peppery sauce with tender cubes of beef. A neatly formed mound of steamed rice rounded things out. The plate was really nicely presented, with fresh carrot and coriander garnish.
To finish our meal, we shared an order of the fried pineapple ($3.99). Two rings of fresh fruit were battered and deep–fried. They were good & they smelled absolutely amazing but the fruit lost a lot of its flavour and sharpness in the cooking, which was a bit unfortunate. It was served with a good quality vanilla ice cream.
Our meal at Little Saigon was fresh and delicious. They even won over my guest, who had never eaten at a Vietnamese restaurant before and was reluctant to try it out. I think it’s safe to say they’ve converted him, which is excellent news for me, and now we have a good place to go that’s just around the corner from home. V
[alexandra bates]
Little Saigon
HHH
66 Mall Road. Unit 4, Hamilton
905.389.9826
LittleSaigon-Hamilton.com
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