Dinner at Restoran Vnam Kitchen

My neighbour introduced me to this Vietnamese restaurant and so we dropped by last weekend to try it out. It was packed when we arrived but managed to get a table after waiting for a while. I was rather amused by the footnote on the menu which caught my eye ......."If the food is delicious, tell your friends. If the food is not delicious, please tell us"!
The proprietress of the restaurant was a gusty lady with very good PR. She apologised to customers for late service, thanked them vehemently for patronising her restaurant and reiterated that they return for more.
When the food came, I clicked away and also checked with the waitress about the ingredients. I also asked the lady boss about the sauce that went into my dried vermicelli/mong. She was a bit surprised that I was so inquisitive and also noticed that I was taking shots of the food. So, I casually told her that I would like to post her restaurant's food on my blog. She also mentioned that her husband, the chef had been specialising in Vietnamese food for 12 years in the States and they have outlets in the Klang valley as well. There's an outlet in Wooley Centre, Ipoh Garden but there's not much variety there.
When we asked for the bill, guess what ...... she told us that the pot of tea was complimentary as an appreciation for blogging her restaurant's food and we only paid 18.40 rgt for the scrumptious meal!

Ain't this teapot cute? ..... short and stout. Imported from Vietnam along with ......

the tea, also from Vietnam. The tea tasted fine unlike the normal jasmine or pu-er.

Appetiser .... Cabbage, carrot and chicken shreds, mixed with some tamarind powder, a bit of sugar, topped with roasted peanuts, chopped spring onions and red chilly. Tastes a bit like kerabu minus the mango.........@. 6 rgt.

This is real appetising, light and refreshing!

Chicken noodles in soup .... flat noodles resemble our local 'hor fun' but this is a bit chewy, with slices of deep fried chicken. Toss in the basil leaves and bean sprouts, yummy, especially the soup. .....@ 5.90 rgt.

This is my order, dry rice vermicelli with spring roll. The sauce to go into this bowl of goodies .... Vietnamese fish sauce and some lemon juice .....@ 6.50 rgt

The flat noodles and rice vermicelli are all imported from Vietnam as they're not available locally.

Restoran Vnam Kitchen
32 Jalan Seenivasagam
30450 IPOH
Tel : 05-2542633

Hakka Mee aka Hakka Noodles

This is yet another one dish meal, Hakka Mee/Hakka Noodles. These noodles are quite similar to Won Ton Noodles, except that they have less lye water and the noodles are a bit flat and thicker. They're served with bean sprouts with a generous serving of minced meat sauce. the noodles, ........... need to loosen them up before cooking serve with chilli sauce topped with chopped garlic ..... that will do the trick ..... yummy! Recipe for Hakka Mee aka Hakka Noodles Ingredients 180 gm Minced Pork 60 gm Garlic - chopped 200 gm Bean Sprouts 4 dried Chinese mushrooms - soaked and diced 3/4 cup water 1 Tsp cornflour + 3 Tbsp of water 3 servings of Hakka noodles Oil for frying. Garnishing - Chopped spring onions Seasoning for minced pork 1/2 Tsp Salt 1 Tsp sugar 1 Tbsp Fish sauce 1 Tsp dark soya sauce A dash of pepper Preparation Saute the chopped garlic with 1 Tbsp oil, fry till fragrant Add in the seasoned minced pork, diced mushroo

Herbal Jelly ~ Gui Ling Gao

H erbal Jelly ~ Gui Ling Ga o literally translated means 'Tortoise Jelly' is one of my family's favourite desserts. It's much more economical to prepare this at home for you'll need to fork out between Rm 9 to Rm 11 for a bowl of this cooling dessert in any of those herbal tea outlets. This soothing jelly, served chilled, is supposed to be able to help reduce our body heat, helps to get rid of toxins and is believed to be good for the skin thus culminating a healthier complexion.

Read on for the Recipe

Double Boiled Herbal Chicken Soup

Double boiling is slow cooking ........ means to put a soup pot or any covered ceramic or steel pot inside a bigger pot, immerse in boiling water, and let the soup cook at a lower temperature. Hence the soup is cooked from heat generated from the boiling water and not from direct heat source. Double boiling lets the soup ingredients slowly release their nutrients into the soup, thus making it tasty and wholesome. It's a long cooking process, roughly averaging 2 to 4 hours. The tip is not to open the cover to check on the soup as it'll bring down the temperature and affect the cooking process. The plus point is there's little evaporation and the soup will not boil over. The only thing is to monitor that there's enough water in the bigger pot and not let it run dry. Of course, nowadays, the slow cooker is another alternative to double boiling, saves the hassle of checking the water level.

Read on for the Recipe

Comments

Angie's RecipesJune 1, 2010 at 3:14 AM
The restaurant looks very pleasant and comfortable. I like the teapot.
ReanaclaireJune 1, 2010 at 7:51 AM
i will go and try, Cheah.. long time didnt take viet food.. hope they open in the afternoon.. can go with Elin for our lunch! :p
Sokehah cheahJune 1, 2010 at 8:05 AM
Angie, yes the teapot is very cute, just like the kiddy song 'I'm a little tea pot short and stout, here's my handle, here's my stout ....

Claire
Yes, go try out with Elin, they open for lunch I think. Call them first and see whether you can book a table, very 'laku'. Viet food not heavy.
My Little SpaceJune 1, 2010 at 4:30 PM
I love the chicken salad dish. Looks very appertizing indeed. Or maybe can try to make my own. hehe... Hope you're having a nice day!
Cheers, Kristy
ShirleyJune 1, 2010 at 9:26 PM
That is a cute teapot!
MaryMohJune 1, 2010 at 11:01 PM
Beautiful tea pot...love it. I love Vietnamese food, especially the one in soup and eat with a big wooden scoop. So kind of them to give you the tea free :D
choi yenJune 3, 2010 at 4:48 PM
Vietnamese cuisine with lots of veggie, likey~~ :)

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