“She saved me from embarrassment and potentially poisoning myself to death!” 
We had dinner at O’Viet by Du Viet last night as part of our weekend staycation, which we just came back from. It’s a restaurant that markets itself as having food influenced by the ancient royal capital of Hue in Vietnam.
As we perused the menu before going in, I remember a lot of the dishes from my trip to Hanoi. The place just shouted out to us while we were walking around the mall beside the hotel and my dear decided to have dinner here.
The ambiance is great and they have a secluded back booth with period decorations which I thought was really nice. The service is great too but the prices are a little on the high side. The bill for the both of us came up to RM 104.39.
I wanted to eat the Sour Fish Soup Noodles (RM 33) and noticed that it had a *sticker* with a revised (!!!) price on it. Curious, I peeled it back to see what the original price was.
It was RM 19.90. I understand that black cod is seasonal though, so since it’s out of season (and thus probably not that fresh – low food miles, eating in-season ingredients and all that) I chose their flagship dish.
My dear ordered Nem Saigon (Fresh Summer Rolls) for appetizers. This is what people normally associate with Vietnamese steamed wrapped rolls and costs RM 9.90. We had made Vietnamese rolls at home before and while mine wasn’t successful, she managed to perfect it. There’s options of chicken, prawn, beef and vegetarian. We went for the prawn.
It’s served with a peanut sauce that I found rather intriguing. It has a bit of heat in it but just right to balance the sweetness. The perfect dipping sauce! The downside is that there was just a tiny shrimp in each roll.
She also ordered the Pho Hai San (Special Seafood Soup Noodles) coz she wanted to eat pho. It came in a huge bowl with fresh prawns, fish fillet, fried shrimp balls, squid and cuttlefish in a mildly spicy soup. It was priced at RM 15.90 and I loved the soup base – it’s seafood-y goodness! 😀
I ordered the Du Viet’s signature dish – Beef in Vinegar Hot Pot (RM 49.90).
It’s marketed as a classic Vietnamese winter dish from Hue.
It’s basically a communal soup hot pot with thin slices of beef topped with a raw egg yolk on the side.
You’re supposed to swish the beef in the soup and then make your own roll with the large plate of condiments (rice vermicelli, various traditional vegetables etc) and there’s a salty fish sauce dipping sauce too.
This dish came with four (4) separate plates, each with it’s own translucent wrap. There’s four wraps in total and it’s meant to be a shared dish, which I didn’t know.
However, the beef tasted really nice when dunked into the hot pot – the soup is a medley of ingredients that makes it slightly sweet and it’s a real pleasure to drink from.
However, the fuel source burned out before we could finish eating, and we didn’t even notice it until after a while. This prompted us to chuck the remaining pieces of beef into the hot pot to cook in the ambient heat. It worked. 🙂
I also noticed that they have a drink I’ve been craving for since I came back from Vietnam – Fresh Egg Soda & Cream (RM 8.90). It’s basically raw egg mixed with ice cream soda (that’s vanilla flavored soda for those of you unfamiliar with the nomenclature) and cream – you can find it in various street vendors in Hanoi and it’s delicious.
I also ordered Vietnamese Drip Coffee (RM 8.50). It came in the same nifty ground coffee drip system I’ve seen in a Vietnamese restaurant in Sibu way back in 2004 and also while I was at an authentic coffee shop in Hanoi.
I had asked for condensed milk and ice on the side and I thought that the bowl on the left is a nicely decorated wooden ice bucket that’s supposed to fit into the drip system. I thought:
“How interesting! They made ice cubes in a similarly sized metal container that *connects with* the Vietnamese drip coffee. I’ll put it under the drip so it’ll cool down my coffee”
…and that was what I was about to do when the waitress re-appeared and *lit* what I thought was ice cubes at first glance in the dark back booth. She just saved me from potential embarrassment and the likelihood of a deadly poisoning. Haha!
The “ice cubes” turned out to be the fuel for the Hue Winter Hot Pot that I had ordered.
Lol on the “ice cubes”. Thank you for the “experience”. Now if I happen to order the same thing I will know better.
Haha! The problem was basically two-fold:
1. The waitress put the “ice cubes” on our table with the wrong context e.g. there was no hot pot (she only brought it along when she came to light it)
2. I was waiting for the ice cubes and had JUST asked the waitress when she plonked the “ice cubes” down on the table (my condensed milk on the side came dy, but not the ice cubes)
…and there I was chatting happily with Ling, telling her that it’s amazing that they made this to FIT under the drip coffee. It was so funny that we laughed so hard when the waitress came and lit it before I could put it under my coffee, much to my shock. 🙂
I think the waitress knew I was about to do something stupid coz she saw me take the metal container up and telling my dear the ice cubes have come so she quickly came over and pulled the wooden bucket away to light it.
It’s just the waitress coming it at the wrong time with the wrong context (after I asked her where my ice cubes were, and coming with that straight after).
I love to eat Vietnamese food and they always don’t come cheap in KL. Now you made me greedy to try that again – Nem Saigon & Drip Coffee!! Yummy!
Yeah, the food is actually pretty good! 🙂
We both enjoyed the Vietnamese food here. The waitress actually asked me if we were sure that we wanted two soups and if we wanted the rice and since she’s not local, we couldn’t really understand her.
What she was trying to say is that my dish (Hue Winter Hot Pot) is a community dish, not a main, and it comes with four (4) plates with rice paper on it, so do I still want the extra rice.
I love Vietnames rolls – would make our own – nicer than what we can get outside in KL. Can’t get any here though – the Vietnamese place long gone, closed down long ago. Gee! The “ice cubes” are so hazardous – but I guess they’re not cold as ice so one touch would tell you…
Yeah, I told her that she makes way better Vietnamese rolls than this place! 🙂
There’s only one miserable small shrimp inside while the ones she made (not the ones I made, mine was not nearly as good) has lots of shrimp and is wrapped nicely too.
It seems like 10 years just flew by! I went to Aden in Sibu in 2004, it closed down soon after, and there was also another Vietnamese restaurant in Sibu after that called Little Hanoi back in 2005:
http://sixthseal.com/2005/06/little-hanoi/
I don’t know if it’s still open though.
The funny thing is, I did touch it and the metal was cold coz the restaurant is air conditioned and metal is usually cold anyway and I didn’t even know I wasn’t touching ice cubes when I was holding the container.
It’s a good thing the waitress saw me taking the “ice cubes” and talking about putting it under my coffee so she came quickly with the pot and lit it. It was just the wrong context coz I had just asked about my ice cubes and she brought this along.
Gee! I did not know of this Little Hanoi. I wonder where it was located. Long gone, I’m sure.
It was during 2005, so I must be back in Sibu while I was working in Kuching! 🙂
Yeah, it’s probably closed now or you’ll have heard of it. I was surprised to see Aden close down though, they were quite good (relatively authentic for Vietnamese food, especially their pho).
That is a lot of food for two persons! Lol!
Haha! Yeah, we didn’t manage to finish everything but close enough! 🙂
It’s actually just the right amount – there’s an appetizer (Vietnamese spring rolls) that we shared, her main of pho, my main of Hue hot pot (which is actually an appetizer but I didn’t know when the waitress tried to tell me coz her English wasn’t that good), and one drink each.
The extra rice was coz I thought the hot pot was a la carte and comes with the beef only and I wanted some carbs. I didn’t know it’s served with four plates of rice paper. However, there was only one rice paper per plate so it’s 4 in total.
Woah. You guys can really eat!
I’m a fan of Vietnamese food, but unfortunately those at KL (esp. KLCC) are expensive.
Sometimes I’ll go to Vietnam Kitchen, Jaya 33 for my fix of pho :D. Their stuffed baked tomato & pumpkin dishes are awesome too.
Yeah, sometimes we can eat a lot! 🙂
This wasn’t a lot of food though – there’s a shared appetizer, an entree each for the both of us, and one drink each.
…plus an extra rice!
I didn’t know my main is supposed to be a shared appetizer which came with four (4) plates of rice paper! No wonder the waitress was a little puzzled by our order and asked us if we still wanted the appetizer (which was also rice paper rolls) or if I meant additional *rice paper* instead of rice coz the Hue Winter Hot Pot is meant to be eaten with rice paper e.g. roll your own Vietnamese roll.
Goid that you pointed it out here, I might end up doing the same like you.. Lol…
Haha! Yeah, they *really* look like ice cubes! 🙂
I was quite surprised at my own doink-ness by thinking it’s some new contraption that goes *under* the Vietnamese drip coffee (that would be quite cool though – no pun intended).
I guess one wouldn’t die from it (hopefully even if I actually did that and the waitress didn’t notice, the weird taste of the coffee would tip me off that something was wrong, and the fact that my coffee isn’t cold) unless a big gulp was taken. 😀
LOL, ice cubes as fuel, interesting. I am a big fan of Vietnamese food, healthy, simple and delicious 😀
Heh! It wasn’t ice cubes, I just mistook it for ice cubes! 🙂
It was actually fuel – probably naphtha or some solid fuel that they use to heat up stuff.
Yeah, I’m a huge fan of pho and broken rice too – had a lot of it when I was studying in Melbourne. There’s a place right on Elizabeth Street where a famous US president actually ate!
I miss the drip coffee, it’s very thick and fragrance. Anyway, somehow it’s always the same food in every Viet restaurant. I wonder if there are other authentic dishes typical Vietnamese restaurants haven’t offer or we have to go Vietnam to try ? haha..
Yeah, and it’s REALLY STRONG too! 🙂
I like Vietnamese coffee, the ones I had in Hanoi was so strong I can get a caffeine buzz from just two!
Hmm…I think there’s a lot of authentic cultural Vietnamese food you have to eat in Vietnam itself. Dog meat is quite acceptable there and there’s a street in Hanoi dedicated to it!
It’s culturally acceptable to them so even office workers were eating there. I found that quite interesting, and always aim to be open minded and try to experience the country I travel to like a local.
You mean you almost drank the fuel? LOL
Anyway, the food looks quite exquisite. But still feels a bit expensive, don’t you think?
Penang Ho Chiak
http://penangfoodforthought.blogspot.com
Yeah, I almost drank the fuel! Haha! 🙂
I didn’t know it was fuel coz I asked for my (missing) ice cubes and she brought this, which is meant for the Hue Winter Hot Pot, but I assumed it was the ice cubes which I had just asked for, thus I nearly put it under the coffee drip.
The food is alright, Du Viet is a chain, they have several outlets here, but some items are more expensive e.g. the RM 33 Sour Fish Soup Noodles, which is originally listed as RM 19.90 but maybe coz black cod is seasonal.
The drinks are slightly priced too high IMHO for an outlet like this, which I would compare to Serai (the Malay food chain) with lower priced drinks.