#13 Vietnam House
Posted on March 30, 2007
Filed Under Vietnamese |
Per Wandering Chopstick’s recommendation, I went to try the Seven Course of Beef at Vietnam House in San Gabriel.
It’s a nice clear day outside and it’s nice, clean and bright inside.
I was going to get two orders of the Seven Courses of Beef for me and dad but was stopped by the waiter. Too much, he said. I suspect that they underestimated the two of us, but that’s alright, better err on the safe side, so I’ll start with one for the two of us.
The first course is sliced beef cooked in a small metal pot with a light broth. It didn’t fare well that this first course only came with 3 or 4 thin slices of beef, but hey, I thought, there’s SEVEN courses! So we ate it in a couple of bites, dad wrapping everything with the rice paper and I ate the beef with the vegetables.
And you know, I really liked the fresh vegetables, especially the carrots, cucumbers and bean sprouts, the green bananas I wasn’t quite used to but could see how it’d work well with the sweet sauce in the wrap.
Courses 2-5 came on one plate and I became a bit more alarmed. Here we are, 70% into our meal and all we had was vegetables, 4 slices of beef, and a smallish plate of what I’d normally consider hors d’oeuvres. But you know what, these four items were GREAT! I especially liked the steamed meat balls and the Hawaiian lot leaf wrapped beef roll. There were some excellent flavors with the spices and herbs and the beef all mixed together.
Course 6 was a beef salad. I especially liked the onion with the beef, always a good combo.
The last course was the Beef rice soup. Dad really liked this one and I had some of the soup, it’s exquisite.
Well, at this point I felt okay, $12.99 for seven courses of beef to feed the two of us was a pretty good deal, it’s just the portions were a bit small. I just had to go back and get some more beef to seal the deal, and I picked the Beef meatballs. These were about $6 or $7 a plate, came with 3 meatballs and totally finished the meal off for me, I had to to doggy bag one back.
Overall I think it was a good experience, there was tons of fresh vegetables and the quality of beef was very good, especially the rolls and balls. I shouldn’t complain too much about the portions because 1. Low carb diet, I can’t eat the rice paper. 2. I can really, I mean REALLY put it away. I think 2 people on a normal diet would be pretty full with one serving of 7 courses of beef.
Thanks to Wandering Chopsticks for the recommendation!
Vietnam House
710 W Las Tunas Dr. #5-7
San Gabriel, CA 91776.
(626)282-6327
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These dishes look really delicious. This is why I love your blog man, it’s fun to join you on culinary adventures.
Hey Kev,
Glad you liked it.
For two people, I usually do one order of 7 courses and an extra order of beef in la lot. BTW, la lot is a type of betel leaf. It’s not soley Hawaiian since it’s everywhere in Southeast Asia. And you know, rice paper is low carb.