I’ve walked by this place so many times wondering where/what Indochina is
.
(I honestly hadn’t heard of it before, but Wikipedia has been very helpful in furthering my education)
The restaurant is very smartly executed. An obvious French influence is discernible throughout the restaurant, from the presentation of some dishes to the design of the interior.
This lovely green foliage was very traditionally served alongside the fried spring rolls.
Many places I have tried, leave out this little detail. I believe that the inclusion of lettuce (at least!) and mint or basil, etc. make an incredible eating experience and that by not including it, the diner is being “robbed!”
(OK a bit dramatic, I know, but I seriously LOVE food too much to accept being robbed of an incredible dining experience)
MMM YUMMY! These were some beautiful (though not my favorite) spring rolls. They had a delicious crunchy exterior and a nice vegetable filling.
In Moscow I could only find spring rolls made from блины (absolutely unacceptable!) They were soggy, poorly fried and had a terrible tasting interior. The sauce often served was either unpalatable or made from mayo (or both!) I digress…
The sauce served with THESE spring rolls was a nice sort of citrus/cilantro/fish sauce with a hint of peanut and chiles. (and no mayo) The way that it should be..
For my main meal I ordered the stir-fried chicken with vegetables and ginger.
I have been favoring these protein/vegetable, i.e. healthy, dishes for a while. I finally have access to such dishes here. (No restaurant in Moscow would have me be healthy..)
The ginger in this meal gave the food a very healthy essence/taste. I feel that ginger in nearly any dish gives the same healthy essence.
It tasted MUCH better than the picture. I will definitely be returning to take a better photo of it and try more food…
And lastly, a picture of me! I don’t have too many of these on here. The big reason is that I am the photographer and don’t like to do too many self portraits. Another reason is that I made this blog for food not for people pics. I will put some up from time to time though, don’t worry!
Those are Vietnamese Spring Rolls, which are traditionally served with all that delicious greenery, and I agree, all spring rolls should come that way! Love, Mom
ReplyDeleteMayonnaise as a dipping sauce for egg rolls?! Eek!
ReplyDelete@ Wandering Chopsticks
ReplyDeleteIn Russia, over time, quality declined because an acceptable profit was still being made, even when such "substitutions" were used. It is so out of control and it seems that nothing can be done to save them.
I lived at the US Embassy in Moscow for about a year. Our cafeteria there had a difficult time pleasing the American customers, they were running it like a Russian cafeteria. They tried and they improved some things. Other things would just be so ff that it was difficult for Americans to understand how it got so far off. We wanted hot wings, so they made wings tossed in ketchup (yeck!) We got what we asked for (from their perspective) but it is not what we wanted, of course.
Hard to believe, but this is commonplace.
I had more than enough material to start a blog on how bad it was but it would only make it harder for them to do better and hinder any efforts to improve their image.
Both, probably
ReplyDelete